WILLEMSTAD--Cura�ao cabinet members Gerrit Schotte, Abdul Nasser El Hakim and Jacinta Constancia (all MFK), Charles Cooper (MAN) and (since replaced) Rene Rosalia (PS) should not have been allowed to become ministers, is the conclusion in a confidential memo of October 27 last year to, among others, then acting director of the Cura�ao (former Antillean) Intelligence Service VDC obtained by the Amigoe newspaper.
The official had been asked to screen the ministers involved. The findings were included in the final screening report, of which Prime Minister Schotte had told Parliament that certain points mentioned could be refuted and corrected. The screening criteria included punishable acts of the past and participation in groups that are anti-democratic or a threat to state security.
The investigators also looked into the financial and "secret personal" behaviour of the candidates, who had already been installed as ministers when the memo was written. They found "facts and circumstances" that could present certain "safety risks."
Regarding Schotte, the memo mentioned "extra-marital affairs" and "secret agreements with several financiers both local as well as abroad that have close relations with figures such as Francesco Corallo in St. Maarten." Schotte also was said to be tight with party colleague El Hakim, who is a member of the Lebanon-based Amel movement that has ties with the terrorist group Hezbollah.
The memo also suggested that when Schotte was Commissioner of Tourism and Economic Development for the no-longer-existent MPK party of Rignald Lak, he had favoured certain parties by having a request handled urgently. It involves the foundation private fund SPF Cori of which the current minister Cooper was also part.
As commissioner, the prime minister also was said to have accepted two million guilders from lottery boss Robbie dos Santos, who is currently under investigation, in exchange for a large plot of land at Playa Abou. The memo also mentions a "false report" to an insurance company regarding a supposed break-in at Schotte's house.
El Hakim is said to have large debts at local banks and close ties with "dubious characters" in St. Maarten, in addition to his active membership in the Amel movement that is in a coalition with the Future Movement Lebanon and terrorist group Hezbollah.
Cooper is suspected of doing favours while he was commissioner for entrepreneur Boy Luckert, also known from La Palapa in St. Maarten, and even being his business partner, although the minister's name does not appear on the official documents. He also was said to have received 400,000 guilders from Dos Santos in the Playa Abou land deal.
Rosalia was said to be a "strong proponent of communism" and a "skirt chaser." He was said to have favoured certain groups as director of culture foundation "Kas di Kultura" and to harbour feelings of "dislike and resentment" towards Dutch people. The memo also mentioned "financial wheeling and dealing" at Kas di Kultura.
Constancia was given a suspended sentence with two years probation in 2005 for forgery, has trouble justifying the subsidy for her foundation and "falsified a diploma to be able to attend the HBO (higher vocation education, ed.) study Judicial Assistant. The latter came to light when she kept getting poor grades.
While Finance Minister George "Jorge" Jamaloodin was not mentioned in this particular memo, Schotte had mentioned in his reaction to the Rosenm�ller report that his MFK colleague was being accused "on the basis of leaked VDC data" of consistently and deliberately withholding premiums and taxes, but not passing them on to the authorities entities," for which the prime minister then gave an explanation of the underlying reasons.
Clint Eastwood Local government Financial Services Authority (FSA) David Beckham Sweden Simon Cowell
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