Crime pays

Who better than to help you launder your illegally-gotten gains than someone who used to be out to catch you at it? Today’s Volkskrant carries an interview with Ton Apeldoorn, an ex-tax office investigator who has set up his own company to help people clean up their illicit finances.


He takes advantage of a special dispensation for people who voluntarily register their ill-gotten gains with the tax office: if you do so, you won’t be fined. Nor will there be an investigation into where the money has come from.
Some 50 people – builders, bar owners and those with dodgy inheritances – have used his services so far. ‘I have brought around €50m back into the country and earned €10m for the tax office,’ he told the paper.
His biggest client is a former bank director with €4.5m – amassed by insider trading – held in a Swiss bank account. In return for a €500,000 tax bill, he can legally pocket the rest.

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