| The Hague |
| Convictions of two suspects in Sint Maarten for, among other things, complicity in official bribery remain in place. The convictions of a married couple for, among other things, complicity in (passive) bribery of officials will be upheld. The Supreme Court ruled this today. At the time of the offenses, the man was head of a government department of a ministry in Sint Maarten. The case. The judgment of the Court of First Instance, upheld by the Joint Court of Justice, indicates that the investigation into this case was initiated following so-called TCI information alleging that the tender process for the landfill on Sint Maarten had not been conducted ethically. This information included the name of the male suspect who allegedly received bribes. The Ruby investigation was launched in July 2018. This investigation initially focused on both suspects between May 1, 2015, and August 2018. They were suspected of complicity in accepting bribes while employed in exchange for winning the landfill tender. This investigation revealed that the male suspect also likely abused his position in 2013-2014, with private expenses being paid through false invoices by a company managing the wastewater treatment plant and subsequently passed on to the ministry for which he worked. The man was convicted by the Court of Appeal for complicity in bribery and forgery. The Court imposed a 32-month prison sentence and a seven-year ban from holding office. The woman was convicted of complicity in passive bribery of officials. She received a 12-month suspended prison sentence and 210 hours of community service. The suspects filed an appeal in cassation against the Court’s judgment with the Supreme Court. Cassation complaints. The defendants’ lawyer asked the Supreme Court to overturn the court of appeal’s ruling. The appeal in cassation, among other things, raises objections to the conviction for bribery of public officials. Opinion of the Advocate General (AG) The Advocate General concluded that both convictions should be upheld. Due to the length of the proceedings, she advised the Supreme Court to reduce the sentences imposed according to the usual standard. Supreme Court judgment. The Supreme Court ruled that the cassation complaints in both cases were unsuccessful and dismissed the complaints without substantive reasoning because they could not lead to the annulment of the court of appeal’s judgment and did not raise any legally significant new questions that needed to be answered. Due to the length of the proceedings, the prison sentence imposed in the man’s case will be 31 months. The seven-year ban from holding office remains unchanged. In the woman’s case, the community service order will be reduced to 200 hours; the suspended prison sentence will remain unchanged. |
