Nelly Schotborgh. Photo by Berber van Beek/Studiorootz.
AMSTERDAM--The effects of fraud and corruption cases at a high level of government as well as fraud and corruption cases involving decision-makers at a political level have a greater impact on the economic and political system in the Dutch Caribbean than fraud and corruption at a petty level, everyday abuse by low- and mid-level public officials.
Other reasons large, high profile corruption cases involving politicians and civil servants cost society a lot have to do with the relatively long period of investigation and the big amount of negative publicity that these cases generate.
These are some of the interesting findings of Curaçao-based criminologist and fraud examiner Nelly Schotborgh in her recently published thesis “The roots of public fraud and corruption in the Dutch Caribbean.” She recently presented her dissertation to the public at Free University of Amsterdam VU. Schotborgh is an expert: she has done a lot of forensic financial research into corruption and fraud cases on the islands in the past 20 years.
“During the research I noticed that many appeal cases about fraud and corruption were mostly about people in high positions and with a lot of decision-taking power. People with an exemplary function. You ask yourself how it can be that people like this can end up so wrong?”
With this question in mind, Schotborgh some 20 years ago started collecting information, including newspaper clippings, about this type of fraud and corruption cases on the six islands. She decided to do her dissertation on this topic. For her thesis, she researched 46 appeal cases, verdicts and reports.
All known public fraud and corruption cases that were tried between the years 2000 and 2015 before the Court of Appeal of the Joint Court of Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten and of Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba, formerly the Joint Court of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, were researched and studied.
The cases took place within various judicial areas involving criminal law, civil law, and administrative law. All cases involved a public official who had misused the trust placed in him, as one who had accepted the duty of public office, to obtain personal gain.
In 57 per cent of the cases, the primary crime was corruption. In 43 per cent of the cases, fraud was the prime transgression. The majority of the selected cases, 65 per cent, were classified at the highest level of grand and political fraud and corruption.
The large number of high-level cases signifies that the majority of fraud and corruption cases brought before the Court of Appeal either involved high-ranking government officials entrusted with a high level of authority, or were of a large scale and/or impact on society.
In macro context, Schotborgh found that it appeared that the political system, the culture and the geographical location strongly contributed to the occurrence of public fraud and corruption. Low administrative development, the financial situation and the small scale have influence on public fraud and corruption, but to a lesser extent.
“Often, it is clear that it is too demanding for small countries to comply with all capacity and quality requirements necessary for the investigation and prosecution of fraud and corruption. This results in a free pass for offenders,” she stated.
One of the most striking conclusions was that because of the great mutual dependence on the work floor, colleagues do not often set each other straight when a person makes a wrong move. According to Schotborgh, financial dependence plays a big role as to why there is no correction on the work floor.
In one third of the cases, warning signals were given off, but these were simply ignored. Persons in charge often decide to put aside the warning signs of the persons who carry out the internal control.
Schotborgh had a few recommendations. She stated that attention was needed to promote more political stability and to reduce the influence of the financiers of political parties.
Second, she recommended a reduction of opportunity through better compliance with internal procedures and the tightening of control measures. “Special attention is necessary to the vulnerable processes such as issuing permits and controls on drugs and other contraband.”
Third, attention is requested for a critical look at the appointment procedures of managers. “Constant attention to integrity issues in organisations is required. Effective prevention and combating of fraud and corruption requires a sense of urgency from society itself and a willingness to act accordingly.”
Schotborgh concluded that currently only a small group on the islands profits from prosperity. Fighting corruption and fraud will only be successful if the inequality of income between people diminishes and people become less financially dependent.
She hopes her dissertation will aid in starting a dialogue and creating awareness. “Diminish the large inequality in income, give people sufficient education and means of living so they become less dependent on each other. Then they no longer have to look away when they see irregularities and as a result, corrupt politicians will have fewer opportunities to enrich themselves.”
