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Published On: Mon, Nov 5th, 2018

Theo agrees with Frans’ call for a Parliamentary Inquiry

MP Theo Heyliger - 20181105 screengrab

PHILIPSBURG — MP Theo Heyliger was quick to agree with MP Frans Richardson’s call for a parliamentary inquiry into the justice system here on St. Maarten. On Monday, November 5, 2018, on the floor of Parliament during a debate held at 9am about the repercussions of the verdict by the European Court of Human Rights in the Corallo case for the country St. Maarten and the Ministry of Justice of St. Maarten.

MP Richardson had just railed against the injustices perceived in the justice system on St. Maarten. MP Richardson said he could not go into details as the Minister of Justice had requested that the topic should be discussed further in a closed door session, however MP Richardson told Parliament that he had documents in his possession detailing how two members of the TBO team had stolen jewelry from the home of Francesco Corallo and when caught by a colleague, were made to return the jewelry and sent back to the Netherlands without any further judicial action against them.

MP Frans Richardson - 20181105 screenshot

In the press statement issued after the parliament meeting was postponed until further notice, MP Frans Richardson then made public a copy of a letter from a H. Festen at the Common Court of Justice to the then Chief Public Prosecutor Ton Maan on January 8, 2016, explaining what had transpired with the two TBO officers and the jewelry taken from the home of Corallo and that it was recommended to send the two officers back to the Netherlands without any further penal action as no damage was done and that “we are all human and we all make mistakes”.

MP Heyliger outlined in his speech the many inconsistencies in regards to Corallo’s incarceration here on St. Maarten and the justifications for such while as soon as Corallo landed in Italy after his extradition from St. Maarten he was immediately released on arrival and told he could go home. MP Heyliger concluded that the gist of this parliament meeting about the repercussions should be that “an investigation into the whole OM is needed”.

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Related article:
Frans: Dutch TBO officers stole and should have been arrested