Former coffee shop owner Johan van Laarhoven demands 44 million euros in grief from the Dutch state after Thai prison sentence

Johan van Laarhoven, former operator of four Brabant coffee shops, demands a fee of 44 million euros from the Dutch state for the damage he has suffered as a result of more than two thousand days in captivity in Thailand.

According to Van Laarhoven, compensation and grief are justified because, according to him, he and his Thai (former) wife ‘ »Due to unlawful action » of the Dutch investigation apparatus « in degrading circumstances » got stuck in Thailand. According to him, the Public Prosecution Service in Breda provided ‘incorrect, misleading and incomplete information’ to the Thai authorities in 2014. As a result, the entrepreneur, who had earned a lot of money in the Netherlands with tolerance trade in soft drugs, was in Thailand – where he says he has been interested – arrested And up to 103 years in prison for money laundering.

The claim for damages is described in the summons drawn up by Van Laarhovens lawyer Lisa Jie Sam Foek. He received the State of the Netherlands at the end of December, the national lawyer formulated an answer to this two weeks ago. Both pieces have been viewed by NRC.

The response from national lawyer Cécile Bitter shows that the government does not recognize liability for the damage that Van Laarhoven says it has suffered. The government also does not want to pay grief money. « There is no question of any unlawful actions of the state, » concludes bitter.

Van Laarhoven was locked up in Thai prison cells from July 2014 to January 2020. The founder of coffee shop chain The Grass Company, who was born in Tilburg, lived with his wife Tukta and two children in the coastal town of Pattaya since 2009. The couple was arrested in 2014 after the Public Prosecution Service in Breda had informed colleagues in Thailand to be busy with a criminal investigation against Johan van Laarhoven and his brother Frans, two years older,.

According to the OM, the men put the purchasing price of the soft drugs for The Grass Company for years at a higher price in the books and they creamed that extra profit. That is why the judiciary continued them for participation in a criminal organization, tax fraud and money laundering of millions of euros.

The entire life of claimants has been destroyed by the state, is in the claim for damages

The Dutch investigating authorities requested the Thai in a letter of 14 July 2014 « to initiate a criminal case« Against Johan van Laarhoven. A week later he was arrested with his wife in Thailand.

The Brabander was not released until 2020. That happened after an exceptional intervention by then minister Ferdinand Grapperhaus (Justice and Security, CDA). In 2019, the minister, in his own words « to the dismay of the OM », traveled to Bangkok to argue with the Prime Minister of Thailand for the release of Van Laarhoven, who had since been sentenced to 75 years in prison on appeal.

Grapperhaus’ journey followed a parliamentary debate around an extremely critical report from the National Ombudsman on the OM’s actions. This requested that Thailand not only open an investigation into Van Laarhoven, the Dutch justice also provided the Thai evidence and had three Dutch agents witnesses. The Ombudsman considers that, as the OM states against the Ombudsman, it was never intended that the Thai would start an independent investigation. He labeled the state’s actions as « careless. »

In January 2020, Van Laarhoven was flown to the Netherlands and, after another eight months of detention in Vught, he came free with an ankle band. At the end of 2024 the Dutch criminal caseafter a criminal investigation that lasted thirteen years. After years of negotiations, the judiciary has concluded an agreement with the suspects. They paid fines, a community service sentence and 7.75 million euros in the benefit of unlawfully obtained benefit was taken away.

Request for legal assistance

Johan van Laarhoven is now trying to straighten the civilian way. « The entire life of claimants has been destroyed by the state, » says the claim. The damage consists of immovable property and investments, all of which have been seized by the Thai authorities and also grief money.

The national lawyer asks the court to reject all claims. According to her, the letter of 14 July 2014 of the Netherlands to the Thai was a normal request for legal assistance. « The provision of information may not shut off if there is a possibility that as a result a Dutchman will be arrested abroad, » writes Bitter. The letter only gave the Thai to « start in his own investigation and was not a request for arrest or prosecution. »

The critical judgment of the ombudsman considers the national lawyer irrelevant. Whether a citizen has been treated improperly by the government is, according to her, something other than whether the state has acted unlawfully – the question that before uses in the current court case. The District Court of The Hague will consider the possible unlawful actions of the state and the claims for damages later this year.

Julio Poch

The Van Laarhoven case has striking interfaces with that of the former Argentinian navy pilot Julio Poch. He could be arrested by Spain in 2009 after a tip from the Dutch.

After his arrest, Spain Poch handed out to Argentina, who wanted to try him for his role in the ‘dirty war’ (1976-’83) in Argentina; Poch is said to have carried out so -called death flights. After a imprisonment of eight years in Argentina, Poch was acquitted in 2017.

Poch’s claim was eventually settled extrajudicial. In 2021, the Dutch government announced that it wanted to pay an amount of around 600,000 euros. Poch asked 5 million euros in compensation. What amount was ultimately paid was never announced.

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