THE HAGUE - The Netherlands will structurally invest more money in tackling undermining in Curaçao and Sint Maarten. In addition to the current budgets of 12 million euros per year, an additional 13 million euros per year will be added.
From next year, the Netherlands will stop the project-based approach to undermining and will switch to a structural, sustainable approach.
With the extra funds, the judicial organizations can recruit extra capacity for the subversive approach in the Caribbean from 2022.
As a result of this structural support, the National Investigation Team (RST), the Public Prosecution Service and the Court will be accountable for efforts and results along the regular lines of the organizations from next year.
Autonomous affair
The approach to undermining is a matter for the autonomous countries themselves. The Netherlands supports the countries in combating it. In the context of this support, the countries jointly decided in 2015 on a project-based approach to subversion via the Combating Subversion Team (TBO).
The criminal investigations of the TBO are related to crime with a financial-economic component and involving so-called Politically Exposed Persons (PEP), civil servants, government limited liability companies, facilitators or organizations in the collective sector.
In addition to corruption, the investigations focused on serious forms of tax fraud, embezzlement of public funds, falsification of documents and money laundering.