WILLEMSTAD – The Public Prosecution Service (OM) has completed the investigated into the former Minister of Economic Development, Dr. Ir. I.S. Martina and decided to dismiss the case under certain conditions.
At the end of 2017, several people filed a complaint against Mr. Martina. He would have acted contrary to the National Integrity Ordinance (Candidate) Ministers (National Ordinance). On May 24, 2018, the National Criminal Investigation Department was instructed to investigate the facts. The results of this fact-finding investigation led to the opening of a criminal investigation.
This criminal investigation by the National Criminal Investigation Department of Curaçao has been assessed by the public prosecutor. Based on this, the OM has concluded that the persons involved in the screening process should have exercised greater care in the implementation of this National Ordinance.
The OM concludes that Mr. Martina, in the Council of Ministers, participated in decision-making on a draft national ordinance that would change the rate of compulsory third-party insurance. Because Mr. Martina also owned shares in an insurance company at that time, he had a business interest in the decision to be taken. That is why he should not have taken part in that decision-making under the National Integrity Ordinance. Now that that has happened, a criminal offense has been committed, according to the OM.
With the National Integrity Ordinance, the Parliament of Curaçao aimed at preventing any appearance of a conflict of interest. The investigation has shown that the implementation of the National Ordinance has not always been handled with care.
All in all, the OM has concluded that the debate on the implementation of integrity standards must be conducted in parliament, in the Council of Ministers and by political office holders.
The OM considers it important to leave room for that debate in this (first) case in the area of the Integrity National Ordinance, which has been in existence for a relatively short time. Partly for this reason, prosecution before the criminal court is not appropriate at this time and it has been decided to conditionally dismiss the complaint against Mr. Martina.
