"Kingdom Council probe apart from one by board"

June 14, 2011 4:35 PM

THE HAGUE--The decision by the Kingdom Council of Ministers - at the request of Curaçao - to have an independent committee investigate the Central Bank and government cannot replace the one to be ordered by the Supervisory Board of the joint Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten, or vice versa.

That's what Minister for Interior Affairs and Kingdom Relations of the Netherlands Piet Hein Donner wrote when answering questions on the topic from the permanent Committee for Kingdom Relations in the Second Chamber of Parliament in The Hague.

Concerning the request to provide the committee with copies of the recent letter sent to him by Curaçao Prime Minister Gerrit Schotte (MFK) and his response, Donner said he did not feel at liberty to share such because publishing correspondence between the two countries could damage relations within the Kingdom.

He said Schotte, on June 8, informed him that the acting Prime Minister Charles Cooper (MAN) had requested the Supervisory Board to look into decisions of the Central Bank and/or actions by its president-director. "I answered that the board is of course authorised to initiate such an investigation at the bank."

"The decision of the Kingdom Council of Ministers last week at the request of Curaçao can of course not come in the place of investigations that may be ordered by the separate, entitled authorities. On the other hand, such a functional investigation cannot replace the investigation to which the Kingdom Council decided either."

The latter, he explained "after all concerns the whole situation that has developed and is primarily directed at recommendations to restore confidence and not in the first place at investigating facts and actions that may have taken place."

.11 June 2011