The Appeal court on Tuesday upheld a Dutchman’s 20-year jail term and his Thai wife’s 7-year sentence for laundering money earned supplying marijuana to customers in the Netherlands for years.

Johannes Petrus Maria van Laarhoven. 57. was found guilty of laundering earnings from his gang’s smuggling of marijuana to the Netherlands from july 2008 to june 2014. He ran coffeeshops in the Netherlands where sale of cannabis for personal consumption in such places is tolerated by local authorities.

His wife Mingkwam Kaen-in, or Mingkwam van Laarhoven, 35, was found guilty on supporting money laundering.

They transferred 500.000 euros related to the marijuana business from Cyprus-registered Deefetv Holdings ltd to one bank account owned by Laarhoven in Pattaya and several million euros from Deutsche Bank of Germany to another account in Pattaya.

Since June 2009, they had bought land and buildings in Chon Buri, two yachts, a Porsche and a sedan worth more than 100 million baht in total.

Police arrested the couple in their house at a golf club in Chon Buri on july 23, 2014.

The wife’s prison term was communted from 11 years to seven years and four months because she gave useful testimoney.

Door: Bangkokpost op 20 juni 2017