PHILIPSBURG — De zaak Larimar gaat over corruptie in Sint Maarten. Het gaat over betalingen van steekpenningen rondom een aantal grote bouwprojecten en het witwassen daarvan. Er zijn verschillende personen bij betrokken. Uitleg over de zaak en de feiten waarvoor vervolging is ingesteld is te vinden in het bij dit bericht gevoegde animatie. https://youtu.be/A2XnDrhFTVA. Geëiste straffen Vandaag heeft de officier van justitie gerequireerd in de zaken tegen de verdachten H., P., E. en B. De officier heeft tegen verdachte H een gevangenis straf gevraagd voor de duur van zes jaren en zes maanden en tevens een vordering aangekondigd tot het…
Author: The Publisher
~ Prosecutor demands prison time in ‘LARIMAR’ investigation ~ PHILIPSBURG — The Anti-Corruption Team (TBO, Team Bestrijding Ondermijning) has issued a public statement via the office of the Public Prosecution Service in Bonaire outlining the details of the LARIMAR case about corruption in Sint Maarten together with an animation video explaining what the corruption case is all about. According to the press release the Larimar case is about corruption in Sint Maarten. It concerns payments of bribes around several major construction projects and money laundering. Several individuals are suspects in this case. Explanation of the case and evidence brought forward…
~ Six years and six months in prison demanded against Theo Heyliger ~ PHILIPSBURG – The Public Prosecutor in the Larimar case demands six years and six months in prison against Theo Heyliger for taking over 3 million dollars in bribes and money laundering. If the judge agrees with the prosecution’s request, Heyliger will be immediately imprisoned after the ruling on April 24. According to the prosecutor, his health problems do not form a barrier to detention. The Public Prosecution states that it has demanded a long-term prison sentence because Heyliger refused to cooperate and give full disclosure during the…
PHILIPSBURG – Defendant in the Larimar case Theo Heyliger remembers that building consultant Ronald Maasdam brought stroopwafels for him from the Netherlands. But envelopes with banknotes, no, he never received them, according to Heyliger. Nevertheless, co-suspect JanHendrik Boekhaar, former CEO of construction company Windward Roads, believes that he saw Heyliger accept envelopes with money. Has he seen the banknotes? “No,” says Boekhaar, “but I now understand, after Maasdam’s interrogation by the judge, yesterday, why Maasdam and Heyliger always acted so mysteriously and Heyliger had to go to Maasdam’s car to get an envelope out of it.” Dutch construction consultant Ronald…
PHILIPSBURG – Bribery-suspect Theo Heyliger denied any wrongdoing during the second day of the Larimar-trial at the Belair Community Center. The denials of the former politician and founder of the United People’s party are diametrically opposed to statements made a day earlier by crown witness Ronald Maasdam. Heyliger said that he had only received donations from Maasdam for his political party during the run-up to elections. He claimed that Maasdam had not paid him for anything else, that he had had no involvement in the dredging contract for Devcon and that he did not, as Maasdam claimed, held any informal…
PHILIPSBURG — “A deal was a deal,” says Ronald Maasdam, crown witness in the Larimar case, about paying bribes to Theo Heyliger and the late Roy Marlin. For years, the Dutch building consultant delivered a newspaper several times a month, with an envelope with banknotes hidden inside it. Until he incited Heyliger’s anger by withholding several hundred thousand euros. The fight led Maasdam to leave St. Maarten. Today Ronald Maasdam (65) is back on the island for the first time after five years, as a crown witness and as a suspect. He is the last of five main suspects in…
PHILIPSBURG – The public prosecutor demanded a 3-year prison sentence on Monday against Ronald Maasdam, the 66-year old crown witness in the LARIMAR corruption trial. Maasdam implicated the late Roy Marlin and the founder of the United People’s party (UP) Theo Heyliger in the bribery schemes where he functioned as the middleman, collecting around 2.5 percent of the project price for his efforts. Initially he shared this money equally with Heyliger, later he kept one-third of the bribes. Maasdam said that he had paid bribes to Heyliger in cash with funds obtained through the Standard Trust Company, but that no…
PHILIPSBURG — The board of the United People (UP) party on Monday said that despite months of creating negative and false impressions about its founder Theo Heyliger, the prosecutor’s office did not present any physical evidence of wrong-doing by Heyliger in the so-called Larimar case. Instead, the board said, what the prosecutor managed to do was put nefarious dealings among Dutch contractors operating on St. Maarten and their efforts to manipulate the system on full display. The UP board said while charges against Heyliger are frivolous and with no grounds, the person that the prosecutor made into a “crown witness”…
PHILIPSBURG -– Starting today, Monday, March 9, five defendants are in court for one of the largest bribery scandals in St. Maarten’s history. While the charges have yet to be proven, the names of the defendants have inspired the court to handle the case in the Belair Community Center – not only because of the number of defendants, but also because of the expected high turnout of spectators. Theo Heyliger, the founder and former leader of the United People’s party (UP) stands trial together with his stepfather George Pelgrim, former Windward Roads director Janhendrik Boekaar, Ronald Elferink and Ronald Maasdam.…
By Cdr. Bud Slabbaert Many Caribbean economies find themselves already in a difficult situation with low growth, high debt, fiscal deficits, and low domestic private sector investments. Because of the current developments around the spread of the novel coronavirus around the world, economies worldwide will be dealing with an unforeseen shock. While action is taken to contain and mitigate the outbreak, a global recession is likely, and the Caribbean will also be affected. Global recessions are known to have an impact over a two-year period. Now is the time to be prepared for what comes thereafter. January 23, 2020 -…
