It is strongly suspected that Jan Fasen, the Dutch meat-trader, played a pivotal role in the ongoing pan-European meat crisis.
The director of Drape Trading Ltd, who was convicted of selling horse meat under the label of "beef" last year, denies that the meat was not properly labelled as "horse". In this case the meat was purchased from Romanian abattoirs and sold to French food processors.
Fasen was remanded in custody by French authorities on 8 April and has since been charged with fraud and conspiracy to defraud, according to Agence France Press. He is still in custody.
The Dutch broadcaster NOS reported that Fasen passed off South American horsemeat as Dutch; they also claim that he falsified documents, and served time in prison for this offence.
The meat was given to the French company Spanghero, and then later Comigel, another French company.
Fasen was quoted in the Guardian as saying "When they deliver beef, they deliver beef. No problem. When they deliver horse, they deliver horse. There is never, ever horse invoiced as beef. I was 100% sure I was buying horse. We sold it to Spanghero in France as well as to clients in Belgium and Holland. It was all sold as horse. There is no issue."
The Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project have carried out an investigation, and revealed that Draap Trading Ltd was registered in Cyprus.
© 2014 - European Supermarket Magazine by Peter Donnelly
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