WILLEMSTAD – Curaçao Ports Authorities (CPA) bought a building on Pletterijweg, next to Kompania di Tou Kòrsou (KTK) owned by former minister of Finance, George ‘Jorge’ Jamaloodin (MFK). This appears from documents at the land registry office. According to an inquiry from the government accountants bureau Soab, during his ministerial office the government rented the building as from March 2012 for 38,287 guilders per month. The question was raised why CPA had decided to purchase the property.
Jamaloodin’s (half-) brother, the chairman of the board of CPA, Amparo dos Santos, stated earlier this week that CPA paid 3 million guilders for the building and that the rent-rolls for CPA amount to approx. 40,000 guilders. According to him, it’s a good deal for the government company and the population. Earlier this week parliamentarians Helmin Wiels (party leader of PS) and Alex Rosaria (party leader of Pais) suspected that aforementioned purchase involved ‘serious conflict of interest’ and both politicians independently conducted an investigation. Wiels: “There is some rumor of pure corruption here.”
As director of The Safety Zone NV, Jamaloodin purchased the building, consisting of an office complex and a shed, late 2003. With the Chamber of Commerce it’s registered as a security-service company and supplier of security systems. Rechard Rudolfo Regina is the current director and when asked if he wished to comment on CPA purchasing the building, he replied: “Although I’m registered as director, this is no concern of mine, but that of the owners.” The same Safety Zone is also mentioned in a recent inquiry from Soab into current government contracts. As the Amigoe reported earlier, the majority of the 133 current contracts were concluded after 10-10-’10. The duration of most of these contracts is three years without much possibility of early termination.
One of the rent contracts concluded on March 1st, 2012 (when Jamaloodin was minister of Finance) regards the rent of the building on Pletterijweg from The Safety Zone by the government for 38,287 guilders per month. “This contract cannot be terminated prematurely and is renewed annually per January 1st, based on the price index figures from CBS”, according to the report from Soab. For that matter, this report form Soab explicitly mentioned the former minister in connection with a contract concluded by the Ministry of Administration, Planning and Service (BPD) with Speedy Security (of which Jamaloodin had been the director before he became minister). This contract for the security of the building from the Ministry of Finance has meanwhile been terminated in writing, as from May 31st 2013. “This will yield a saving of 42,250 guilders per month and 507,000 guilders per year after May 31st 2013”, according to the report from Soab.
CPA buys building from former minister Jamaloodin
The proposal to purchase the building on Pletterijweg had come from CPA-director Humberto de Castro during a meeting of the Board of Commissioners mid November 2012. The following commissioners/persons were present at this meeting when the purchase was approved: chairman of the board, Amparo dos Santos; Tarzeno ‘Zeno’ Circkens, Cicely van der Dijs; Xerxes ‘Checo’ Nepomuceno, and Eduardo Vlieg, the executive secretary of CPA. Although Yamil Lasten had not attended the meeting he had authorized Van der Dijs. The commissioners recommended by PS, Donald Balentina and Margit de Freitas, hadn’t been present either, just like Carol Capriles (who was recommended by MFK). The asking price of the building on Pletterijweg, supposedly 2.2 million, was discussed during the meeting. An assessment report from 2010 was also mentioned, which stated the estimated value was 2.5 million with a private purchase, and the liquidation value 2 million. These amounts do not correspond with the purchase price of 3 million previously mentioned by Dos Santos before the newspaper Extra.
Parliamentarian Rosaria indicated earlier to ask questions about the purchase price and if this corresponds with the actual value of the building. Whether this was a good deal or not, one wonders why CPA decided to purchase the property, considering it is not the core business of the company, which main purpose is the commercial development of the harbors.
Former minister Jamaloodin was not available for comment.
Bron: CuracaoChroicle