Philipsburg:--- In an exclusive interview with SMN News, Member of Parliament Patrick Illidge who returned to St. Maarten on Sunday and is currently under investigation for corruption explained why he was caught on tape taking monies from the owner of Bada Bing strip club. MP Illidge said he lone Jaap van den Heuvel monies sometime in 2011 when the businessman was going through a hectic divorce. Illidge said he used to go ever so often to the Bada Bing strip club to collect the monies he lone the businessman who was paying him back in parts.
According to MP Illidge, the UP leader Theodore Heyliger asked Jaap van den Heuvel to trap and tape Patrick Illidge while giving him the monies and ask him questions as if he wanted Illidge to secure a business license for him. Illidge said he knew van den Heuvel and Heyliger were friends but he and the businessman is also friends and he never thought the businessman would ever do that to him because he helped him at a time when he was in need.
Illidge said while in the Netherlands he met van den Heuvel who explained him how and why he taped him. He said van den Heuvel traveled to the Netherlands to try and stop the Telegraaf from printing the story and to convince them not to use the video footage and explain why he taped MP Patrick Illidge but he Van den Heuvel arrived one day too late. Van den Heuvel said in an email to Illidge that he had no control over what Heyliger did with the tape. He said he did it because he too was angry because Illidge had left Heyliger's coalition government and he wanted to help Heyliger to get back in government.
Illidge said van den Heuvel told him that Heyliger asked him to tape him because he wanted to get back in government and that he (Theo Heyliger) would have used the tape to push MP Illidge to break the present coalition government. MP Illidge said that the businessman told him that he (Heyliger) even offered MP Romain Laville $135,000.00 when he left his party but that did not work. However, Member of Parliament Romain Laville said in a Blackberry message to SMN News that the UP Leader Theodore Heyliger offered him $350,000.00 to return to the United Peoples Party. MP Laville also said more information will be released as the investigation progresses.
To corroborate his story MP Illidge provided SMN News with emails that were sent to him by Bada Bing owner Jaap van den Heuvel and the businessman's lawyer Cor Merx. In the email which is written in the Dutch language van den Heuvel apologized several times to Illidge, telling him that the tape was never intended for publication instead it was supposed to be used as a blackmail to break the current coalition government. Also implicated in the email is a reporter of the Daily Herald Michael Granger who once worked as the Executive Assistant to the United Peoples Party Leader Theodore Heyliger some years ago.
Below is the translated version of the email that was sent to MP Illidge and Merx.
Dear Mr. Merx:
Via these means I am requesting your legal assistance, concerning the negative publicity which has arisen in the media concerning myself and Patrick Illidge. I, Jaap van den Heuvel made the tapes which are to be seen on many media sites on the request of Theo Heyliger. Theo was very mad when Patrick left his party and he spoke to me many times about correcting this so that he could return to politics. At first he tried to buy out Laville for the amount of $135,000 according to me. When this failed he wanted to ask me a favor. He asked about the story that I had paid Patrick for a permit and I told him that was not true, but that I had borrowed money from Patrick in 2011 and that Patrick often came by to collect his portion of this money. He asked me if it was possible for me to tape him the next time he came by and also question him about the problems with William Marlin. He knew that there were problems in the party, at least, between William and Patrick. That was the only thing that Theo was going to use, to get Patrick back on his side so that he could return to politics. The images of me repaying Patrick the loan were to be removed by Theo's friend Michael Granger of the Daily Herald. Theo was only going to use these images to get Patrick back on his side. I agreed because I also was not in agreement with Patrick leaving Theo. After I was called this week by the Telegraaf about this, I was very scared and very disappointed that Theo had sent the tape to the media. A really poor decision! The day after I flew to Holland and tried via a lawyer to get the Telegraaf to stop publication but alas too late because on the day I arrived it was already in the papers. I was shocked and ashamed towards Patrick who had always been my friend long before he entered politics. Our children were in the same class. He who had helped me during my failed marriage in 2011, I have done this to him. And when the day after all the images appeared on YouTube and all media sites I knew it was time for me to clear this up as soon as possible by telling Patrick what had happened. Who at that moment rather would have preferred to wring my neck in anger and disappointment about our friendship. I am really very sorry for what I have done. I had 100% confidence in Theo that he would only show Patrick those images, what a mistake. I saw it this way. We all know each other since our 20's I thought he would show Patrick the tape, Patrick would return to his spot next to Theo, Patrick would call and ask "what are you doing", he would be angry, but I still owed him Naf. 5000 from the loan, so he would control himself and in the following weeks everything would calm down. Patrick does not carry hate as far as I know him for me it all about getting things back to normal as they had been before.
Click here to view emails sent by van den Heuvel to Merx and Illidge in Dutch.
