Anyone who has ever received a piece of land from the government on leasehold and built a house on it knows exactly how it works with leasehold. The leaseholder is the owner of that house and he can sell it (if he wants) or give it in mortgage to obtain a loan.

And the government cannot prevent that, the government has absolutely nothing to say about the house.

If we keep this in mind and the developments in the case of the Klesch group, the question arises:

Why grant a leasehold right to a foreign entity on such a valuable natural resource as the deep-sea port on Bullen Bay? Klesch becomes de facto the owner and thus acquires by law all management and disposal powers over the leasehold land.

And even PDVSA has not obtained any leasehold rights in the past over the oil terminal and the deep-sea port. Why Klesch then? Does the government not realize that in doing so a very important economic pillar for Curaçao is being handed over? And, indeed, to an entity that is worldwide in controversy, because the Klesch group has built up an exceptionally bad reputation for itself. On the internet you can find information that is alarming and frightening.

What on earth can the motive of this government be, at all costs, come hell or high water, to transfer ownership of our Bullen Bay, the oil terminal including the adjacent water to the Klesch group instead of keeping it to undertake the large-scale development of Bullen Bay.

This is even more surprising now that on Saturday 7 May 2016 a meeting has taken place at the office of the Ministry of Finance on Pietermaai with a Power Point Presentation to the entire Council of Ministers present at the time under Premier Whiteman.

At the time, Eugène Rhuggenaath and Suzanne Römer were also present, who are also members of the current government coalition. The Power Point Presentation included a complete and detailed project for the large-scale development on Bullen Bay with a diversity of investors who were already in the starting blocks with feasible investment initiatives that were much and much more lucrative for Curaçao than this current "project" (? ) of the Klesch group.

Moreover, there was no question of granting ground lease to those operators of the oil terminal. Only other types of legal relationships would be allowed in that development project. Risk diversification would also be achieved in the employment created by a multitude of investors, as a result of which Curaçao would no longer be dependent on a single foreign "investor" (?) Klesch investor?

The then Council of Ministers was wildly enthusiastic, and the plan was accepted without reservation. Suzanne Römer would put together a working group within one week with participants from every ministry, but that working group was never allowed to see the light of day. The subsequent working group set up by Steven Martina, who was supposed to smooth the development plan in 2017 after the Guangdong Zhenrong failure, silently disappeared from the scene.

And now? Now we see an identical repetition of the debacle with Guangdong Zhenrong whereby before the Klesch group contributed with one dime to the economy of Curaçao, the ownership of our most valuable natural resource is allocated to the Klesch group. Incredible, absolutely incredible, even a donkey doesn't hit the same stone twice.

Klesch is said to have a performance obligation that will only start in seven (7) months. What will the government do if, as of 30 July 2020, the Klesch group has not yet started to make the commitments?

What will the government do if the Klesch group concludes billions of loans with the deep-sea port as hypothetical collateral (the government cannot prohibit this because of legal aspects), but even if a legally enforceable condition is included to prohibit this, even then, the risk factor has not been eliminated, as it remains to be seen whether the Klesch group will care a little.

And if Klesch fails to meet its repayment obligations in time, what then? What happens then is that our deep-sea port at a foreclosure auction falls into the hands of another foreign entity, which might be undesirable for Curaçao in a geopolitical sense.

There are even rumors, fueled by announcements from the government at press conferences, that there is a prohibition of sale, with the proviso (an option right for Curaçao) that Klesch must first offer the deep-sea port to Curaçao, before being allowed to transfer it to another .

Ridiculous! Then Curaçao can buy back the property of its own former deep-sea port that Klesch had managed to get for an apple and an egg in 2020. Too crazy for words. Neither the government, nor RdK, nor PMO, nor any legal advisers who have devised this plan and want to implement it, are all authorized to sell our deep-sea port to any foreign entity.

That port is owned by Curaçao, that is to say by the people of Curaçao and the future generations of Curaçao and is not owned by PMO or the current government. Under no circumstances may a leasehold be granted to Klesch. The possibilities for the large-scale development of Bullenbaai in another more lucrative way are still open to Curaçao.

Bert Pieters, the co-signer of this document, who, like me, was physically present at the aforementioned meeting on Saturday 7 May 2016, still sees opportunities to save parts of this plan and thereby save replacement employment for this industry in Curaçao. And in a way that is much cheaper for Curaçao.

If the government or RdK refuse to have the granted leasehold right established by notarial deed and reports this to Klesch, Klesch will automatically withdraw, because Klesch is absolutely not interested in modernizing the refinery. That commitment is only the shell that serves to catch the big cod and that is our deep-sea harbor Bullen Bay.

Marguérite Nahar and Bert Pieters

Marguérite Nahar
Lawyer Marguérite Nahar was external legal adviser to Refineria di Korsou (RdK) until mid-October 2016