Dear Editor,
A politician who visits the prison director, gets a list of prisoners who have the right to vote, and then buys the votes of these prisoners. Silvio Matser did it on St. Maarten. On Wednesday, he was sentenced to eight months in prison.
The director of the prison (who was also sentenced) gave Matser a list of 80 names, men who each got US $100. For one seat you only need a few hundred votes on St. Maarten.
It is by far the smallest country in the Kingdom, but the members of its Parliament earn about $11,500 a month, more than politicians in the Netherlands.
A prisoner who helped Matser was convicted, two other suspects can no longer be sentenced, because they have been murdered in the meantime.
With the results of these elections in August 2014, Silvio Matser appeared to have received many votes in the constituency where the prison is located. As a result, he got a seat in the Parliament. In January 2015, Matser was already convicted for tax evasion. It is remarkable: a politician who bought votes in prison may now serve his sentence in the same prison.
Monday there are elections again on St. Maarten, an island where the population is still suffering from the consequences of Hurricane Irma. People need a roof, a job and an income, but many politicians on the island seem to be mainly concerned with themselves.
St. Maarten became an autonomous country within the Kingdom in 2010 and has had seven governments since then. The St. Maarten Parliament consists of 15 members and cabinets often have a small majority. Governments fall mainly because of ship-jumping, when a member leaves the coalition and forms a new majority with the opposition – which is always accompanied by suspicions of bribery.
Silvio Matser did it in 2015 when he dropped the Prime Minister of his own party and continued as an “independent” politician. The current government also depends on such an “independent” Parliamentarian, Chanel Brownbill, who is being prosecuted for tax evasion. Another ship-jumper is Frans Richardson, who was recently arrested in a fraud and corruption investigation in which the parliamentarian is suspected of accepting bribes and evading taxes. He is also suspected of recruiting votes.
On Monday, Frans Richardson can again be elected into Parliament, as leader of his party. The same applies to Chanel Brownbill who is on the list of the biggest party of Theo Heyliger, the most powerful man in St. Maarten – the party where Matser once started his career. Theo Heyliger had close ties with Italian gambling boss Francesco Corallo, who is currently on trial in Italy for bribing prominent politicians around Silvio Berlusconi. On Curaçao former Prime Minister Gerrit Schotte was convicted because he had been bribed by this mafia boss.
It is sad that people on St. Maarten have to elect a new parliament on Monday, while the island still has to be rebuilt after the destruction caused by Hurricane Irma. People on the island crave for better and fairer governance. But what they mainly see is political scheming and criminal behaviour. However, it is no coincidence that so many politicians are being arrested and sentenced at the moment. This is part of a larger-scale investigation into the relationship between the upper and lower world in St. Maarten, which is being done at the request of the Socialist Party (SP) and the liberal democratic VVD party, and which will continue in the coming years.
This criminal investigation cannot provide better politicians on St. Maarten, but it can make clear to the population which politicians do not care for the island. I hope that the voters will not stay home on Monday but that they will make their voices heard. They know who the criminals are, I hope they do not elect them into their parliament.
Ronald van Raak
Member of the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament for the Socialist Party (SP)
