Puppet Show: How Police and Prosecutors Blunder, Manipulate and Misuse Their Power

Respected businessman Gerry de Klerk mingled with cabinet ministers, Prime Ministers, presidents and members of the Dutch Royal Family, until Dutch police branded him a master swindler. He could have proved his innocence quickly, but police and prosecutors were not interested in the truth. After a brutal arrest, ten days in California’s Alameda County Jail, seven months behind bars in Amsterdam, and eight years under investigation, de Klerk has finally won.

He has been completely exonerated, and now he fights back not only with a record damage claim, but also with something that police, the Justice Department and some top business people may find even worse – this book, which exposes it all.

Peter Smolders (born 1970) is an experienced Dutch journalist specializing in investigating fraud. He is also the producer of a popular Dutch television series entitled "Opgelicht", (the Dutch word for "Defrauded") that exposes fraud. His style is incisive and at times humorously sarcastic. Although sarcasm and humor are difficult to translate, coauthor Gerry de Klerk has managed to transpose Smolders' unique style into English.

Gerry de Klerk is the subject of this story. (Born in 1943 in the Netherlands, he immigrated to Canada in 1967) It was through his ability to convey and document the facts in this case that the book was given a solid foundation. Smolders insisted that everything he wrote be backed up with documentary evidence. De Klerk was a successful businessman before this story and never envisioned himself as an author.