WILLEMSTAD - The judge will rule on February 24 in the rectification case brought by Vanessa Gijsbertha, the daughter of former Finance Minister Kenneth Gijsbertha. Gijsbertha wants MFK minister Javier Silvania to withdraw and rectify the statements about her involvement in the Bearingpoint issue. The case went to court yesterday.
In November, Silvania criticized the tax administration software provided by Bearingpoint several times. According to the minister, the ICT company charged more than twenty million guilders for the software and services. At the time, Vanessa Gijsbertha was working as a private secretary for her father and Silvania made her one of those responsible for the matter.
In addition, the minister made statements about a contract for services that Gijsbertha had been offered to the Ministry of Finance for the period after her father's resignation as a member of the government. According to Silvania, that agreement was concluded in an 'irregular way'.
Ahead of the verdict, Silvania corrected his earlier statements this week. In a Facebook post, Silvania said his lawyers have conducted detailed investigations into the legal aspects and how the contact between the government and Bearingpoint came about.
“It has become clear that Gijsbertha's involvement in the project was less than it appeared and what I was told by the Ministry of Finance,” said Silvania. “In any case, Gijsbertha was not responsible for Bearingpoint's product, but she was part of a steering committee that made certain decisions about the project,” says Silvania. According to him, there were certain errors in the contract with Bearingpoint. The steering group has looked into this.