~ OM St. Maarten abused their power in the Begonia Investigation. ~
PHILIPSBURG:--- After listening to Attorney at Law Zylena Barry as she explains what transpired with her client MP Christopher Emmanuel the moment he was arrested on Tuesday, October 22nd 2019 it makes one wonders who exactly has oversight on the Prosecutor’s Office and Attorney General since the Prosecutor that handled the Begonia file abused his or her power simply because basic legal procedures were not followed.
First and foremost, the Prosecutor’s Office through the Attorney General must approach the Appeals Court to seek permission to arrest a sitting Member of Parliament. Had this procedure being followed then certainly the Court would have seen that the Prosecutor’s Office has no basis for arresting MP Christopher Emmanuel since he did not break any law when issuing long lease land on November 1st, 2017.
The constitution of St. Maarten in article 123 clearly states the following: -
- Prosecution of a Minister or Member of Parliament for committing a criminal offence shall take place by the Attorney-General or another member of the Department of Public Prosecutions designated by the Attorney-General, following an order of the Common Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten and of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, in response to a requisition the Attorney-General.
- By national ordinance, the procedure shall be regulated. Parliament may not approve such a draft national ordinance or propose it for approval without a majority of at least two-thirds of the votes cast by the serving members.
- By national ordinance, the procedure shall be regulated. Parliament may not approve such a draft national ordinance or propose it for approval without a majority of at least two-thirds of the votes cast by the serving members. § 3. Police
A national ordinance dated December 23rd, 2010 also clearly confirms the above procedure. Click here to read Ordinance
Arrest, house search, and pretrial detention extension.
The arrest of MP Christopher Emmanuel came two years after the allegations were made against him and his former chief of cabinet Marisha Richardson, yet nothing was done with the case until Emmanuel’s name came up for screening now that he is a candidate Minister for the new coalition government. The hyped-up charges, house search took place illegally since no judge authorized the arrest of the sitting member of parliament.
To make matters worse on Thursday the Prosecutor again violated the rights of Emmanuel by committing more illegalities by extending the pretrial detention while no judge saw the case file and to determine if the arrest was legal. A statement from the Spokeswoman of the Prosecutor’s Office said pretrial detention has been extended based on Article 87 wetboek van strafvordering,
At least this is the first time the Prosecutor’s Office or at least Duran was so precise when it comes to the extension of pretrial detention of suspects, not realizing the Prosecutor Office had already passed their deadline to take MP Emmanuel before a court and while they extended without the confirmation of the judge they then pulled back the extension on Friday morning when they were supposed to be in court, yet they did not include the release order of MP Emmanuel and Richardson when they contacted their attorneys by email. When attorney Barry enquired the prosecutor stated that the reason for holding Emmanuel until 12:30 pm was because he had until 12:30 to release him.
The Prosecutor's Office in a brief statement on Friday said they were busy questioning two very important witnesses which was completed at 12:30 pm.
The question that quickly came to mind were these so important witness being questioned outside the gates of Pointe Blanche Prison or at the entrance of the Member of Parliament and his chief of staff because certainly the only reason the prosecutor wanted to restrain Emmanuel and Richardson was to ensure they had no contact with the witnesses prior to them being interrogated.
Secondly, one would want to know why these two very important witnesses were not questioned before the early morning house search and arrests, of the MP and senior civil servant, hopefully, the Prosecutor’s Office and Attorney General will provide answers to these very important questions because as it is right now it clearly shows that the justice system is not in the best interest of anyone residing on St. Maarten especially politicians and some civil servants.
The National Alliance leader said in a press statement that the timing of the arrest of MP Emmanuel was suspicious and certainly it was a clear signal that there was interference in the political development since Emmanuel is currently going through screening for a Ministerial position.
Politicians on St. Maarten have been very vocal about the Dutch interference post-IRMA, the people of St. Maarten have been crying out loud that they have been neglected while some politicians took orders from the Dutch and allow their presence to be heard, seen and felt through the judicial process it is left to be seen when the politicians that were duly elected to office takes the bull by its horns and call those that violated the rights of people while abusing their power to order. Hopefully, these people will be held accountable for their actions, sooner rather than later.
Land, taxis and bus licenses giveaway by politicians, none arrested or prosecuted.
Over the years, politicians on St. Maarten are known for giving land to their friend’s families and supporters especially when an election is nearing.
Some politicians gave buses and taxi licenses to their parents that are now dead, yet the licenses are still operational.
The late Minister and MP Roy Marlin gave away land in Belvedere on a weekend. It was public knowledge when even staff members of the late Marlin cabinet received land some recipients even sold the land they received.
Maurice Lake while being a Minister of VROMI gave away land Over the Bank, Claret Cooner did the same in Cole Bay, while Minister Giterson took away land that was given by Emmanuel to locals for a basketball court and gave it to a Spadaro, yet Giterson found it fit to criticize Emmanuel and his cabinet staff.
While all of the above giveaways are public secret the Prosecutor’s Office and National Detectives never launched an investigation, maybe because the youths in Fort Willem were not disadvantaged.
