THE HAGUE - Minister Plenipotentiary in The Hague Carls Manuel has engaged a lawyer to persuade blogger Godfried Adem to remove a message from his Facebook page and to rectify the content. In the offending post, Adem repeats claims that are circulating on social media that Manuel is very generous in giving paid chores to 'friends and family' while the permanent staff of the Curaçao House is twiddling their thumbs.
Mr. Sebastiaan van Wijk of DayOne Lawyers in The Hague states in a letter to the blogger that he accuses his client of fraud and/or corruption and thus damages the "honor and good name" of the Curaçao House and "the Minister Plenipotentiary in particular”. According to the lawyer, this is an “unlawful statement” that “very negatively affects the image of the (person of the) Minister Plenipotentiary”.
Remarkably, the lawyer does not demand that the message be removed immediately. Adem is given 5 days to do so. If he does not, "the Minister Plenipotentiary will have to consider further legal action". Adem is not impressed by the lawyer's argument, all the more so since there is a large substantive gap between the message posted by him and the free translation that Mr. Van Wijk gives.
It is not known whether Manuel also had his lawyer send letters to others who spoke about him in a similar way. It is also not clear whether the Curaçao House pays the fee of DayOne Advocaten (the hourly rate rises to 350 euros) or whether Manuel pays for this out of his own pocket.