Willem Endstra: honest businessman or crook?

Gunned down in cold blood on an Amsterdam street, Dutch real estate magnate Willem Endstra took his secrets to the grave on Monday 17 May.

One of the wealthiest men in the Netherlands, Endstra was the subject of persistent money laundering suspicions, but he always vehemently denied any links to the murky Dutch underworld. Yet, his brutal murder has added fire to the cauldron of doubt.

Fierce denials

The authorities have found it difficult to make allegations against Endstra stick and he never obliged their questions with the confession — earning him the nickname Willem de Zwijger, William the Silent. In a further blow to the prosecution, Amsterdam Court ruled on 13 May that it was “highly unlikely” he would be convicted of money laundering.

Shortly before his assassination, Endstra had lodged a legal objection against his pending prosecution in what is commonly referred to as a type of fencing action. And the court ruled in his favour, deciding that the criminal financial investigation has not provided any evidence.

Despite the ruling, the public prosecutor’s office (OM) was free to continue its investigation of Endstra in the so-called building fund case, in which the defendant allegedly committed fraud in property deals.

Endstra’s lawyer said last week that the results of 14 years of uninterrupted investigation into Endstra’s dealings had produced very little evidence of criminality against his client. The tycoon was expecting an eventual acquittal.

The real estate magnate also appeared on television on Sunday night proclaiming his innocence again. It was a noteworthy move, considering Endstra has avoided the media in the past.

His media shyness was particularly apparent two years ago.

He was outraged by the publication of his photograph in the Dutch business magazine Quote. He tried unsuccessfully to stop Quote from printing photographs of him, claiming that it put his life in danger. The photos were part of a feature about Endstra’s alleged criminal ties.

A court initially sided with Endstra, but reversed its injunction against Quote within 24 hours when the magazine produced a photo of Endstra sitting on a park bench talking with Willem Holleeder — one of the men jailed for kidnapping beer magnate Freddie Heineken in 1983.

Fast forward to Sunday night and Endstra said in the Business Class programme on RTL 5 that Holleeder was seated on a bench in front his Amsterdam office. “He is also a public figure in Amsterdam that you come across everywhere,” Endstra said.

Endstra also claimed it was an old photo and that he wanted to prevent its publication because he was being threatened, Dutch public news service NOS reported.

Wealthy property tycoon

The son of railway magnate Minne Endstra, he started work at the age of 16 in his father’s company Armita, which later grew to become an important supplier of trains to Dutch rail operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen (NS).

He studied law at night at Amsterdam’s Vrije Universiteit and under the watchful eye of his father started to invest in real estate. In the 1980s — the start of the real estate boom — Endstra’s Convoy Vastgoed (Convoy Real Estate) grew to a multimillion business.

He became one of the largest property owners in the Netherlands and was listed last year by Quote magazine as the 93rd richest person in the country with a fortune of EUR 200 million.

In 2002, Endstra was listed as the 36th richest person with a total wealth of EUR 350 million, RTL news reported.

Suspicions and legitimacy

The businessman was first publicly linked to possible wrongdoing in 1992 when the OM accused him of laundering money for an ecstasy gang. The leader of the gang was jailed for 10 years, but Endstra never appeared in court.

It is alleged that Endstra paid justice offic