Positions remain the same
in Marcel Loor appeal case
PHILIPSBURG--The same arguments were heard again Thursday during the handling by the Joint Court of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba of the appeals in the Marcel Loor case.
Former chief Immigration officer Marcel Loor (39) was sentenced in November 2007 to four years in prison after the Court of First Instance had found him guilty of forgery, bribery, tax evasion and money laundering.
Judge Luis de Lannoy had showed no mercy for the man whom he described as a “greedy wolf in sheep’s clothing” and had hurt Loor more in his wallet than the Prosecutor had suggested. He ordered Loor to pay a fine of NAf. 600,000 and to pay NAf. 191,254 in damages to the Coast Guard of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.
Prosecutor Maarten Hemelaar had asked for a four-year prison sentence and a NAf. 100,000 fine. He did not change his position during the handling of the appeal case, which took all morning, and requested the four judges of the Appeal Court to uphold the four-year prison sentence and the fine.
Hemelaar said that in his view the payment of damages to the Coast Guard of the Netherlands Antilles could be dropped, because this should be dealt with in a separate, civil case against Loor, dealing with the seizure of criminal monies and other assets obtained through criminal activities.
Loor had gathered more than two million guilders in a few years, money he transferred in cash to a Nevis-based company of which he was the sole stockholder and ultimate beneficiary owner, carefully keeping it out of sight of the Tax Office.
Loor had claimed he was innocent and his lawyer Richard Gibson Jr. had pleaded for his acquittal.
The Court of First Instance had found the former police commissioner guilty of forgery of Immigration re-entry forms for 106 persons, accepting bribes, defrauding the Coast Guard of more than NAf. 230,000 in rent allowance, income tax evasion, the forgery of requests to lower wage taxes, and money laundering.
Loor had blatantly misused his position as chief Immigration officer to provide fraudulent re-entry documents to a large number of illegal immigrants, the Court ruled in November.
The Joint Court will present its decision on April 3.
