PHILIPSBURG--Independent Member of Parliament (MP) Silvio Matser is still detained and undergoing questioning by the National Detectives for his suspected involvement in election fraud (vote-buying) during the August 2014 Parliamentary Election.

 

Matser is expected to be led before the Judge of Instruction today, Friday, should the Prosecutor’s Office require more time to question him on the current charge. If the Prosecutor’s Office receives sufficient information from Matser, he could be released pending further development of the case.

 

At present, Matser is held only on suspicion of election fraud. However, more charges can be added to the list, depending on what is uncovered by the investigation.

Matser’s attorney Cor Merx told The Daily Herald Matser’s case was “strange” and questioned why the Attorney-General and Prosecutor’s Office had made public only that Matser was held on suspicion of election fraud.

 

“It is strange they do not talk about the claim of him being part of the criminal organisation,” said Merx, He said this was a charge the Prosecutor’s Office had tagged on to hold onto Matser after having “learned” from other similar cases on election fraud and cases involving other (former) MPs such as Patrick Illidge and Romain Laville that a more serious charge was needed.

 

“Nothing will come out of this [case against Matser – Ed.]. That’s why they tacked on about his being part of the criminal organisation,” said Merx.

Attorney-General’s Office spokesman Norman Serphos said Matser had been arrested only on suspicion of election fraud. However, he did not rule out the possibility of expansion on the charges against Matser.

 

Merx also claimed he had not been given all documents related to the case against his client and said this had been brought to the attention of the judge on Wednesday afternoon when the warrant to search Matser’s office and home was issued.

 

Merx said Matser was being kept “in confinement” and was allowed to see no one but his attorney. “He is not allowed TV or even a phone call,” Matser said. He said he was thankful to the National Detectives for affording him the possibility to see his client.

 

“A lot of things about this case are strange,” Merx repeated in the phone interview with this newspaper.

 

High on the list of strange things for Merx is the statement from the Attorney-General’s Office after Matser’s arrest that the arrest was not politically motivated and that the Office was unaware of the then-ongoing debate on the 2016 draft budget. “The Attorney-General has an office in St. Maarten. How can they not be aware of the budget? It is not the truth,” Merx said.

Matser was arrested along with two other men as part of the ongoing investigation code named “Octopus.” Also arrested were E.F. and R.K. It is understood that R.K. is former police officer Rogelio Koeiman, who has had several brushes with the law.

 

Octopus was launched as a fact-finding investigation in October 2014, following the August Parliamentary Elections. It became a criminal investigation in May 2015 and it is understood that with that step Matser, who was elected on the United People’s (UP) party slate before declaring himself independent, became a suspect.

 

The National Detectives have been in charge of Octopus and sought the cooperation of the Police Force and the Kingdom Detective Cooperation Team RST to conduct Wednesday morning’s searches and arrests.

 

The Daily Herald