WILLEMSTAD - Sheldry Osepa, a member of the PNP party in parliament, questions whether former governor Jaime Saleh can continue as the Minister of State given his involvement in the Ennia scandal. As a result of this scandal, 30,000 people in Curaçao and Sint Maarten are concerned about their pensions.
Yesterday, the Joint Court of Justice of Curaçao, Sint Maarten, Bonaire, Sint Eustatius, and Saba released a preliminary judgment of 143 pages on Ennia.
This preliminary judgment includes the names of commissioners who received substantial amounts. Among these names is that of Jaime Saleh, according to Osepa.
According to the court, Saleh received almost three million Antillean guilders between 2008 and 2018. The allegation is that as a member of the Supervisory Board, he did not take action against Ansary, who was financially draining Ennia, while he was aware of it.
Saleh is said to have been a confidant of Ansary, and given the scandal, his current role as Minister of State is concerning. The commissioners were excessively paid with policyholders' money, and now taxpayers may have to foot the bill.
Jaime Saleh is a former attorney general, lawyer, and former president of the Joint Court of Justice of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba. Saleh was also the governor of the Netherlands Antilles. He has held the position of Minister of State for the Netherlands Antilles since 2004 and for Curaçao since 2010.
Parliamentarian Osepa emphasizes that Saleh, as Minister of State, has limited authority under the Constitution to revoke confidence in him.
However, the government is responsible for appointing the Minister of State, and it is now up to the government to consider whether Saleh is still suitable for this position, according to Osepa. "The government must take action."
In the interest of transparency and accountability, Osepa has posed several questions to the government. He wants to know the government's opinion on Jaime Saleh continuing as Minister of State, given his involvement in Ennia.
Osepa also wants to know if the Curaçao government plans to remove Jaime Saleh from his position as Minister of State and requests a motivated response from Pisas.
If he does not receive a satisfactory answer, Osepa threatens to introduce a motion calling on the government to dismiss Jaime Saleh from his position as Minister of State.