11 arrested in major tax evasion probe involving foreign bank cards

A major investigation based on the use of foreign bank cards in the Netherlands has led to the arrest of 11 people on tax evasion charges.

The seven men and four women were identified after officials carried out a major data mining project involving cards attached to foreign bank accounts. None of the 11, who are aged between 54 and 73, had registered their foreign bank accounts with the tax office, the department said.

Among the suspicious transactions was a €7,000 bill in a department store and cash withdrawals running into tens of thousands of euros.

In total, tax office officials combed through almost all the 140 million payments made in the Netherlands using a foreign bank card between 2009 and 2011, spokesman Ton Scholing told the Financieele Dagblad.

Ferrari

Ten homes in Haarlem, Zoetermeer, Rotterdam and Leiden were searched in the investigation and a number of bank accounts and cars, including a Ferrari and an Aston Martin, have been sequestered. Some €90,000 in cash was also confiscated.

Officials said they are continuing to follow up on other transactions involving unregistered foreign bank accounts as part of their crack-down on illegal savings accounts.

‘There will be more arrests next week,’ public prosecutor Anita van Dis told the Financieele Dagblad.

Tax advisors, accountants and notaries who work for the 11 people arrested are also under investigation.