THE HAGUE--Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk will not initiate a separate investigation into the flow of money between the governments of Curaçao and St. Maarten and criminal organisations as was instructed through a motion adopted recently by the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament.

 

The motion of Second Chamber members Ronald van Raak of the Socialist Party (SP) and André Bosman of the liberal democratic VVD party instructed the Dutch Government to initiate a broad investigation, preferably with the input of Curaçao and St. Maarten, into the flow of money between the so-called upper- and underworld with special attention for the gambling industry on the islands.

 

However, Minister Plasterk wanted to await the results of the upcoming Judicial Four-Party Consultation JVO, the regular meeting of the justice ministers of Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten and the Netherlands, in St. Maarten on June 8.

 

Plasterk explained in a letter he sent to the Second Chamber on Friday that it had been decided in the previous JVO in January that the four countries would work jointly on a broad plan to strengthen the law enforcement sector structurally in the Dutch Caribbean.

 

"This joint approach will focus mainly on financial-economic crime and undermining crime, including an investigation of the flow of money between the under- and upper-world," stated Plasterk, who reconfirmed his commitment to this joint approach and the fact that all four countries would have to contribute financially to the execution of this plan.

 

Plasterk promised that he would keep the Second Chamber informed of the progress of the joint plan. The plan should have been ready by March, but the four countries are still negotiating the terms and the roles of the individual ministers of justice.

 

Plasterk further stated in his letter that the annual report of the Kingdom Detective Cooperation Team RST already had been investigating "suspicious money flows." The Dutch Government also has supported financially the Duradero project in Curaçao to strengthen and expand local law enforcement capacity to fight financial-economic crime.

 

The Daily Herald