Dear Editor,
In my first article on this subject, I focused on the discrepancy that exists already for many years between the way justice is served and practiced in the various countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and especially when it concerns politicians suspected of wrongdoings in executing their tasks.
In this article I would like to refer to an article, published on July 9, 2018, in which author Bart De Koning in his newsletter expands on the topic of “Nepotism: fraud and corruption in The Netherlands”.
He questions in his article among other things why white-collar criminals in the Netherlands rarely or never go to prison. Why is it that the Dutch government hardly ever snatches away illegally-earned money from criminals? Why are abusers of the social welfare system punished much harder than tax evaders? In the pre-publication of his book on “Nepotism” the author shows that the temptation of the big money is always present, and the Netherlands is no exception!
The author argues that in the Netherlands there is a perception of hardly any “visible” corruption. The Netherlands is even considered as one of the least corrupt countries in the world, as it appears from the annual extensive investigations of the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) by Transparency International.
In 2016, the Netherlands scored in the eighth place of the Corruption Perception Index, just behind Denmark, New-Zealand, Finland, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway and Singapore. Excellent company and far remote from the extremely corrupt list of countries at the bottom, such as Somalia, South-Sudan and North-Korea. Do not be fooled by this so-called perception.
For the Dutch, keeping this self-image where the illusion of having an incorruptible public administration with highly responsible politicians, is extremely important. The Netherlands cherishes that illusion because they simply like to set themselves apart in this respect from others. “
According to Koning, when a scandal happens, they have a typical Dutch approach to maintain “that illusion of the integrity of the public administration and they maintain their self-esteem”. First, they deny the scandal, then “there follows an intermediate phase, consisting of a lengthy investigation” and then they conclude that not much was going on, and the case is closed.
If true, we ask ourselves, how on earth has it been possible that the following list of rather serious scandals still occurred in the course of past years?
* The Netherlands as a tax haven enables tax-evasion by major global companies;
* The Panama Papers disclosure in 2015 involved hundreds of Dutch companies,
exposing the bubble of World Online in 2000,
* Big Fraud Scandal in the Construction Sector “(Bouwfraude)”, exposed by Zembla in 2001, markets shared, cartels formed and price fixing, involved overcharging businesses hundreds of millions.
According to Koning, the chances are minimal to be caught in the Netherlands for fraud or tax-evasion.
In the event of major scandals, such as the case of corruption against the politician in Limburg, re Vestia, the accountancy fraud at Ahold and the RDM scandal, the involved major players, suspects and accused, are hardly ever condemned to prison time. In some cases, the motive used by the judges in the sentence is that the criminals already suffered enough from the negative publicity they got, so the author concludes.
Strange enough, at the same time, we see politicians in Sint Maarten and Curaçao in particular being prosecuted – one after the other – for wrongdoings and in most cases sentenced to jail time.
It should be clear that I cannot and will not understand why the equal treatment is not practiced in this part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. We, the people of Sint Maarten, demand equal treatment and reject all forms of discrimination being practiced in the Justice system within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It is my duty to bring awareness to the public of all wrongdoings within the Netherlands that go unpunished!
Regarding the article referenced in this publication for this week, visit the following link on internet and Judge for yourself! https://www.ftm.nl/artikelen/vriendjespolitiek-fraude-en-corruptie-in-nederland-v1?share=1
Josianne Fleming Artsen
