PHILIPSBURG--The Prosecutor’s Office, on Wednesday, called for prison sentences for forgery of documents in connection with the sale of long-lease rights on a plot of land. One day later, on Thursday, all five suspects in the Buncamper case claimed they were innocent and should be acquitted of all charges.

 

The Prosecutor’s Office on one side, and the five suspects and their lawyers on the other, are diametrically opposed as to the question whether punishable acts were committed such as forgery of documents in connection with the sale of long-lease rights on a plot of land of 4,600 square meters on Soualiga Road.

 

It is primarily held against former Minister and Commissioner Maria Buncamper-Molanus (48) and her husband, top-ranking civil servant of the Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment, and Infrastructure VROMI Claudius Buncamper (52), that they knowingly and willingly entered untrue statements in official legal documents, including a commercial lease agreement, mortgage documents and a deed concerning the right of long lease.

 

The Buncamper were also charged with failure to file for profit and income tax over the years 2009, 2010 and 2011.

 

According to the Prosecutor’s Office, notary F.E.G. (71) drafted the required notarial documents in December 2008 and December 2013, with the cooperation of St. Maarten Building Supplies (SBS) N.V. owner I.A.H. (47) and Director T.O.W. (69) of the allegedly “empty” limited company Eco Green.

 

The alleged crimes merited 18 months in jail, six of which are to be suspended, for the Buncampers, according to the Prosecutor. Notary G. would have to spend 15 months, five of which are to be suspended. I.A.H. should spend 12 months behind bars, four of which are to be suspended. “Straw man” T.O.W. should receive four months’ suspended, Prosecutor Dounia Benammar said Wednesday.

 

Civil law

 

One day later, suspects and their lawyers joined hands in stating that the Prosecutor had it wrong in looking at their cases from a criminal point of view, whereas their acts had been fully permissible under civil law and had not caused any financial damage to third parties.

 

Civil lawyer Willem Nelissen, who is part of SBS’s Director legal defence team, professionally “filleted” the Prosecutor’s case against his client. “I am flabbergasted about the civil aspects in this case, which are perfectly normal, here and in the Netherlands. It is socially undesirable and detrimental to the economy that these notarial acts are considered punishable,” said Nelissen.

 

“A limited company is a fictitious entity, but also a legal entity with right of power. T.O.W. was Director [of Eco Green - Ed.], had a Director’s Licence and was registered at the Chamber of Commerce,” the lawyer explained.

 

Nelissen further pointed out that sub-leasing is not a crime and that I.A.H. had the right to use the contested plot of land, which his construction company used for the storage of sand, concrete and cement. He also said his client’s arrears in rent payments, consisting of the monthly ground rent, was not fictitious.

 

The attorney supported the notary in his statements that he had “performed well” in adhering to his obligation to do research and adhere to his duty of care. Nelissen said the Prosecutor’s conclusion that crimes were committed was “too easy.”

 

“In my opinion there is not much going on, and I do not understand why so much attention is being paid to this case,” G. said. “The Prosecutor wants to impose the norms and values of criminal law onto civil law, but you cannot do this as this would destabilise the system and civil law would lose its freedom….When parties declare they want to sell for US $3 million, who am I to say they cannot do so? I do not have to guarantee that what my clients say is true, that is not my task.”

 

“Injustices”

 

Maria Buncamper said she was sentenced on the day she resigned as a Minister of the first Cabinet of Country St. Maarten. “My family has also been sentenced and business has been detrimental. Reputation is everything…I have already been declared guilty,” the embattled former politician said in denying the charges. “I hope that the judge will see through it all and realise that all of us are innocent,” she said.

 

Claudius Buncamper was less diplomatic and did not mince words in giving his opinion about his case. “For five years I wondered what we did wrong. I want the judge to throw out the case for injustices done… It is common practice in the Prosecutor’s Office to mislead. They should not be called Officers of the Court… The Prosecutor’s Office is corrupt and class justice is a fact,” he said in his emotional finals words, reading from a written statement.

 

The SBS Director also claimed he was innocent. He said he had relied on the notary’s expertise and on the knowledge of accountant and member of Committee for Financial Supervision CFT Hyden Gittens, who had set the value of his company’s shares in Concrete Mix NV at US $1.2 million. These shares were used to pay SBS’s arrears in rent payment to Eco Green.

 

Attorney-at-law Jairo Bloem called upon the Court to declare the Prosecutor’s case against the Buncampers inadmissible in its entirety. He cited undue delay as reason for this request, and because the entire “system” had failed, including the Tax Department, in the investigations into the Buncampers. He claimed that the mistakes made in photographing secret documents during a house search were severe enough for the Judge to throw out the entire case.

 

“Trashy reproaches”

 

Bloem said there was no shred of evidence for a fake construction. “If the Buncampers were the fictitious owners of Eco Green and were to transfer the economic ownership of a piece of land to this company than this is allowed,” their lawyer said. “Improper usage of leasehold land is part of our tradition,” he added.

 

This case could have been handled by the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service FIOD, Bloem said, in dismissing the charges as “trashy reproaches” and interpretations of “small and careless mistakes” made by G. while “copying and pasting” documents.

 

On behalf of T.O.W, attorney Brenda Brooks said the Prosecutor’s Office had it totally wrong where it concerned ownership of the now defunct company Eco Green. Brooks said her client, for whom she requested a psychiatric report, had become involved in the “witch hunt” against the Buncampers, which was based on allegations.

 

Brooks called upon the Court to declare the Prosecutor’s Office inadmissible in its case against her client for “arbitrariness.” She also said the wrong conclusions were drawn on legal issues of a civil nature where the transfer of property was concerned. She maintained that her client had been the actual head of the company.

 

   “This is a bizarre situation, in which the defendants are hiding behind the notary, whereas he is stating that he does not have to verify anything, creating some kind of Catch 22 situation,” the Prosecutor said in responding to the lawyers’ pleadings.

 

Benammar said that I.A.H. should have turned to government to find a solution for the property, and upheld that the notary had the legal obligation to verify whether his clients’ will was “possible and real.”

 

The Prosecutor denied allegations of a political trial. “The fact that one suspect is a politician does not automatically make a case a political one.” The Judge will give his opinion April 7.

 

The Daily Herald