Office of the Attorney General

HISTORY OF THE OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

The Council House, where now the Court of Justice is housed, since 1861 has also been the home the Attorney General and his Office. In that year, Abraham de Rouville was the Public Prosecutor of the King, (the original name for the office of Attorney General). In that capacity, de Rouville was also a member of the Colonial Council. An incidental circumstance is that he was a member of the Masonic Lodge "De Vergenoeging", which was the original owner of the property at Wilhelmina Plein 14-16. The Office of the Attorney General was established for 150 years in the Council House. In December 2011, however, this came to an end and the Office moved to the monumental building of the Lodge "De Vergenoeging" at Wilhelmina Square 14-16. This building is - as well as the adjacent Temple Emanu-El, where the Office of the Chief Public Prosecutor is housed - built on a former cemetery.

The laying of the foundation stone of the Temple of Temples - as it was called on that occasion by one of the members of De Vergenoeging, Mr. J.J. Naar, in his speech - took place on October 18, 1868, at half past two in the afternoon. More than eight months after the laying of the foundation stone, on July 3, 1869, the opening of the lodge building took place.

Well over 100 years after the laying of the first stone, this building was sold to the Bank of America. The lodge then was allowed to use the Temple Emanu-El, which, since the reunification of the two Jewish Congregations on the island, no longer had served as a Jewish Temple. On December 14, 1983, the Bank of America sold the premises to the First National Bank of Boston. Six years later, these premises were again sold to a bank, namely The Mc Laughlin Bank N.V.

On December 30, 2003 the property again changed ownership. After an extensive renovation, the official opening of the Insurance Company Inter Assure took place on January 27, 2005. In August 2009, the Country of the Netherlands Antilles purchased the property from Inter Assure, on behalf of the Office of the Attorney General. Both the Court of Justice as well as the Office of the Attorney General needed more office space due to staff expansion. The Council House therefore became too small. Six years after the official opening of Inter Assure, in late 2011, the official opening took place of this building, this time as the residence of the Attorney General's Office.