Prosecutor transferred due to murder plot

19 February 2004

AMSTERDAM — Feeling threatened due to a lack of arrests in a murder plot against him, top Amsterdam prosecutor Koos Plooy has been transferred from organised crime cases to another function within the prosecution office (OM).

Plooy has been under police protection since August 2003 because a Yugoslavian crime boss is allegedly planning his murder, possibly with a rocket launcher, public news service NOS reported on Thursday.

And the OM confirmed on Thursday that Plooy has been transferred from the organised crime department, but will remain working in another division of the prosecution office. Sources said Plooy hopes the transfer will discourage the planned murder.

The transfer comes amid concern that the investigation into the murder plot has encountered a legal stumbling block, with prosecutors requesting permission to make a deal with a criminal in exchange for information about the plot.

The information that could result in criminal proceedings against the Yugoslav suspect, but OM chief Joan de Wijkerslooth has refused the request.

Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner is also opposed to dealing with criminals and the Lower House of Parliament, the Tweede Kamer, will soon vote on very restrictive legislation regarding the practice. The OM is therefore already restricted in expectation of the law’s implementation.

De Wijkerslooth has thus claimed there is no legal or political room to deal with a crown witness and has also cast doubts on the validity of the criminal’s statement.

His refusal has sparked deep rifts in the prosecution office, with talk of a crisis atmosphere and Plooy — reportedly feeling a lack of support from prosecution chiefs — has demanded that the OM work harder in forming a case against those who are behind the murder plot.

The informant has claimed that Yugoslavian mafia boss Sreten “Jotcha” Jocic is planning the murder. Plooy was responsible for arranging the foreign arrest of Jocic on charges that he shot a Dutch police officer.

Jocic is currently serving a prison sentence in the southern Dutch city of Vught on that charge, but the Netherlands might have to extradite him to Germany — where he is wanted on a minor drugs charge — if it does not officially link him with the murder plot before mid-March.

Plooy was involved in the fight against organised crime and since 1998 he had been investigating the series of gangland slayings in Amsterdam.

He was also in charge of the prosecution of Pim Fortuyn killer, Volkert van der Graaf, who was sentenced on appeal last year to 18 years jail.

Subject: Dutch news