fbpx
Published On: Fri, Aug 20th, 2021

Notary plays a false note and faces profession ban

WILLESTAD — Renowned composer and piano player Johnny Kleinmoedig is facing an 18-months prison sentence (with 6 months suspended) and a ban from practicing as a public notary for five years. The public prosecutor holds Kleinmoedig responsible for transferring money from a third party account to his private bank account. The court in Curacao handled the case on Friday, August 20.

Kleinmoedig is a partner in the office of Kleinmoedig&Alexander in Willemstad. According to the prosecution the defendant had no legal basis for transferring the funds to his private account. Kleinmoedig told the court that the money “no longer had an appropriation.” But the prosecution argued that this is irrelevant and that the money should have been returned to its rightful owners.

An investigation conducted by the National Detectives Agency in collaboration with the tax inspectorate and the anti-corruption task force revealed that Kleinmoedig has been using the third party account for years as “an internal bank for private purposes.”

“The defendant has seriously abused his position as a notary and he has put the confidence clients entrusted him with to shame,” the prosecutor said. “A notary has to be beyond reproach and he has to act accordingly.”

The court issues its ruling on September 10.

Kleinmoedig is not just the partner of Mike Alexander in the Curacao-based law office. He has also made a name for himself as a composer of classical music and as a concert pianist.

The website writersunlimited.nl describes the 59-year old defendant as “among the most renowned concert-pianists and composers of so-called classical Curacao salon music.”

His work is “distinctly inspired by the etudes, polkas and mazurkas of the Polish composer Frederic Francois Chopin, combined with an exciting Caribbean rhythm.”

He has performed with the combo that carries his name in places like Cancun and Amsterdam. Together with the late Wim Statius Muller and Livio Hermans he also performed in Warsaw.