Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
THE HAGUE--The liberal democratic VVD party and Socialist Party (SP) will be calling for an instruction to have a criminal investigation focusing on United People's (UP) party leader Theo Heyliger, during the handling of the draft 2015 budget of Kingdom Relations in the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament today, Wednesday.
If it were up to Second Chamber Member André Bosman of the liberal democratic VVD party, there would be an instruction from the Kingdom government for such an investigation sooner rather than later.
"Everything has to be geared towards realising that. It cannot be that someone gets away with election fraud and bribery. St. Maarten will receive assistance if that is what they need to get this done. But only on our conditions, which means broad prosecution authority and providing of information. Otherwise it makes no sense. Improvement is in sight for the island, so let's tackle this together," said Bosman in a press release on Tuesday.
Member of the Second Chamber Ronald van Raak (SP) will call for a similar investigation of Heyliger. He considers it unheard of that "a man who buys votes and possibly even a member of the St. Maarten Parliament" will be taking over power. "A man of whom even the judge says that it is a shame that he is not being prosecuted. What will Minister Plasterk do? Will our government look away or finally act?"
Bosman said he was willing to give St. Maarten one last chance to deal with corruption once and for all, and to pave the way for healthy government finances. "I would give government until May 2015, the month when we have the debate on accountability in the Second Chamber, to set things right," he said.
About the PricewaterhouseCoopers Integrity Inquiry Report drafted on the order of the Kingdom Council of Ministers under the auspices of St. Maarten Governor Eugene Holiday, he said the "first stones had been turned, but the bottom stones haven't as yet."
Bosman said he was "neither shocked, nor surprised" by the report's results. "Ministers acting illegally, main persons getting away and the buying of votes haven't even been investigated. The report's results are not the most important aspect. What counts is what government will do in the coming time to clean up their act."
