Court renders verdict in ‘Ruby’ deprivation case

The Court has ruled that C.B. will be deprived of NAf 229,206 and M.B.M. of NAf. 224,458,80. Those amounts are a slight deviation from what the Prosecutor’s Office requested from the Court on January 29. Those amounts were NAf 255,441 and NAf 219,734 respectively. 

The Prosecutor’s Office sees this ruling as important as it fits the principle that crime, no matter the level, should never benefit the perpetrator(s) and that the community should never be a victim.

Investigation Ruby focused, among other things, on official corruption surrounding the tendering of management contracts of the waste dump on Sint Maarten. Alleged mismanagement of the landfill may have resulted in health risks to St Maarten society.

The claims were filed by the Central Team (CT) of the Attorney General of Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba as a follow-up to Ruby. The claims relate to the deprivation of assets obtained through the commission of criminal offences by two individuals. Both individuals were convicted on appeal in Ruby at the end of 2023 for, among other things, corruption.