WILLEMSTAD.- A person from the political party “Curaçao of all of us” (“Kòrsou di nos tur”) was the one who submitted the complaint against Minister Steven Martina, which led to an investigation by the Public Prosecutor. This was what EXTRA obtained after listening to the explanations and answers that Mr. Martina offered yesterday afternoon, during the press conference in which he announced his resignation as minister.
He explained that, according to the Integrity Law, for a person to become a minister he should put his commercial interests aside, and his commercial interests also included a package of shares that he had as CEO of the Guardian insurance company (Fatum). He separated himself from these shares and gave proof to the formateur at that time, so, according to his concept, he fulfilled the established by law and therefore, he could become a minister. In this law there is a particularity that he did not know and that says: “Even when you put the shares / interests at a distance / separated, you cannot participate in the decision making anyway”. Now, the fact that he took the law and handed it over to continue its course, is apparently considered a decision making, but that will become a legal battle.
He later stated that, at a meeting of the Council of Minister in February 2017, a proposal was discussed to change the maximum WA auto insurance rate, and at that time the matter fell under the MEO minister, Mr. Eugene Rhuggenaath. At that time, he was not minister, but the Council of Ministers after the treatment of this point, sent this position to the Advisory Council (Raad van Advies) which, at the time, did not have significant remarks and thus sent this back.
Then in July 2017, he became a minister, he sent the law to be dealt with in the Council of Ministers and by then the bill was treated as a “formality” because it was ready and only his approval was lacking. But since this law in question was receiving criticism within the community, it was decided to return the law and send it to a National Dialogue. In addition, this package was withdrawn from his person as Minister of Economic Development and placed under the Ministry of Finance’s portfolio.
According to Mr. Martina, meanwhile, a person emerged from the “Kòrsou di nos tur” party, he submitted the complaint to the Public Prosecutor for the investigation and approval of this Law. The Public Prosecutor in its turn, began with an investigation of facts and it was informed last Tuesday that it would begin with a criminal investigation into this matter.
For this reason, he decided yesterday to deliver his retirement as head of Economic Development in front of the Governor and thus allow the Public Prosecutor, space to carry out his work. At the end of his introduction, Mr. Martina declared that he has to tell those who trusted him that “he has a clear conscience.” He is aware that Curaçao is a democratic state and, as such, the Public Prosecutor’s Office has the right to make any investigation that, as an organism, considers necessary, to determine if it is a fact that is prohibited or punishable by law. For this reason, he believes that the Public Prosecutor must have all his time and space to do his research work.
