Yesterday was a big news day, and three pictures described it best, the pictures of the opposing parties, team Aruba Birdlife Conservation, team Embassy Suites, and the Otmar Oduber press release.
The ABC team looks pleased, they stand together at equal distances from each other armed with folders. Lawyer Geert Rep firmly holds on to his courthouse gown. The slimmed down Greg Peterson looks senatorial, but seems to have a tiny smile dancing behind his pursed lips.
Rep seems especially pleased, with his boyish charm, and his lovely daughter, on a summer job, at his side, because some juicy documents fell into his lap in which former minister Otmar Oduber approved the Natura NV, Embassy Suites beach project, even after Natuur & Milieu, DNM, gave negative recommendations.
Yes, DNM had misgivings, yet the minister approved it within one week of receiving the docs. Then miraculously, DIP went ahead to also approve.
Rep who also represented the minister had access to docs and materials, and at the end of an hour in court the judge upped the ante, and augmented the fine substantially, in case disrespectful developers move a finger, or a grain of beach sand.
The formal case was heard in court yesterday and the verdict will be announced August 2nd.
Was it a coincidence that on the same day, when the judge increased the fine in case of violation, that Otmar Oduber was formally charged with misuse of power, active and passive corruption, and falsification, in his role as the Minister of Spatial Planning, Infrastructure and the Environment, from November 2017 to December 2019?
The other picture in front of the court house was also interesting, the legal team Natura NV, three glamorous, well put together female lawyers, and standing a bit apart, clutching his courthouse gown, lawyer Ronny Wix, looking unusually tired, a bit disheveled, not his sprite self.
Perhaps weighed down by the realization that he is stuck in the courtroom instead of having a good time in NYC. Or maybe he is unhappy about the docs in Rep’s lap.
Without offending anyone, allow me again to point out, it is a bit of a conflict of interest as the Minister of Labor’s sister, and legal advisor, serves as chief counsel to a company about to hire hundreds of new employees, just saying, sure, it’s a small country and we cannot let the powerhouse sister starve for lack of clients, but we have more than 200 other lawyers in this country, and perhaps one that is unrelated would reflect better on company culture.
Was it a coincidence that on the same day, Otmar Oduber announced his return to politics, with his own political party as joining an existing organization. That’s is unclear.
I think he owes his constituents a health report, full disclosure, beyond the vague ‘all is well.’ And that also counts for a certain diligent MEP member of parliament who was reportedly recuperating. Tell us what’s the matter. What are you recuperating from, we have the right to know, who runs the country and what their bill of health looks like.
