Hundreds of thousands of Euros seized at former Jumbo CEO's home following raids

Published November 3, 2022 04:24AM

Several news outlets in the Netherlands have reported that leading investigators from the financial crimes inspectorate (FIOD) seized large and unexplained quantities of cash during a raid carried out at the home of Frits van Eerd, the former CEO of the Jumbo supermarket chain.

Van Eerd was one of nine people arrested in September as part of a huge criminal investigation and has since stood down as head of the supermarket group. Van Eerd’s property was raided as part of the investigation.

The raids and investigation are not linked to the men’s or women’s cycling teams, according to the Dutch press. The investigation is focused on money laundering, real estate transactions, VAT fraud, unexplained cash deposits, and motocross sponsorship deals.

A spokesperson for the cycling team told VeloNews: “Jumbo as a supermarket chain company emphasises that this a private case without a company link. So for us as a privately owned sports organisation, this is even a further distance. However, it’s not nice to be named in the context of an investigation. Besides that, I have no information regarding this news update. I don’t believe it’s formally confirmed.”

According to the NL Times hundreds of thousands of Euros were found in cash at Van Eerd’s home. The Prosecution Service (OM) has not commented on the matter. The Dutch media also reports that Van Eerd’s lawyer declined to answer questions about the cash or say if he had been able to explain it during police questioning.

Van Eerd’s replacement, Ton van Veen, had previously stated that the supermarket chain was not part of the investigation. Meanwhile, KPMG has launched an investigation into Jumbo’s sponsorship contracts in motorsport.

“Jumbo has taken note of an investigation that is currently being conducted by the FIOD,” Wielerflits reported Jumbo as stating in a press release back in September.

“We understand that the investigation does not focus on Jumbo. However, questions are being asked to Frits van Eerd in the context of the investigation.”