Dutch wholesaler jailed for selling horsemeat as beef

Yahoo - AFP, Charles Onians, 7 April 2015

File picture taken on March 24, 2015 shows 

Dutch meat trader Willy Selten arriving at

 court in the city of Den Bosch before

his trial (AFP Photo/Martijn Beekman)

The Hague (AFP) - A Dutch court on Tuesday jailed wholesaler Willy Selten for two-and-a-half years for selling horsemeat passed off as beef during Europe's massive 2013 meat scandal.

"As boss of two companies he (Selten) was guilty of forging invoices, labels and written declarations and using these forged documents to trade meat," the court in Den Bosch said in its judgement.

Selten, 45, was arrested in May 2013 for allegedly selling 300 tonnes of horsemeat labelled as beef, during one of Europe's biggest ever food scandals.

Dutch prosecutors -- who asked for a five-year-sentence -- suspected Selten of major involvement in the consumer scandal, which prompted recalls of meat products from Ireland to Greece.

Of 167 samples taken by Dutch authorities from Selten's meat supplies in February 2013, 35 tested positive for horse DNA, the court said.

"All these products were sold as pure beef," it added.

Selten's businesses processed at least 336 tonnes of horsemeat between 2011 and 2012 although no horsemeat was mentioned on the books, the court said.

File picture taken on March 24, 2015

 shows Dutch meat trader Willy Selten

 arriving at court in Den Bosch before

his trial (AFP Photo/Martijn Beekman)

The sentence was based on the fact that Selten misled butchers that he supplied and, ultimately, consumers.

"Butchers had problems and their reputations were damaged," the court said, adding that because Selten also traded internationally, he had damaged the Dutch meat industry's image.

"He saved money by buying cheaper horsemeat, mixed it with beef fat and sold it as more expensive beef," the court said.

Selten's businesses are now bankrupt and the administrator has laid a claim of 11 million euros ($12 million) against him, the court said.

Selten's lawyer did not return phone calls on Tuesday.

At the end of his trial last month, an emotional Selten protested his innocence, saying "mistakes were made in our bookkeeping".

"I am not the big horsemeat swindler they're all looking for. I was careless with my administration, but not intentionally," he said in March.

The scandal erupted in Ireland and Britain in January 2013, when it was found that frozen burgers supplied to several supermarkets, including the Tesco chain, contained horse DNA.

Meatballs in Ikea stores, sausages in Russia and frozen burgers in Britain were pulled from the shelves by the millions as a result.

Dutch food and consumer watchdog NVWA arrested Selten on charges of "false accounting and fraud" after an extensive probe.

The NVWA then asked hundreds of companies across Europe supplied by Selten -- who sourced the horsemeat from Ireland and Britain -- to check their products.

In April 2013, Selten failed to quash a massive order by the NVWA recalling 50,000 tonnes of potentially contaminated meat that had passed through his plant.

Thousands of DNA tests on European beef products after the scandal revealed extensive food fraud across the European Union, with almost one in 20 meals marked as beef likely to be tainted with horsemeat.

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