Dutch Cop Sacked for Laundering Mafia Money at Casino Unaware of Law

A Dutch Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal of an Almelo, Netherlands police officer ‘H’, who was fired last year. The police officer was originally dismissed when Holland Casino in Amsterdam became suspicious when records showed that ‘H’ cashed out large sums of casino chips on 275 different days within 30 months. That averaged out to one big win every 3.2 day over two and a half years.

The police officer claimed that he has a full proof system of playing roulette that made him a consistent winner. Holland Casino is the country’s only legal casino according to Dutch gambling laws.

A further investigation by internal affairs revealed that the 20 year veteran of the police department continued almost daily association with major underworld figures in Almelo and Enschedese who reportedly own a Dutch internet casino, despite being repeatedly warned of the conflict of interest. The police officer, despite being warned by superiors, was often observed delivering large sums of money on behalf of known organized crime drug traffickers. After reviewing the evidence, the police officer was dismissed from the police force last year.

‘H’ appealed his dismissal, claiming ‘he did not know it was inappropriate for a police officer to have personal contacts with members of the mafia syndicate and that he was unaware that transporting large sums of money on behalf of convicted organized crime drug traffickers was against the police department policy. ’

Judges unanimously upheld the dismissal, explaining that ‘’a police officer on the force for 20 years cannot be so naive as to not know exactly what is not compatible with his job function.” According to CJPF, each year up to US $50 billion is laundered in the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, little has come of a press release from several months ago claiming that Dutch government is considering regulating internet gambling in Holland.