The former Prime Minister of Curaçao, Gerrit Schotte, has asked the population of the island for help in paying 1.8 million Antillean guilders. That equates to about 900,000 euros.
In video’s on social media he asks for donations. In it he also says that he must pay before May 12 or else go to jail for three years.
The Public Prosecution Service in Curaçao says in a response to the videos that Schotte has long known that he has to pay, the ANP reports. The Public Prosecution Service also says that it is possible for everyone to make a payment arrangement. The former prime minister says in the videos that he has never had an offer for that.
Corruption and money laundering
In 2020 Schotte was released from SDKK prison in Willemstad after he had served two thirds of his sentence. He got in 2018 three years in prison for bribery, forgery and money laundering. He also had to pay another 900,000 euros to the judiciary.
The Public Prosecution Service wants that money from him backbecause he and his partner obtained it illegally. Schotte appealed against that sentence, but the Supreme Court ruled in September last year that the measure was justified.
Schotte is not only given a prison sentence, but he is also not allowed to stand for election for parliament for five years. His wife was jailed for 15 months.
Fake invoices
Schotte took money from Francesco Corallo, an Italian casino owner. That money was used for his election campaign. In exchange for the money, Corallo would get a say in the government.
The money was laundered through false invoices and transactions with a bank in Switzerland and a PO box company in the Marshall Islands. Schotte’s partner’s company served as a cover.
Schotte was the first Prime Minister of Curaçao between 2010 and 2012 as an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
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