International

SP Member of Parliament Ronald van Raak is demanding an explanation from the government regarding a former minister from the Dutch Caribbean dependency of Sint Maarten who has been given what appears to be a €12,500 per month sinecure. "This sort of money-grubbing by politicians in the Antilles seems to know no limits," says Van Raak. "This ex-minister has now found himself with an undemanding administrative job for which he earns more than our prime minister!"

According to reports in Saturday's press, the former minister has tripled his income by various devious means from €2.700 euro (7.080 Antillian guilders) to €12.500 euro (33,000 Antillian guilders) per month. In addition to this, he has received a sizeable number of bonuses, including one which was paid because he has to live in the Netherlands, another because he had to leave his island, and money to cover the cost of taking his entire family on holiday to Sint Maarten. His pay also includes reimbursement for two months per year in an hotel.

Van Raak fears that this is no isolated instance, and is trying to find out from Secretary of State Ank Bijleveld how many other ex-politicians in the Antilles have landed themselves such pleasant positions. “But above all I want to know what the Dutch government knew about these exceptional employment contracts. Why has the Secretary of States not intervened? And what is she going to do about it now?”