Former Member of Parliament (MP) Akeem Arrindell campaigning with United People’s (UP) party earlier this year. Photo taken from his official Facebook page.
PHILIPSBURG--A judge in the Court of First Instance on Wednesday handed down an eighteen-month prison sentence to former Member of Parliament (MP) Akeem Arrindell, who was found guilty of using an intermediary to bribe multiple people to vote for him during the parliamentary election on January 11, 2024.
Arrindell (35), who took a leave of absence from the St. Maarten Police Force KPSM when he was first elected to the country’s highest legislative body in 2020, was also given a 78-month ban on being an elected official or working as a civil servant.
Co-defendant Robert Morgan (43) was found guilty of offering people as much as US $200 to vote for Arrindell, who was the number six candidate for United People’s (UP) party at the time. The judge sentenced Morgan to 12 months in prison, of which four are suspended, on three years’ probation.
Based on tapped phone conversations and recovered WhatsApp messages, the judge considered it proven that Morgan bribed a number of voters while Arrindell “carefully coordinated this process” by giving instructions and approving photos of cast ballots.
Natacha Francisca (35), who is also Morgan’s girlfriend, was found guilty of offering $100 to a relative in exchange for them voting for Arrindell. For this, the judge handed down 180 hours of community service, of which half are suspended, on three years’ probation.
Although Arrindell and Morgan were sentenced according to the prosecutor’s demand, the judge said he went lower for Francisca because there was not enough evidence that she had participated in the larger vote-buying scheme.
“Arrindell, together with co-defendant Morgan, has affected the foundations of parliamentary democracy and, in a devious and self-interested manner, tainted St. Maarten’s democratic system and society, and, possibly, has also wrongfully enjoyed financial benefits from this,” the judge wrote in his verdict. “He has ensured the possibility of not the best or most convincing candidate being elected, but the one who buys the most votes.”
Arrindell was arrested on August 1, 2024, on suspicion of participating in a criminal organisation designed to buy votes for his benefit. He was released after a day in jail.
Arrindell lost his parliamentary seat in the snap election on August 19, 2024, after having served a little more than four years in office. He had lost 264 votes in the eight months since the January election, ending up with only 89 in a campaign marred by his arrest and looming corruption case.
The case against Arrindell, codenamed “Aconitum”, started because of an unrelated drug investigation called “Large Mouth”.
Morgan and Francisca were suspects in the Large Mouth investigation, and police had an active wiretap on Morgan’s phone in the days leading up to the January election. This is when authorities heard Morgan talking about vote-buying on behalf of Arrindell, the prosecutor told the court during last month’s trial.
WhatsApp messages from Morgan’s phone were added to the Aconitum case file after his arrest on January 16, 2024.
