Corallo’s extradition hearing is on May 16
GREAT BAY – The extradition hearing to determine whether casino owner Francesco Corallo can be extradited to Italy has been scheduled for Tuesday May 16. This appears from a letter Minister Ronald Plasterk (Kingdom Relations) sent to the Second Chamber on Friday in answer to questions from the parliamentary Kingdom Relations Committee.
Plasterk wrote that an earlier hearing (on March 21) did not go through due to objections from the defense. The letter does not mention a second scheduled date – May 2 – when the hearing cannot take place either because it is a national holiday in St. Maarten and the court is closed.
Minister Plasterk indicated that the extradition procedure could be lengthy and that it could go up to the Supreme Court.
It is likely that Corallo will object to extradition to the Italian jurisdiction which he considers unreliable. According to Plasterk this procedure could take up to a year; he indicated that extradition will possibly not take place before the summer of 2018.
Corallo’s financial director Rudolf Baetsen was arrested on the French side in December. Based on the European Arrest Order he could be quickly sent to Italy.
This European Arrest Order is not in effect for the Dutch side of the island, reason why Corallo’s extradition has to go through the complete extradition procedure.
Tomorrow afternoon the Common Court of Justice will handle a court case of Corallo’s father Caetano. Reportedly, the father claims millions from his son for allegedly stolen property.
Corallo told this newspaper during an exclusive interview on April 2 that his father is old and that he does not understand why his father’s attorney Roland Duncan has bothered to initiate the lawsuit.
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