External experts recommended for parliamentary inquiry

May 31, 2012 4:41 PM

WILLEMSTAD - Constitutional law jurist Douwe Boersema, former chief-inspector of Police Roland Pang and former chairman of the parliament Rufus Mc William are recommended as external experts to assist the inquiry committee of the parliamentary inquiry into the functioning of the Intelligence Service Netherlands Antilles (VNA) and successor Intelligence Service Curaçao (VDC).

This is the advice from the Justice Committee to the Central Committee of the Parliament of Curaçao.The three experts are to take minutes of the hearings by the inquiry committee and to draw up the final report from the parliamentary inquiry. The three are no strangers on Curaçao. Boersema is constitutional law jurist, lawyer and former chairman of the Referendum Committee Curaçao. Pang is former chief-inspector of Police and had worked with the Curaçao Police Department (CPD) and the police training institute. He was also a member of the committee that had conducted an investigation at the prison. Mc William is a veteran in the local political world. For years he was active for the PNP where he held several positions, for instance chairman of the Parliament of the Netherlands Antilles. Boersema is recommended by government party MFK, Pang by the PK and Mc William by the MAN after Stanley Inderson had declined.

The proposal for the parliamentary inquiry was discussed this morning during a Central Committee meeting of the Parliament. A proposal from the Justice Committee was also discussed in this meeting. The proposal outlines the focus of the inquiry. According to the proposal, the reason for the inquiry is ‘that officials of the VNA/VDC had taken data and/or classified information from data systems and from the safe of the VNA/VDC without permission. The stolen data/information was systematically passed on to the press and third parties (including politicians)’.
 
The proposal also mentions ‘indications that against statutory procedures the Criminal Investigation Team (RST) had conducted a large-scale wiretapping of conversations from politicians and citizens with or without the knowledge of local telephone companies. Illegal wiretapping of telephone conversations is a penal act, which is also an invasion of one of the most important human rights, namely that of one’s privacy’.
 
The discussion of the proposal in the Central Committee had taken less than fifteen minutes. A majority of the present parliamentary parties agreed to send the proposal to the public meeting of eleven o’clock this morning. The PAR was the only party that had objected to the proposal being sent to the public meeting. The yellow party is yet to recommend a member for the inquiry committee. Parliamentarian Dennis Jackson emphasized this morning that his party disagrees with the set-up of the parliamentary inquiry. The party believes that finding out the truth is not the basic assumption of the inquiry and that the inquiry should also include the screening of ministers and the presence of the Columbian police intelligence service Dipol. The PAR will give a definite viewpoint during the public meeting tomorrow.