HOUTEN – The police and Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Service (FIOD) have raided Houten. The reason is an investigation into a large-scale fraud network. In total, the police and FIOD raided 22 buildings today, in all kinds of places in the country. Five people have been arrested.
The investigation, in collaboration with the Labor Inspectorate, focuses on international scams including mortgages, evasion of payroll taxes and wrongly receiving corona aid. A number of arrested suspects work at a national mortgage brokerage firm. They are said to have arranged false pay slips and employer statements in their network, with which mortgages and rental contracts were regulated. The companies they set up for this purpose were often in the name of cat-catchers.
Five arrests, no more excluded
The raids were in Luxembourg, Brunssum, Heerlen, Tilburg, Maastricht, Hoevelaken, Eindhoven, Weert and Houten, among others. The FIOD arrested a 41-year-old man at one of the locations. He is a shareholder and director of several companies and was arrested on suspicion of non-payment of payroll taxes, leading to a tax debt of millions of euros. Together with a 46-year-old woman, he is said to have been guilty of money laundering.
Police arrested four more people. It concerns a 34-year-old woman from Brunssum, a 44-year-old woman from Tilburg, a 41-year-old man from Hoevelaken and a 48-year-old man from Maastricht. In addition to these arrests, several people have been identified as suspects. They may be arrested at a later date after further investigation.
During one of the raids, in a building in Lelystad, migrant workers were discovered who would be staying there illegally. Police say there may be benefit fraud there.
Six buildings were seized in the action. Cars, large sums of cash, administration and computers were also seized. The Labor Inspectorate has also seized bank accounts at home and abroad.