PHILIPSBURG--The Civil Service Court has found that former branch manager of the St. Maarten courthouse M.J.-C. was rightly suspended and dismissed by the Management Board of the Joint Court of Justice. Also, the woman must repay US $1,015,295 to the Court for third-party funds that cannot be accounted for.
Tuesday’s ruling in the appeal case means that J.-C.’s dismissal has become irrevocable, as well as the former branch manager’s liability for repayment of the amount.
J.-C. filed for appeal against the Joint Court’s management’s decisions to suspend and subsequently dismiss her for (serious) violations of duty. These appeals were dismissed by the Court, but her appeal against the payment of damages and the deductions from her salaries was successful where it concerned her obligation to pay damages to the amount of $132,865.
The criminal investigations and a civil case against the former location manager are still ongoing, the Joint Court said in a statement on Tuesday.
In what is dubbed the “Triggerfish” investigation, J.-C. is charged with the embezzlement of approximately US $1.2 million from the Court’s bank accounts between January 2014 and December 2017, and with the embezzlement of NAf. 153,697 from the Constitutional Court’s bank account. She is also charged with money-laundering allegedly committed between January 2014 and September 7, 2018.
The fourth charge in J.-C’s indictment mentions the alleged forgery of a money-transfer form Windward Islands Bank (WIB) between September 1 and September 30, 2016. The final charge includes the allegation that the former civil servant defrauded the Ministry of Justice of the amount of NAf. 50,000 in June 2018.
Husband R.A.J., who is a pensioner and former station manager of now defunct airline Dutch Antilles Express (DAE), is charged with laundering amounts of $171,160 and NAf. 50,591 between January 2014 and December 2017, a crime he allegedly committed together with his wife.
Both defendants are also facing claims from the damaged parties. The Constitutional Court petitioned for full compensation of the damage incurred. The Joint Court of Justice will also file claims against the defendants in a civil procedure and the Prosecutor’s Office stated it would file dispossession claims.
During a court hearing in their criminal cases in July 2019, the couple vehemently denied they had been involved in any wrongdoings pertaining to the embezzlement of money from the St. Maarten Court’s bank accounts.
In the criminal case, the judge considered additional investigations and the hearing of witnesses pertaining to the alleged crimes necessary.
