WILLEMSTAD--The Kingdom Council of Ministers considers the November 17 reaction by the Government of Cura�ao, in which it announced a national integrity assessment by Transparency International (TI), a satisfactory reaction to the Council's October 14 letter on implementation of the recommendations of the Committee Investigation Cura�ao in the so-called Rosenm�ller Report.
That is what can be concluded from a letter dated November 29 that Kingdom Relations Minister Piet Hein Donner presented to the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament on Tuesday.
"The decision to approach a renowned international organisation for the evaluation and, if necessary, improvement of the guaranteeing of fundamental rights and liberties, in my view underlines that the Government of Cura�ao is giving content to the responsibility that is deduced from the Kingdom Charter," he wrote.
Parliamentarian Inneke van Gent called the minister's letter "quite bureaucratic" and typically "shunning the issue" by stopping short of the Rosenm�ller Committee's recommendation to have an independent committee look further into doubts over the integrity of members of the Schotte cabinet. She said he merely was trying to keep the peace while the people of Cura�ao suffered and experienced social irregularities.
"A little integrity does not exist, also not in Cura�ao, where administrators not too long ago were rolling around in the street and openly accusing each other of corruption. It almost seems as if Transparency International's explicit instructions are not to name names, especially don't go into detail and it cannot lead to complaints. That is unacceptable," said Van Gent.
"I see that the minister is trivialising the problems. We are supposed to want to defend openness in government here, in Cura�ao and in the rest of the Dutch Caribbean. Corruption allegations must be cleared up regardless of the persons involved. Does the minister recognise that the Netherlands remains responsible for good governance in Cura�ao and what is he doing to carry this responsibility?"
Donner answered that more time was required to discuss the issue, which was why he had sent the letter to the Second Chamber. "We can talk about it more later on, preferably before the Kingdom Conference of December 14," he said.
He pointed out that the charter determined the possibilities of the Kingdom Government and that the answer by Prime Minister Gerrit Schotte was adequate. He added that his letter to the Second Chamber did in fact mention investigating persons and that this already had been done by the prosecution in Willemstad, but he agreed that integrity concerned more than looking only into possible penal acts.
"The council realises that the inquiry by Transparency International does not stretch out to persons. At the same time, the Prosecutor's Office in Cura�ao concluded there was no reason for criminal prosecution regarding all facts and allegations in the report of the Committee Investigation Cura�ao," Donner's letter stated.
"The Kingdom Council concludes that the letter of the Government of Cura�ao pending the result of the investigation by Transparency International and the follow-up to be given by the Government of Cura�ao does not require further reaction."
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