WILLEMSTAD - The Court of First Instance ruled yesterday in the case filed by former prime minister of Curaçao and MFK leader Gerrit Schotte and his life partner Cicely van der Dijs against the Curaçao Intelligence Service (VDC).

The judge indicated in his ruling that there is no causal connection between the damage that Schotte says he has suffered from his criminal conviction and the leak of the memo from the VDC in 2011.

The case was against two former employees of the VDC - Edsel Gumbs and Yasser Dennaoui - and the country Curaçao. According to the former prime minister, the VDC harmed him and his partner by leaking a memo about the couple's MOT (unusual transactions) reports to the media in 2011.

The two claimed that the court declares that Dennaoui and Gumbs acted unlawfully by drawing up a memo and leaking this to the media, as a result of which Schotte and Van der Dijs suffered damage and that the country is held liable for the damage suffered. However, the judge is of a different opinion and yesterday rejected the claims of Schotte and Van der Dijs.

According to the court, it has not been established that the possibility of damage is the result of the memo leak. “From Schotte's own statements it can be reduced that the memo did not play a role in the decision of the Public Prosecution Service to prosecute, nor in the criminal case itself. The damage thus alleged by Schotte resulting from his criminal conviction is therefore not causally related to the leakage of the memo”, according to the judge in his opinion.

“Other possible damages as a result of the leakage of the memo have not been put forward by Schotte et al. Also, these possible damage items have not been found. This does not make it plausible that Schotte et al. Suffered damage as a result of the memo being leaked. This means that Schotte et al have no interest in the declaration for justice that they have claimed that the Country is liable for damage to Schotte et al. As a result of unlawful acts by the Country, insofar as this is based on the fact that the memo (through) the Country has been brought out into the open. This means that the claim against the Country cannot be upheld on this basis either.”

In addition to being declared inadmissible, Schotte and Van der Dijs were also ordered to pay the costs of the proceedings.