SXMElections.com

THE HAGUE--Members of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament André Bosman of the liberal democratic VVD party and Ronald van Raak of the Socialist Party (SP) said on Tuesday that they were shocked by the decision of the Court in St. Maarten's vote-buying case.

The Court of First Instance on Monday declared inadmissible the Prosecutor's Office's cases against five persons who were allegedly involved in the selling and buying of votes on behalf of the United People's (UP) party in the September 2010 election.

"I am truly shocked by the Court's decision," Van Raak told The Daily Herald in a reaction. "A shame for the Kingdom," responded Bosman. Van Raak has submitted written questions to Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk in an effort to get clarity as to the non-prosecution of what he termed "mass election fraud" in St. Maarten.

Van Raak and Bosman were especially shocked by the Judge's finding that the Prosecutor's Office had decided to prosecute only five suspects and that it had failed to investigate the roles of UP and its leadership in the scheme. According to the Prosecution, the investigation had focused on the five suspects due to the National Detectives' lack of capacity.

"I find it incomprehensible that the Prosecutor's Office didn't carry out a broader investigation to include the UP top. Especially since the Judge found that the case file itself contained sufficient indications warranting such an investigation," said Bosman.

The Judge did consider it proven that four suspects had sold their votes in exchange for money and that the UP-representative had offered money in exchange for their votes. "The Judge was very clear on that aspect," said Bosman.

Both Bosman and Van Raak were concerned that the true culprits in this case would get away scot-free. "This is a high profile case covering four years and now it is slipping through our fingers because the Prosecution didn't do a proper job. This is a shame for the Kingdom," said Bosman.

"There are many plans and reports to improve integrity in St. Maarten, but in the meantime it appears that some politicians are getting away with everything. Theo Heyliger has also been mentioned in the Bada Bing bribery case. We should be careful that some people don't end up above the law," said Van Raak.

According to Van Raak, the Kingdom Government and by extension the Dutch Government has a responsibility to assist the St. Maarten justice sector in solving the problem of manpower. "If the Kingdom is responsible for good governance, than we should ensure sufficient capacity to make this happen. If we say that tackling corruption in St. Maarten is important, than we should also make sure that investigations can be duly carried out," he said.

In the written questions that he posed to Plasterk, Van Raak asked whether the minister agreed with the Judge in St. Maarten that the Prosecution was guilty of "class justice" for not investigating the top of the UP party.

Van Raak wanted to know whether it was correct that Heyliger had donated US $3 million to his party for the previous elections in 2010. "Is my calculation correct that with an electorate of some 20,000 persons, this reflects some 150 dollars per voter?"

The Member of Parliament (MP) further asked whether it was correct that in 2010 people were standing in line in front of UP's campaign building to receive money and that the party has its own registration system to check that people would indeed cast their vote.

"Do you share my concerns that this same Mr. Heyliger will be re-elected into the Parliament of St. Maarten this Friday without a proper investigation of election fraud having taken place?" Van Raak asked Plasterk.

Van Raak and Bosman are worried about the elections this Friday. "I HOPE that the people will think very hard when they make their choice," said Bosman, who added that he would keep the pressure on St. Maarten until issues like vote-buying and corruption had been properly tackled.