PHILIPSBURG:--- After learning why the Kingdom Council placed higher supervision on St. Maarten it was not only questionable but left everyone with their jaws wide open. The lack of an "Integrity Chamber" on St. Maarten to curb corruption on the island. One must admit that something is dead wrong within the government apparatus and something must be done in order to teach politicians that government coffers is not their piggy bank and when they took the oath of office it was not to fill up their own pockets but to create ways and means for the people of St. Maarten to have better living conditions. One must admit that business can no longer be as usual and if something is not done now then there will be no future for the youths of this young country. With all of that said we must ask if the 50 or 55 detectives the Dutch said they are sending to St. Maarten will come here to work or are they coming to enjoy the sea, sun, sand and salaries. After all Euros 10M a year is a lot of monies. It behooves everyone on St. Maarten to ask the Dutch Kingdom Council when they will take action against their own that is running the Prosecutors Office on St. Maarten? When are they going to prosecute Taco Stein for selling boats illegally and for stalling several cases because he is in bed with the very politicians his Dutch bosses are calling corrupt? Some of those cases include the Maria Buncamper case, the Masbangu case that judge Luijks threw out and label the island with the title of "Class Justice" and the Regina Labega case. The former director of the finance department Bas Roorda provided former Chief Prosecutor Hans Mos with stacks of evidence but again that case too cannot reach the court, neither can the names of these people be cleared simply because the Prosecutors Office that has only Dutch Prosecutors refuses to act. If anyone is guilty for the "Class Justice" title this small country earned it's the Attorney General and the Prosecutors Office, but what will the Dutch do to their own is yet to be seen.
What do they intend to do with the Attorney General who sits high in Curacao but has a lot to say about crime in St. Maarten?
SMN News reporter along with several local people of St. Maarten filed hundreds of complaints against one internet terrorist. To date the Prosecutors Office has failed to even act on these complaints. Victims are told that the Prosecutors Office do not meet with victims instead their job is to prosecute criminals. With the complaints SMN News reporter filed one prosecutor said "there is more than enough evidence to charge this person with "smaad" yet that very prosecutor along with former Chief Prosecutor Eric Noordhoek refused to give KPSM an arrest warrant for them to act. In investigating further SMN News learnt that the orders were given by Taco Stein not to proceed with the investigation. Acting Chief Prosecutor Karola van Nie promised the Minister of Justice to take a decision in December 2014 but to date KPSM neither the Minister of Justice on St. Maarten did not get one feedback from Van Nie, the question now remains did Stein tell her to back off or is she just incapable and or lied to the Minister of Justice and KPSM?
Another victim, who ran on one of the political slates in the Parliamentary elections on August 29th, 2014 contacted SMN News late Sunday night informing us about a slanderous video that is currently on YouTube. The first thing that came to mind is what can SMN News do about a dysfunctional Prosecutors Office and an Attorney General who knows everything about St. Maarten crime rate yet he does nothing to reduce or curb it. Instead with is 38 staff members in Curacao he prepared one of the worst presentation for his Dutch counterparts last month. One that depicts St. Maarten crime rate as being the highest while he closes his eyes on what is taking place in Curacao.
On September 19th, 2012 two innocent Americans were slaughtered in their condominium, the case known as Ocean is now in the Supreme Court. The local detectives working at KPSM captured the three suspects that slaughtered these two innocent people in less than two weeks. However, the Prosecutors Office chose to withhold valuable evidence from the court and the defense team simply because they felt they had the three "black men" that committed the gruesome murder but refused to look further to see if anyone masterminded this crime. The hidden evidence such as the safe and the valuable jewelry found on the victims' bodies clearly showed that this was not a robbery that went wrong. In the Court of First Instance the Prosecutor Office asked for life imprisonment for two of the suspects. The judge did sentence the main culprit to life in prison. The appeals court dropped it to 30 years for the main suspect, even though the Prosecutors Office bungled that case beyond repair. It is left to be seen what will happen in the Supreme Court with the mess the Prosecutors Office made and if the Kings will ever get justice.
Last week Wednesday a 22 year old man was taken to court for the gruesome murder of Clemencia Josianne Julot whose body was found on October 1st 2010 in the bushes in Oyster Pond. As a reminder Clemencia was a young woman who worked at Blue Point, she was brutally murdered one early morning when she went jogging. Her body bore 80 stab wounds. Yet the Prosecutors Office saw it fit to ask the judge to impose an 18 year prison sentence for the culprit who admitted he brutally murdered an innocent young woman he knew from school days. Is this class justice or not, why 18 years and not life imprisonment? Was this case tried based on color, race and ethnicity? In the minds of everyone this particular case which rippled the island and its residents especially those in Middle Region and the immediate relatives they simply cannot understand why the prosecutor chose to ask for 18 years. Many of them want to know if Clemencia's life was not valuable enough.
After hearing this it is again questionable to say the least if the Prosecutors Office is engaging in "Class Justice" as stated by Judge Luijks?
Moreover it is alleged that a particular prosecutor took some $20,000.00 from a bag of monies that was confiscated from a Haitian money courier. That $20,000.00 was taken in the Prosecutors Office after 5pm instead of it being paid as a fine at the Island Receivers Office. The lawyer that represented his client and accepted the settlement instead of allowing the prosecution to prosecute got a receipt from that was typed up in Mircrosoft word instead of given a receipt that is numbered numerically.
These are only some of the cases that KPSM worked on and the Prosecution failed to act or when they act they mess up. What guarantee does St. Maarten have when the other 50 or 55 detectives flood St. Maarten and work on cases that involve politicians and people that sit in high places will ever be prosecuted? Can the Kingdom Council assure St. Maarten and its people that this is not just another set of people coming here to further label the country?
