PHILIPSBURG/WILLEMSTAD:--- The nrc.nl of the Netherlands reported in April 2011 and released the names of five police chiefs of the Netherlands who received excessive funds and had to pay it back. Among the five is the man the Dutch Government chose to place at the helm of one of main justice institutions that is supposed to give cooperation to the countries within the Kingdom (The Netherlands, St. Maarten, Curacao, and Aruba). At the time of the incident Wim van Vemde was a deputy chief of police who worked as the chief of Gooi and Vecht in the Netherlands.
A research conducted by NRC Handelsblad showed that the five had to refund the monies they were overpaid, that announcement was made by the Minister of Security and Justice of the Netherlands Ivo Opstelten from the (VVD).
Surprisingly, Opstelten attended the four party justice meeting held on St. Maarten on Wednesday and when SMN News posed the question to him about Wim van Vemde he refused to answer the question and referred it to the Minister of Justice of St. Maarten Dennis Richardson who had no knowledge of the information. Even though Minister Opstelten knew of the monetary issues the Netherlands had with Wim van Vemde, they chose to appoint him head of the RST, one of the most critical justice agencies that has to give the countries cooperation when investigating certain cases.
Opstelten told the house in 2011 that eight unjustifiable grants were paid in 2008 and 2009. He stated that seven persons in top police positions were involved. He further stated it was five cases of high representation allowances, one case high reimbursement for childcare, two for rental fees and compensation for taxes. Parties in the Netherlands agreed at the time that the five persons involved, one of which is the current head of the RST for the countries within the Kingdom, will repay the extra monies they claimed and received.
Since it was clear to Minister Opstelten that the five top cops were not honest and they needed to show that the police of the Netherlands had honest people in the Korps, they chose not to appoint any of them to high positions in the Netherlands. Currently there are 14 National Police Departments with several regional chiefs. However, miraculously, Wim Van Vemde was appointed head of the RST.
This of course raised several questions that have to be answered by the various Ministers of Justice and the Attorney General Dick Piar. On September 30th, 2013 the Kingdom Council of Minister ordered the Governor of St. Maarten by Royal Decree to conduct an investigation on the integrity within the Government of St. Maarten. It is now left to be seen what actions will be taken against the persons that knew of Wim van Vemde's actions while he was working in the Netherlands, yet chose to appoint him head of the RST.
Click here to view the article from nrc.nl that was published in April 2011.