ESG Enforcement Tracker

Key facts:

The OM, the Dutch Public Prosecution, has fined Cees Bunschoten, the owner of scandal-hit Dutch company Biodiesel Kampen, €5 million (US$5.4 million) in settlement of an ongoing investigation.

Biodiesel Kampen was a waste-biodiesel producer. It is alleged to have made about €70 million in profits between 2011-2014 by selling biodiesel with fake sustainability documents. It is alleged that part of that money was laundered and used to buy properties in the Caribbean Island of Bonaire.

Mr Bunschoten was jailed in August 2019 for forging documents, fraud and money laundering with his firm, Biodiesel Kampen, and declared bankrupt the same month. Mr Bunschoten was initially jailed for 20 months in 2019 and received another two years in 2021.

In March 2022, Mr Bunschoten had to pay €11.3 million to the bankruptcy liquidator and was also ordered to pay €17 million in damages to Shell Trading Rotterdam for selling them fraudulent biodiesel.

Mr Bunschoten is also facing a second ongoing investigation by the OM, in which he could be fined in the tens of millions.