By Hilbert Haar
Okay. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves with the case(s) against United Democrats-leader MP Theo Heyliger. The 48-year old was arrested on Tuesday and the prosecutor’s office is now seeking permission from the Common Court of Justice to prosecute him in the Larimar-investigation. The court has already given the green light for prosecuting Heyliger in the Catfish-investigation.
Everybody is innocent until proven guilty in our justice system but the standards are different for public figures like Heyliger. They are not only held to a higher standard – and rightly so – but they also become the immediate target of media attention. That’s the price for being a not so ordinary citizen, but media attention does not make anybody guilty. That is not how the system works.
There is no smoke without fire, as the saying goes and in Heyliger’s case there is an awful lot of smoke. To say that things don’t look good for him would be the understatement of the century. [Read our recap story here – Publisher’s note]
The Heyliger-case is the ultimate litmus-test for integrity-levels in St. Maarten and that makes his arrest and the allegations against him so interesting.
How does a community react when the police arrest a guy who just robbed a supermarket? Or a guy (for some reason, most criminal suspects are guys) who killed his neighbor? A lady who embezzled a truckload of money from her employer?
In the first two cases, most people turn against the suspect. In the third case, embezzlement, the reactions are usually divided. This is also the case with Heyliger and that is okay – everybody is entitled to her of his opinion.
What strikes me however is how silent politicians become once the justice system has “one of their own” in the crosshairs.
Recent history shows that our politicians are not as clean as they ought to be. Former MPs Louie Laveist and Silvio Matser ended up in court and left with convictions. Same for current MP Chanel Brownbill who was involved in fraud at the harbor group of companies.
MP Frans Richardson has also been named (and arrested) as a suspect in this so-called Emerald investigation. The charges against him are taking bribes and committing tax fraud. And now the most popular politician in St. Maarten, Claude Wathey’s grandson Theo Heyliger is also on the receiving end of a piece of criminal justice.
Richardson and Heyliger both supported a call for a parliamentary inquiry into the functioning of the prosecutor’s office. That was back in November, followed by silence that is continuing to this very day. Richardson accused anti-corruption taskforce officers of theft, based on a clumsily forged letter.
We are still waiting for an operational Integrity Chamber; not that such an institution would dramatically change the current dynamics – forget it.
So far, not a single politician has condemned corruption and bribery. All they do is hammering the prosecutor’s office, insisting that the office has an agenda to bring locals down.
The board of the United Democrats said in a press statement that it is “deeply saddened” by Heyliger’s arrest. Major blow, dark day, thoughts and prayers and ordeal are all part of the terminology in this press release that offers however the slimmest ray of light.
The UD says that it must have faith in the justice system and that it hopes that fair justice will prevail “regardless of prejudices, real or perceived.”
It is thin, but it is something. But the fact remains that nobody – inside or outside the party in the political arena – has condemned bribery in a public statement. Nobody said: if those accusations hold up than such politicians do not belong in our parliament. And that is a real reason for concern.
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Related articles:
The road to UD-leader Heyliger’s potential downfall
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