24/10/2007 8:50:17 am
Completely Outrageous. This Monday, the CEO of Unibet, Petter Nylander, was arrested in Amsterdam by the Dutch Police, acting on behalf of the French Police, using the new European Arrest Warrant. The procedure is highly questionable, since this was created to fight terrorism.

So what is he accused of? Why has the French Police been looking for him? He is accused of breaking the French state gambling monopoly, by the two monopoly companies themselves. The law which protects those monopolies from competition from private companies originate from 1836 and 1891.

If the procedure is highly questionable and must lead to an investigation, the cause itself is horrible. Of course, these laws have no place in a modern society and any state should aviod pursuing them forcefully until they are changed. This is a violent over-reaction.

We will see what happens. For the moment, one thing that can be done is to send e-mails to the French Minister of Justice, Rachida Dati, at rachida.dati@justice.gouv.fr. While you are at it, send two.