WILLEMSTAD - The former President-Director of the Central Bank of Curaçao and Sint Maarten, Emsley Tromp, and his former deputy director, René Raoul Lourents, are accused by the Public Prosecutor's Office of serious corruption and money laundering practices. The trial, which took place this week, revealed shocking details of how the two top bankers allegedly abused their positions for personal enrichment.
The Public Prosecutor argued in its requisitory that Tromp and Lourents used a clothing company, the Curacao Fashion Group, as a front to receive and launder illegal payments. According to the prosecution, they leveraged their influential positions at the Central Bank for this purpose.
The Hercules investigation, launched in 2019, is a continuation of an earlier investigation called Sapphire. Hercules examined two dubious loans: a $400,000 loan from the clothing company to Tromp and a 2.4 million guilders loan from Enpiso to the clothing company.
Gifts
During the trial, the defendants were accused of soliciting and accepting gifts, attempting to conceal them through false loan agreements, and subsequently laundering the obtained funds.
The Public Prosecutor presented a chronological overview of the suspects' actions, with both Tromp and Lourents playing central roles in the financial transactions that ultimately burdened the Curacao Fashion Group with heavy debts.
The prosecution presented various scenarios to demonstrate that the loans from the group and Enpiso were nothing more than ways to move and launder money. Email exchanges and witness statements revealed that Tromp had influence over the operations of the Curacao Fashion Group and that Lourents served as a cover to execute illegal transactions.
A notable discovery was that the $400,000 loan was not used for liquidity needs, as claimed, but was directly transferred to Tromp's personal investment account. Additionally, Enpiso's loan to the Curacao Fashion Group turned out to be a cover for repaying a credit facility at Banco di Caribe, without the alleged expansion of the Curacao Fashion Group actually occurring.
Sentencing
The Public Prosecutor's Office is demanding heavy sentences for both defendants, 2.5 years for Lourents and three years for Tromp. In addition to imprisonment, the prosecution seeks disqualification from holding any office and a professional ban within financial institutions for several years.
The Public Prosecutor also announced its intention to file a confiscation order to recover the illegally obtained profits.