Ex-Netherlands footballers Dirk Kuyt and Wesley Sneijder questioned by police in gambling case
Two former Netherlands international football players have been interrogated by Dutch police, according to reports.
Dirk Kuyt and Wesley Sneijder are the latest footballers to have been questioned as witnesses regarding a gambling site alleged to have connections with a criminal organisation led by The Hague “godfather” Piet S.
The Dutch pair represented their home country at the 2010 World Cup final, with Kuyt having also made more than 200 Premier League appearances while playing for Liverpool.
Police claim to have information that Kuyt and Sneijder gambled on the now defunct site Edobet, which the Netherland’s Public Prosecution Service asserts was established by Freddy S, Piet’s son.
The former football players were reportedly interviewed by police earlier in 2021. Sneijder gave his statement in January with Kuyt following suit in February.
Authorities were alerted to their involvement in this case after messages naming them were discovered on EncroChat, an encrypted communications network which was primarily used by criminal organisations before its infiltration during a joint European investigation.
The messages concern both player’s gambling habits, discussing Sneijder’s failure to pay his debts and threatening his family. According to Dutch news outlet NOS, the messages stated: “We are no longer going to ask for money, just have them kicked into the hospital first. May also be a female, as long as it is someone from that family. His mother, aunt, grandmother, I don’t care who.”
Reports state that Sneijder has denied ever having gambled on Edobet, but according to AD, he was approached by people “who said he was in debt and that he would guarantee Wout van K,” who the ex-footballer identified as “my father’s cousin, seen once.”
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