PHILIPSBURG – The public prosecutor demanded a higher sentence against Member of Parliament Chanel Brownbill on Thursday than he did against other suspects in the Emerald-investigation: 18 instead of 15 months of imprisonment and a conditional fine of 250,000 guilders. The court will pronounce its verdict on April 17.
Brownbill is standing trial because he never reported income his now inactive company Country Construction generated from jobs it did for the harbor group of companies. Between 2009 and 2016 the company invoiced the harbor for $1,261,078. Brownbill never reported this turnover for income and turnover tax.
The prosecutor based his higher demand on his premise that, as a member of Parliament, Brownbill is supposed to be a role model.
“He has harmed the country for more than one million guilders, while the country needs all the money it can get. During a period of almost eight years he has consistently not reported income. On top of that he is a member of Parliament and as such he is supposed to be a role model. He is enjoying an income from the state but when it comes to paying taxes he is not there. Furthermore he refuses to offer any explanation.”
The prosecutor pointed out that St. Maarten receives €550 million from the Netherlands for the reconstruction of the island. “The island has a reputation of fraud and corruption, especially in the construction sector. This is tax-fraud in a fraudulent context. The public prosecutor’s office wants to prevent that this money ends up in the wrong hands.”
The prosecutor returned to the court’s verdict against two other suspects in the Emerald-case in February. On that occasion, the prosecution demanded prison sentences of 15 months and a conditional fine of 250,000 guilders. The court however, returned verdicts of 6 to 12 months of conditional imprisonment combined with 120 to 240 hours of community service.
The court based these verdicts on the consideration that, unlike the Netherlands, St. Maarten does not have a history of prosecuting fiscal offenses in criminal court.
“I am asking the court to drop that argumentation,” the prosecutor said.
The February-ruling also referred to the verdict against former Central Bank president Dr. Emsley Tromp.
The court in Curacao acquitted Tromp in November 2017 of filing incorrect tax returns, because it found no evidence that he had done this intentionally. The prosecution demanded last year 240 hours of community service, a conditional prison sentence of 6 months and a fine of 10 million guilders.
The prosecutor told the court that Brownbill “cannot be compared to Tromp.” That triggered later on a reaction from Brownbill’s attorney Safira Ibrahim. “What is the basis for this assumption?” she wondered. Ibrahim also attacked the prosecutor’s reason for demanding a higher sentenced, based on her client’s status as a member of Parliament. “The prosecutor is creating arguments out of thin air to demand a higher sentence.”
Brownbill invoked his right to remain silent when the judge wanted to discuss the dossier with him. He even failed to find the answer to the rather innocuous question when he had become a parliamentarian. “From public records, I learned that this was September 26, 2016,’ the judge said drily.
Later on Brownbill did divulge that his net income as an MP is around 12,000 guilders per month. He also gets income from a sports bar he owns.
When Ibrahim noted that her client chose to remain silent because there is still another investigation underway against him – for forgery – the public prosecutor announced that he will not be prosecuted for it.
The prosecutor said that Brownbill’s call to use the tax amnesty law will not fly because he had only filed taxes for Country Construction in December 2017 and January 2018. “That is too late. The defendant has never made any payment for income and turnover taxes, while everyone knows that he has to pay taxes. He never reported the income from Country Construction.”
Ibrahim asked the court to declare the prosecution inadmissible because there are no valid grounds to prosecute her client, adding that the actions of the prosecution are at odds with the rules laid down in the ordinance national taxes. “The prosecutor takes the chair of the tax judge and has skipped steps.”
Ibrahim asked the court for a sentence equal to the time Brownbill spent in pretrial custody – all of three days.
The prosecutor dismissed the defense-arguments based on the ordinance national taxes. “The initiative has always been with the prosecutor’s office in this investigation.”
