Stein: Loor trial is signal that
corruption won’t be tolerated
PHILIPSBURG--While announcing that the prosecution is prepared to take Police Commissioner Marcel Loor to court on September 19, Chief Prosecutor Taco Stein said, “It is not something we like, but is necessary, because we cannot tolerate corruption.”
The summons with the actual charges to which Loor will have to answer before the Judge will be sent this week. Barring any attempts by the defence to prolong the investigation, Stein anticipates that the case will be tried as scheduled.
Stein said the final file pertaining to the investigation of Loor’s alleged wrongdoings would be handed over to his attorney and the Prosecutor’s Office this week, once Federal Detectives had completed their work.
He admitted that the arrest of a top-ranking police officer had prompted widespread allegations, but reconfirmed that no other criminal cases involving police officers were being investigated.
Noting the important role the Police Force played in the work of the Prosecutor’s Office, Stein said no friction had resulted from Loor’s incarceration. He stated, “The average police officer wants to be taken seriously and not taken as corrupt, and in that respect most, if not all, of them applaud what we are doing.”
He said the investigation into allegations that Loor had committed fraud and had accepted bribes had been especially difficult because it involved money and this meant the detectives had had to follow a long paper trail.
After more than a week of reports on allegations involving the police commissioner, the Prosecutor’s Office confirmed on June 19 that Federal Detectives had arrested Loor at his St. John’s Estate home on charges of bribery and forgery.
A computer and documents were confiscated from Loor’s home at the time of the arrest. A team of nine persons – two Kingdom Detective Cooperation Team RST Detectives, two local police detectives, Curaçao prosecutor Marten Hemelaar, two Federal Detectives, the local Judge of Instruction and a court recorder – were involved in the arrest.
A search was also made of Loor’s office at the Philipsburg police station, during which another computer and more documents were confiscated. A search was also conducted at Standard Trust Company, where documents pertaining to offshore accounts containing large sums of money in Loor’s name were confiscated.
