Present BOB-law to Parliament ASAP

December 23, 2010 3:14 PM

The Ministers of Justice of St. Maarten and Curaçao will do their best to forward the draft national regulation to the parliament of their countries with regard to the so-called Exceptional Tracing Authority (BOB-law).

This was put on the decision list of the judicial four-party consultation between the Ministers of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao, the Netherlands and St. Maarten held in The Hague last week. During the last regular States meeting of the Netherlands Antilles on September 7th, the enactment for the BBO-law had been put on the agenda but was not discussed, as there was no quorum for the meeting. At that time, PAR States member Glenn Sulvaran accused PNP States member Faroe Metry of conspiring with the opposition in order to prevent the law from being discussed. It was already clear then that the new government of Curaçao (which was sworn in four days later), would consist of the parties then in the opposition, such as the MAN, Pueblo Soberano and MFK. The Committee regarding Money Laundering had announced that only the enforcement of the BOB was required to ratify the Treaty of Palermo, the treaty of the United Nations against cross-boarder organized crime. With the Antilles’ ratification, they would comply with one of the key recommendations from the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), who was to evaluate the Antilles at the end of this year. The BOB that amongst others permits the installation of monitoring equipment with investigations is necessary to combat cross-boarder crime, such as the financing of terrorism. Former Minister of Finances, Ersilia de Lannooy does not quite understand why certain States members are making an issue of this. “I understand some people have problems with the Public Prosecutor, but I’m thinking of the public interest.” Eunice Eisden, chairperson of the MAN-party, thinks there’s no need for the Minister to make such a drama. “From the beginning, our party already said we did not want to discuss this enactment as Antillean parliament, but as the parliament of the country Curaçao. We know this law is necessary, but we don’t agree with a few points, such as the question of retroactive effect.” This would mean that previous investigations, in which certain tracing methods were still illegal, would now become lawful. “We simply require more clarity, but not in this manner,” Eisden said at the time.| For that matter, the BOB-law became effective per 10-10-’10 for Bonaire, Saba and St. Eustatius because these islands had become Public Bodies of the Netherlands. This means that the legislation is not in line with the countries St. Maarten and Curaçao; something the judicial power had already warned against several years ago.

(Source: National Newspaper Amigoe)

21 December 2010