WILLEMSTAD, Curacao:--- Press Prosecutor Guillen Schoop confirmed on Monday that former Prime Minister of Curacao and now Member of Parliament Gerrit Scotte (G.F.S) (39) will remain in pretrial detention as the Babel investigation continues.
The decision to continue the pretrial detention of Scotte was taken on May 25th, 2014 by the judge of instruction in Curacao. The companion of Scotte identified only as C.R.D (36) was released last Friday. Scotte and his companion were arrested on May 20th, 2014 by members of the Landsrecherche. They are accused of being involved in money laundering and multiple counts of forgery.
Last week a press release from the Attorney General's Office stated that searches were conducted in St. Maarten and Italy. When questioned about this statement by SMN News, Prosecutor Scoop said that several persons were heard on St. Maarten in the Babel investigation as witnesses and one search was done in Italy.
Prosecutor Scoop refused to identify the persons that were heard on St. Maarten and he also refused to say whether or not the person in Italy whose place was searched is a suspect or witness. "Police have the right to search any place they believe they could find documents or data that can help an ongoing investigation. The person/persons does not necessarily have to be a suspect," said Prosecutor Schoop.
