PHILIPSBURG:--- USP faction leader and Member of Parliament Claudius Buncamper said in a press release that on Friday, February 12th he was officially informed by the Court of Appeal that the Prosecutor General’s Office has been granted permission to prosecute him for matters of crimes relating to him while working as a Civil Servant for Government.
Buncamper in his press release said that the methods and agendas are known to many, so from day one he informed everyone that he would be prosecuted by the Dutch as this investigation is conducted from Curacao by the RST/TBO where many people on the island have been threatened to say things about the RST/TBO target, or be prosecuted themselves. This is just one method utilized in a system plagued by abuse that allows RST/TBO to build a case against anyone in our community.
Buncamper said while defending himself in front of the three appeal court judges, without any part, in summary, or full, of the case file compiled against him, clearly showed that the case against him was purely political. This argument, just like amongst others, e.g.;
a. that concrete statement of witnesses saying that they were threatened by investigating officers of the RST/TBO to incriminate me, otherwise they with face criminal prosecution for alleged tax violations;
b. that RST/TBO never heard me on 3 of the 4 charges, but still decided that I had to be prosecuted, therefore;
c. That at minimum the case should be sent to a Judge of Instruction for me and other witnesses to be properly heard before a prosecution decision is taken by the Court of Appeals;
d. That I can never have a fair trial and defend myself in front of the Appellate Court if it holds that I can not see a shred of evidence or any document in my file, but only seven (7) days after it permits my prosecute;
e. All the evidence presented by me that not only clearly invalidates all suspicions against me, but shows that the investigative process, if it can really be called that, was highly prejudicial; a targeted effort to implicate and accuse me;
f. that the Attorney General Office with the criminal proceeding against me wants to dictate and impose rules and regulations on the functioning on Government Departments, and as such create his own set of rules as per which it also randomly decides to prosecute;
were to no avail as in their opinion everything was so-called done correctly. An assertion made with little to no motivation by the way.
The systemic abuse in our justice system is unbelievable and deeply rooted. From the outset, certainly officeholders on Sint Maarten fight an uphill battle against charges that going forward do not even have to be presented to them. While I just finished a 10-year battle that resulted
in acquittals, “I now have to start preparing once again for a battle that will most probably go all the way to the Supreme Court once again.” Buncamper said.
“Rest assured, I will not be silenced by anyone and will continue to fight on the floor of Parliament for the people of this country as I was elected to do. This abusive system also seems intent on changing or tarnishing elected officials with bogus charges against which someone cannot defend themselves because they are not presented with the evidence. You are guilty until proven innocent, not the other way around in a Kingdom where we hold human rights and democratic principles high.”
Time will tell how political the case is and will be, MP Buncamper concluded.
