Escaped under the Radar - Parts 1, 2 & 3

“Public officials must at all times be intensely scrutinized, to the point where it becomes a hindrance, because -generally spoken- not everybody can handle the affluence of power that is bestowed upon them”.

Judge Bob Wit of the Joint Court of the Netherlands Antilles.

This quote is in the preface of a book published in 2004 about corruption in Holland. The book “Bouwbeerput” (translates as “construction – cesspit”) is written by two Dutch journalists about civil servants and politicians who were bribed and treated to casino visits, whorehouses visits and expensive trips by the major construction companies competing to get government jobs. The 379 page book also exposes Dutch construction companies practicing corruption and fraud in the Netherlands Antilles on a large scale.

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The book is written in the Dutch language and is a 2004 updated version of a similar earlier publication under the name “wrinkly Holland”. The journalists wrote about the topic on numerous occasions in a respectable Dutch newspaper and their publications are believed to have triggered a parliament inquiry in Holland in 2002 and criminal investigations in both Holland and Curacao shortly thereafter.

Most criminal cases led to prosecution and ultimately convictions. It is quite strange that none of the Sint Maarten politicians and businessmen that were believed to be involved were prosecuted by the justice authorities as some of their Dutch and Curacao colleagues were. They really escaped under the radar. In those days the "radar" was manned by the Merky Merx and that may explain why. On the other hand, none of the Sint Maarten politicians and businessmen that were mentioned sued the authors of the book for libel or defamation of character. Until now they have not explained why.

It took a while till somebody helped with the translation. The relevant pages from the book will be published in 3 parts. It may serve as a reminder what to do on April 20. Draw your own conclusions.

Part 1 - Pages 227 and 228:

“A whorehouse, a whorehouse! What is a whorehouse?” so we hear in a small government office with a ceiling full of cracks. Commissioner Roy Marlin (DP Sint Maarten) has his office In Philipsburg, capital of Sint Maarten. He is responsible for public works.

Visiting whorehouses, corruption and fraud on Sint Maarten? Marlin looks with suspicion to his interviewer. He did hear about double bookkeeping of Koop Tjuchem that also contained projects on Sint Maarten. But he never investigated what actually was going on. He does not consider it to be his job but the job of the Justice department.

Marlin says he knows nothing about secretive pricing policies and the forming of cartels to prevent competition by Dutch construction companies as Janssen de Jong, Koop Tjuchem and De Antillen NV. He also knows nothing about visiting whorehouses or bribes for politicians or civil servants paid for by Dutch builders. According to Marlin, construction-cartels do not exist on Sint Maarten. “And who says the information found in double bookkeeping is correct?” Quotations of the competing companies are always scrutinized by engineering firms. And he assumes that they have integrity. “Those are independent firms that do a proper job; they negotiate firmly about prices and then report to my civil servants.”

Cees Lugtendorff of De Antillen NV and Ad Bos of Koop Tjuchem know better. On Sint Maarten there is a “10% policy” according to Lugtendorff. 10 percent of each project is paid to politicians or political parties. The 10% was added to project costs. The taxpayer ultimately pays.

With a company called Sint Maarten Roads, Lugtendorff got his first job in 2002. It concerned repairs to a wall at the cemetery in Cape Bay that was severely damaged after a hurricane. “For that job, we paid to Sarah Wescott, and her party. Sarah Wescott got the money through our middleman Sylvio Matser.”
Sylvio Matser is the brother to Gary Matser who is married to the daughter of Sarah Wescott. Lugtendorff: “ Sylvio Matser, who acted on behalf of Wescott, told us about the 10%. I don’t recall anymore how it was settled. “It concerned a job of 1.3 million guilders.”

Wescott says she never accepted money. According to her, the party did accept donations just like all other parties do. Also from De Antillen NV and Koop. She denies to have had any direct involvement in the project. She does not want us to see the party’s administration with regard to the donations that were received.

Sylvio Matser was one of the directors of Richmat Consultants, a company that acted as agent for Koop, Ad Bos confessed to the NRC Handelsblad (a Dutch newspaper). Bos told that he had to pay through his middleman to commissioner William Marlin (no family ties to Roy) and his party the National Alliance. It not only concerned “party sponsoring” according to Bos.

In a fax of Simatko Constructions NV (a company belonging to Koop on Sint Maarten) of July 23, 1998, Koop headquarters in Holland is asked to arrange for an apartment in Leiden. “Please 2 bdrms” says the request. It was for a girlfriend of William Marlin, says Bos. She went to study in Holland and the apartment at Koop’s expenses would be beneficial to get jobs. “It is for the most powerful man on the island for projects at this moment in time”, says the fax. “He will be very happy and it will beneficial for us.” William Marlin says he knows Bos but denies that he was bribed. It is a mystery to him who was mentioned in the fax of Bos………..

