Former MP and ex-leader of the Green Left party Paul Rosenmöller has been asked to head the commission investigating allegations of corruption in Curaçao’s government and central bank.

Emsley Tromp, who heads the Central Bank of Curaçao and St Maarten, accused Curaçao’s prime minister Gerrit Schotte, and at least two of his ministers, of graft in a land deal and taking bribes. Mr Tromp then filed an official complaint against the prime minister, as well as the economic affairs and finance ministers. Mr Schotte, in turn, has made similar allegations of corruption against Mr Tromp.

No criminal investigation
At the end of June, Dutch Interior Minister Piet Hein Donner announced that an independent committee would investigate the root of the troubled relationship between the government and the bank. He added that the Dutch National Department of Criminal Investigation (Rijksrecherchedienst) would not be involved and said the inquiry would focus on how to restore trust in the vital institutions involved in the row.

"The investigation will not last months and months" Mr Donner said earlier. He preferred speed over precision, he added.

Since dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles on 10 October 2010, the Caribbean island of Curaçao has had the status of an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

Mr Rosenmöller served as a Dutch MP between 1989 and 2003. He was a renowned for his debating skills in parliament. The commission will also include Cees Maas, the former CEO of the ING banking and insurance group.

(jn/imm)

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