Today, the Public Prosecutor announced that he would sue Mr Tromp, President of the Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, for tax fraud. Although Tromp believes that the legal discussion should be held at the hearing and not to be conducted in the media, he appears to respond briefly to this communication.
In the first place, Tromp denies the allegation that he owes himself to accused tax fraud. Unlike the Public Prosecutor’s Office, there is no intention of giving up to the tax authorities his income for the purpose of his retirement. After all, pension benefits received by the pension fund of Mr Tromp need to be paid only after retirement. There is no problem for the country of Curacao and the tax is also insured from the moment of retirement from Mr Tromp.
Mr Tromp is of the opinion that the Public Prosecutor has operated in this criminal case improperly, negligently and prejudiced in recent months. Speaking is the fact that last Wednesday, two detailed motivated opinions from tax experts were handed to the prosecutor, stating that Mr Tromp had acted properly. The Public Prosecutor has disregarded this unmotivated.
Why the Public Prosecutor’s Office believes that the purely fiscal issue of Mr Tromp’s retirement provision should be punished, certainly now that the view of the Public Prosecutor’s Office is not shared by several tax experts is darker. Also, it is not understandable why the Public Prosecutor’s Office, in an investigation that has not yet been completed, suddenly makes so much hurry to announce a prosecution decision. The action of the Public Prosecutor’s Office can only be explained if it would be assumed that this prosecution decision is driven by forces other than truthfulness and maintaining the rule of law. That thought gives cause for concern.
Mr Tromp will defend himself in law and see the outcome of the procedure with confidence.