WILLEMSTAD - Former Prime Minister Gerrit Schotte of the MFK party at the beginning of this month appealed to the Curaçao population via social media to help him with donations. He needs 1.8 million Antillean guilders to stay out of prison. Several former prime ministers believe that the action is harmful to the image of Curaçao.
He has since announced that the deadline to have all the money together before May 12 has been canceled for the time being because the Public Prosecution Service appears to be open to a payment arrangement. His bank account at ORCO Bank was suddenly blocked last week. Provisional accounts have now been opened in New York and Brussels into which people can deposit their donation.
'Act of desperation'
'An act of desperation’ is how Etienne Ys, former Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles (2004 and 2006) on behalf of the PAR, calls Schotte's action. “Getting money to pay your fine is not a crime. But it will raise questions if he can get that huge amount together in the short term.”
Imaging
Another former Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles, Maria Liberia-Peters (between 1984 and 1986 and between 1988 and 1994), is of the opinion that Schotte's action ‘has nothing to do with the position or former position of Prime Minister’. Liberia-Peters says: “My mother, of Saban descent, always told us: ‘Every pot sits on its own bottom’.”
Suzanne Camelia-Römer, Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles in 1993 and between 1998 and 1999, states that 'in the eyes of the population, someone is seen as a former Prime Minister all his life'. "That is why it is bad for the image of Curaçao that someone in this way asks the population to make a contribution for money that he has to pay back." In the first place, Camelia-Römer finds the case annoying for Schotte. But at the same time, she notes that it reflects negatively on Curaçao.
"It is not correct that the community should pay for his mistakes"
Eugene Rhuggenaath, Prime Minister of Curaçao between 2017 and 2021 on behalf of the PAR, also states that he wishes Schotte all the best 'as a citizen and human being'. “But as a former Prime Minister, I think Schotte should abide by the law, show good governance and ethical leadership.”
Rhuggenaath believes that the deeds for which Schotte has been convicted are bad for the reputation and trust in Curaçao. Corruption is bad for the community and leads to poverty, he said. It is especially harmful to the people who are most vulnerable. Rhuggenaathh: "That's why I don't think it's correct that Schotte wants the same community to have to pay for the mistakes he made himself."
Schotte himself states that he now has 'a moment of rest', because according to him the Public Prosecution Service is open to a payment arrangement and the deadline of May 12 is therefore off the table. As soon as more is clear, Schotte will report back on social media.
'OM is not a financial institution'
At the beginning of May of this year, he announced on social media that he must pay money before May 12, otherwise he would be incarcerated again. Guillano Schoop, public prosecutor, explains to the Caribbean Network that "everyone against whom a confiscation case is pending will receive a letter about this at least three times." “We don't suddenly put people on a block.”
According to Schoop, unlike with a fine, the Public Prosecution Service is not obliged to offer a payment arrangement in a confiscation case. “But we are open to it.” At the end of last week, the Public Prosecution Service received a letter from Schotte's lawyer, Paula Janssen, with the request to come to a payment arrangement. Schoop says that there will be a response. He does not want to share with the press what that reaction means.
In general, he states that the Public Prosecution Service is 'not a financial institution' and is not open to an installment arrangement of ten or twenty years or longer. Rather, a period of two years should be considered from the moment the sentence is final. That would mean that Schotte has until September 2023 to pay off.