Judge allows robber to deduct gun

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BRUSSELS – A Dutch court has allowed a bank robber to claim the $3,200
cost of the pistol used in the hold-up as a legitimate business expense.

The 46-year-old bank robber was permitted to set the cost of the gun
against his gross proceeds of $10,575, gained during his raid on a bank
in the southern town of Chaam. The judge at Breda criminal court duly
reduced his fine by the same amount, in addition to sentencing him to
four years in jail.

In a timely boost for the Netherlands’ image as a bastion of liberal
extremism — dented recently by spiralling racial tensions — the Dutch
prosecutors service said the judge had followed sound legal precedent on
the confiscation of criminal assets.

Spokesman Leendert De Lange said, “You can compare criminal acts to
normal business activities, where you must invest to make profits, and
thus you have costs.”

Thus drug dealers would be within their rights to claim the cost of a
car used to ferry those drugs around, Mr. De Lange said.

At pains to show that Dutch prosecutors are not a pushover, Mr. De Lange
scoffed at the hypothetical example of a drug dealer claiming his
Ferrari against the proceeds of his crimes.

“No, he would have to prove that he needed the car to transport the
drugs around, and I hardly think he would transport them in a Ferrari,”
he said.

Dutch judges also insist on receipts, invoices or other forms of proof
when calculating how much to confiscate from convicted criminals, the
spokesman noted.

“You can’t just tell the judge you spent 10,000 euros [$16,000], without
any proof.”

Gerard Sta, national director of the office of criminal assets, told the
Dutch newspaper De Standaard of other strict conditions that must be
fulfilled before a refund is considered: A criminal’s costs must be
directly related to the crime, and not just day-to-day expenses.

“A second condition is that the criminal offence must be carried out,”
Mr. Sta said.

Normal economic principles were at work, Mr. De Lange explained.

“The whole idea is that crime does not pay, but you are allowed to claim
your expenses,” he said.