Unibet CEO Wrongfully Arrested

October 29, 2007

Unibet CEO Petter Nylander was detained and ultimately arrested at Schipol airport by Dutch authorities last Tuesday. French authorities had issued a warrant for his arrest for his alleged offences in 2006 due to online gambling. However, it now seems that the detainment and arrest were not valid.

According to the European Commission, Nylander may be innocent of any wrongdoing as France�s gaming monopoly law is not recognized by EU legislation. The EC oversees compliance with the rules and regulations of the EU and said that he is presumably innocent of the charges, and therefore they arrested an innocent man.

Nylander has long been a critic of the EU state monopolies in online gambling, and many feel that because of the fact that he has been so outspoken about it in the past that he may have been a target. However, the commission says that as the law is not valid, Nylander should be released.

They said that as the laws do not conform to EU standards, France has until the middle of this week to conform or they will have to take legal action against them. They said that they were �confident� that they would be able to reach an agreement with the country.

The arrest is based on state owned monopoly laws that were passed in France in 1836 and therefore an illegal arrest was seemingly made. The Dutch border police were going on erroneous information when he was arrested.

Back to October 2007 Archive.