Also inquiry into entire functioning of Public Prosecutor

May 27, 2012 11:26 AM

WILLEMSTAD - The Parliament will meet next Friday in a public meeting to decide on a parliamentary inquiry into the functioning of the Intelligence Service Netherlands Antilles (VNA) and successor VDC.

The Committee of Justice decided this morning that the parliamentary inquiry will also include the investigation methods of the Public Prosecutor and scrutinize the entire functioning of the Public Prosecutor.It was agreed that the Committee of Justice, in which a member of every parliamentary party is represented, will meet this Monday, when the members of the inquiry committee will be recommended and the experts who are to assist the committee and the former criminal investigator who is to coach the parliamentarians during hearings. Subsequently, the proposal will be presented in a Central Committee next Thursday. In a public meeting the parliament will then decide on the official establishment of the inquiry committee.

It was agreed that the inquiry will take six months. It’s uncertain when the inquiry is to begin. Voices were heard in the meeting this morning to start the parliamentary inquiry before the end of June because the parliament goes into recess in July. The intention is to have the final report from the committee ready by the end of November.
 
The call to the meeting created a commotion because the agenda mentioned the investigation into the functioning of the VNA/VDC and the investigation methods of the Public Prosecutor. According to parliamentarian Malvina Cecilia (PAR), the call acted against the motion of the Parliament because the latter only mentioned an inquiry into the VNA/VDC. In her opinion, the addition was against the agreements and the Regulation of Order of the Parliament.
 
In a letter to her, Chairman of the Parliament Ivar Asjes (PS) pointed out that in consultation with the Council of Seniors on May 7th last it was decided to expand the inquiry. He also wrote that a final decision on the facts of the inquiry will be taken in a public meeting of the Parliament.
 
However, Cecilia stood firm that a decision on the facts of the inquiry is pending. The PAR continues to support a parliamentary inquiry into the VNA/VDC but also into the screening process whereby the head of department Edsel Gumbs, who had been put on the sidelines, and IT-employee of the intelligence service Edsel Winklaar must be heard and lastly, inquiry into the presence of the Columbian police intelligence service Dipol on Curaçao.