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Escaped under the Radar - Part II

Below you will find part two of the translation of some pages from a Dutch book about fraud and corruption in the Dutch Antilles Islands. For those who don't know how to recognize Koop construction. Grey and orange are their colors. You can find them around airports, roundabouts and parking lots.

Part 2: Page 228 – 229

Bos worked for Koop on Sint Maarten from 1997 till 1998. Sint Maarten was the gold mine he remembers when he returned to his old working environment in 2004 upon invitation of NRC. He smiles about the statements of Roy Marlin. It is naivety or worse. On Sint Maarten it was like elsewhere in the Antilles. Politicians were paid off to get jobs.

Bos recalls one of the first projects he acquired for Koop on Sint Maarten. The surfacing of dirt roads on the island. It didn’t take long before he had an agreement with Commissioner William Marlin. 4 million guilders was involved, Marlin wrote in a 1998 memo to the executive council that Simatko (Koop) was to get the work. Estimates and calculations were to be provided by Bos. He collected the technical data and a friend at the Dutch Ministry of Public works made the calculations. Once those were ready, the deal was done. The cost, over 4.5 million, was no longer discussed but in reality the cost was not even 3 million.

Koop also made money with the pre-financing of the project. The island government did not have the money to finance the project. Financing was arranged though Koop in Holland against interest rates up to 12%. The profit made with the project served to pay the local middleman. This middleman also gave information on future projects and he had his contacts in the government building. Simatko paid the middleman by giving him loans. The IOU’s were entered in the administration and later on settled against project costs. A different method was accepting invoices for consulting work. Those invoices served to justify acquisition expenses. The cash entries of April and May 1998 proof this lobby work. The entries show amounts for party financing, nightclubs, diners, whorehouses and payment of a fine.

Once Ad Bos had worked his way in, Holland orchestrated the strategies of pricing policies and consultation schemes with the competition. It didn’t stop with bribing politicians. On Sint Maarten, and elsewhere in the Antilles, corruption went hand in hand with secretive work- and pricing policies between the construction companies. Just like in the rest of the Kingdom. That appeared for the first time in 2001 when the double bookkeeping of Koop Tjuchem became public. It showed the Dutch (road) construction companies that controlled the market in the Antilles, conspired and made secret pricing policies for road- and waterworks. Koop Tjuchem and De Antillen NV participated in those schemes just as the Antillean companies of the Janssen Jong Group….

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Escaped under the Radar - Part III - "We simply don't know".

And part 3. All pages together is another confirmation of what we already knew. Government is corrupt to the bone and nobody seems to be willing to do something about it. But we will continue to reveal and expose until somebody will.

Part 3: Pages 231 - 232:

On Sint Maarten the most important builders, Janssen de Jong, Koop and De Antillen NV divided the market. Initially, Janssen de Jong operating on Sint Maarten as Windward Roads, had the entire market for itself. Koop Tjuchem came in 1997 and after that De Antillen NV operating as Sint Maarten Roads. The arrival of two new companies did not result in competition and sharper prices. Janssen de Jong and Koop made a pact and kept prices artificially high. Throughout the years the island government raised its estimates for work. There was no alternative.

On Sint Maarten the companies had a monopoly on the production of asphalt. Prices for asphalt up to 425 guilders per ton were normal. Unbelievable for Dutch standards but there it was possible. It was easy to keep the market closed. Profit margins on Sint Maarten were higher than on Curacao. At least 50% according to Ad Bos. But even 100% profit margins were a reality. In secretive consulting sessions, the builders increased prices and the island government thus adapted its estimates. Such as the construction of Link 1, Phase 2. That is the new link from Philipsburg to Juliana Airport International. Koop Tjuchem and Windward Roads shared 900.000 guilders as the difference between the actual cost and the agreed upon price. They dictated the prices but also had confidential internal information form the government offices as appears form a mail of April 22, 1998 from Koop director Veerman to Wiel Janssen, the director of Janssen de Jong. “Our calculation is 1.510.000, Veerman writes, but to both stay under the estimate, the lowest bid should not exceed 2.483.000.….

In his office commissioner Roy Marlin says to be surprised by this fax. “Maybe we do have to launch an investigation”. Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards reacts cautiously. Meddling with public tenders? He says to know nothing about it. “But I want a transparent and public tender policy as soon as possible” The corruption cases on Curacao are a lesson for his Island, the Lt. Governor says. Richards announces a study from the Dutch Research and Documentation Centre of the Ministry of Justice and the University of the Netherlands Antilles. Main question is whether organized crime infiltrated government. ”We want to know if those practices happen here, because we simply don’t know.”

Simply don't know? Or simply don't wanna know?