45-year-old Dutch meat wholesaler Willy Selten was sentenced to 2 ½ years in prison for selling horse meat fraudulently on Tuesday, revealed the Bois-le-Duc (south of the Netherlands) court. Horsemeat was found in packages labelled “pure beef”. A 5-year prison sentence had been requested. The court sentenced Willy Selten for forging invoices, labels and written statements and for using fake documentation in the meat trade. The meat wholesaler allegedly traded at least 336,000 kilos of horse meat between 2011 and 2012.
he judge decided it was impossible for this meat to be mixed with beef by mistake, as Willy Selten argued. “Customers and consumers were deceived,” said the court.
The judge took into account both the media pressure against Mr. Selten and his subsequent bankruptcy to reduce the sentence somewhat.
(Source: Belga)
