Corallo, owner of Atlantis Casino in St. Maarten and Paradise Plaza Casino in Curaçao, is demanding a rectification from the Dutch Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations BZK and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs BZ.

 

Corallo, who is said to be living in St. Maarten, is demanding that the Ministries retract their statements that Corallo has ties with the Sicilian mafia. He wants the Dutch Government to place a rectification in the largest newspaper in The Netherlands, De Telegraaf.

 

The suggestion that Corallo has links with the mafia surfaced after former Curaçao Prime Minister Gerrit Schotte requested information on Corallo and asked the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs for proof of good conduct in 2011.

Schotte stated in his request to the Italian Minister that he needed the document because he wanted to give Corallo a function at a "prestigious institute." Schotte submitted his request directly to the Italian Minister, bypassing the formal route via the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs when dealing with the exterior.

 

Schotte's request, which surfaced in the media early October last year, caused much commotion and concern in the Second Chamber of the Dutch Government, as Interpol had issued an international warrant for Corallo's arrest in May 2012. Italian authorities were looking for Corallo because they suspected he was involved in organised crime and fraud. Currently Corallo no longer appears on Interpol's most wanted list.

 

The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs responded to the Dutch embassy in Rome that it had no record of Corallo ever having been criminally convicted, but that there were still reasons not to issue the requested proof of good conduct. In the end, Schotte didn't nominate Corallo.

 

In her letter to the Second Chamber dated October 11, 2012, then-Dutch Minister of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Liesbeth Spies didn't associate Corallo with the Sicilian mafia. However, Dutch ambassador in Rome Fons Stoelinga made this reference in his correspondence on the matter.

 

"Police investigations from 1995 to 1997 regarding Francesco Corallo show that this person was involved in international drug trade and that he was an important person in the Sicilian mafia. After the arrest of his father, Corallo started a tourism centre in St. Maarten, where money-laundering transactions took place. This information was confirmed by both the Italian police and the Italian intelligence service," stated Stoelinga in his report.

 

Corallo's reported association with the Sicilian mafia was mentioned in meetings of the Second Chamber on the matter. Second Chamber member Ronald van Raak, who posed questions on this issue, said he did not think Corallo stood much chance at winning the court injunction. He said the Italian authorities, not the Dutch Government, had linked Corallo to the mafia.

 

The Ministry of BZK prefers to refrain from giving any comment on the pending court case at this time. "We will await the court case and the ruling," said the spokesperson on Sunday.

 

It is expected that the Government Prosecutor (Landsadvocaat) will represent the Dutch Ministries.