WILLEMSTAD - “The liquidity available to Ennia is becoming increasingly limited. If the damage caused by Ansary and his associates is not compensated, the moment will soon be reached at which the Central Bank will have to cut benefits and accrued future pensions.” These were the words expressed by Dr. José Jardim, financial-economic director of the Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten (CBCS). Jardim made this statement on the last day of the appeal in the liability case of ENNIA (represented by the CBCS) versus Hushang Ansary with his associates.
“That moment is not far away, and that cut will not be small,” says Jardim. “That is why the CBCS is also in consultation with the countries of Curaçao and Sint Maarten to determine to what extent they are willing and able to mitigate the social disruption that will arise as a result of that cut.”
“Curaçao and Sint Maarten may contribute, and hopefully that can be temporary because the damage caused will then be compensated. But even help from the Countries could only partially ease the pain of a cut. The two countries cannot afford an amount of one billion guilders without support from the Kingdom.”
By way of illustration, Jardim indicated the following: one billion guilders corresponds to approximately 16 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the two countries combined, and one billion guilders is approximately half of the government budgets of the two countries combined.
Curaçao and Sint Maarten together received 1.2 billion guilders in interest-free loans from the Netherlands during the pandemic for support measures. To add directly to that: “So Ansary cum suis' actions have an effect on the two islands that is comparable to the suffering that the pandemic has caused.”
According to Dr. Jardim, Ansary and his associates have put their personal interests first, overriding the interests of ENNIA as an insurer and the interests of the policyholders, disregarding any form of professional ethics.
“ENNIA is a systemically important insurer with more than 40,000 policyholders in Curaçao and Sint Maarten. This concerns more than 20 percent of the population of the two islands, especially Curaçao.”
