THE HAGUE - The confiscation of illegally obtained funds of almost 2 million guilders from the former Prime Minister of Curaçao will remain in effect. The Supreme Court in The Hague ruled today.
The case
In the criminal case, the former Prime Minister Schotte was irrevocably sentenced to three years in prison for, among other things, official corruption and money laundering. As an additional sentence, he was disqualified from the right to run for election for a period of five years. In the criminal case, it has been established that he has accepted high amounts of money, which were intended to induce him to do something in return, from a befriended Italian businessman.
In this confiscation case, the Common Court subsequently ruled that Schotte obtained an unlawful advantage from accepting these gifts and from a similar fact. The Common Court set the amount to be confiscated at 1,844,190.36 Antillean guilders. Schotte appealed in cassation to the Supreme Court against this decision.
Cassation (complaints)
Schotte's lawyers asked the Supreme Court to quash the ruling of the Common Court. In the appeals in cassation it was disputed that Schotte benefited from the proven fact and from the similar fact, among other things because the bank account into which the funds were deposited was not in his name and the sums of money deposited thereon were not used privately but were used as donations to Schotte's political campaign. The Court of Appeal also allegedly failed to substantiate sufficiently that there were ample indications that Schotte committed a similar offense in addition to the passive official bribery, which was declared proven in the criminal case. Thirdly, in rejecting the defense that Schotte does not have the financial capacity to comply with the confiscation order, the Court of Appeal used an incorrect standard.
Supreme Court verdict
The Supreme Court is of the opinion that these cassation complaints are unsuccessful and has dismissed the complaints without substantive motivation because they are unfounded and do not raise any legally important new questions.
With the decision of the Supreme Court, the imposition of the confiscation order is final.