A recent document circulated by the Central Bank of Aruba stated the following: Curbing corruption is a high priority for the Centrale Bank van Aruba (CBA), because corruption has far reaching negative economic and social repercussions. Several international organizations, such as Transparency International, frequently conduct surveys on the level of corruption in many countries. To compensate for the fact that Aruba is not part of these international surveys, and consequently important data on local corruption are not available, the CBA has been conducting the corruption survey since 2018.
The publication goes on to state that for the purpose of their Corruption Survey 2022, corruption is defined in this survey as the abuse of entrusted power for private gain and includes, among others, bribery, nepotism, exchange of favors, public service fraud, embezzlement, and conflict of interest.
The survey is based on the experience of residents aged 18, and their perception about the level of corruption. It was conducted on line, June – July 2022, not face to face and it covered a total of 1,358 residents, 726 male (53 percent) and 632 female (47 percent).
Bottom line:
- Corruption remains a fundamental concern and challenge in 2022.
- Fighting corruption should, therefore, be one of the top priorities not only for the government of Aruba (GoA), but also for the Aruban community, because corruption has negative consequences for all economic actors, the whole economy, and community in general.
- One precondition for terminating corruption in Aruba is by building a community that is resistant to corruption.
De Facto: The whole week was dedicated to court hearings in the Ostrich case, against a former minister and a sitting member of parliament plus five other individuals. I tried to follow. But it is a circus.
They did not do anything illegal, they are business people, morality is subjective, so what if what they did was not right, who’s the judge of that, as long as it is legal, no one can say anything about it.
They are all despicable characters, with no moral compass who saw a lucrative opportunity, and went for it. Gangsters in sneakers.
And meanwhile the county pays for a special judge to fly in from the Netherlands, first class, I am sure, staying at nice accommodations, I am sure, special prosecutors who have been brought in to investigate, dedicating almost two years to the maze of documents, design to confuse, who did what between shareholders and directors of shell companies, who signed, who did not.
Every kindergarten kid can tell you that these people enriched themselves at our expense, they amassed real estate and fortunes, over a long period of time, and the current set of defendants is relatively harmless against the big upcoming fish, one of them the owner of shopping malls and residential developments, a government employees who never showed up for work in the office but diligently amassed a fortune at our expense, as a friend of the minister. Because he could.
We will be VERY disappointed if after ALL THE RESOURCES invested, this investigation will amount to nothing. And it seems to me, this is not going anywhere. The unprotected system was attached by opportunistic marauders, and there is little we can do to retaliate, because they outsmarted the law.
