WILLEMSTAD – Minister Charles Cooper will face questions in the Curaçao Parliament on Thursday, October 29, over the controversial purchase of the former Sint Elisabeth Hospital (SEHOS) complex in Otrobanda. The government and CMC Vastgoed jointly paid XCG 13 million for portions of the property, just three months after the bankrupt hospital's curator sold the complex to a private company for XCG 10 million.
The public question-and-answer session, scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m., was requested by MAN-PIN parliamentary leader Giselle Mc William, who submitted fourteen questions on October 7 concerning the financial justification, negotiations, and consequences of the transaction for public finances.
At the center of the controversy is the XCG 3 million difference between the two transactions.
According to notarial deeds previously reported by Curaçao.nu, the curator transferred the former hospital complex to Otrabanda Village on June 30 for XCG 10 million. In early October, the government of Curaçao and CMC Vastgoed subsequently purchased portions of the real estate for a combined XCG 13 million.
The government paid XCG 9 million, while CMC Vastgoed contributed XCG 4 million.
Mc William wants Cooper to clarify whether the properties involved in both transactions were identical. If the same parcels were sold, she is demanding an explanation for the XCG 3 million price increase within such a short period.
The opposition parliamentarian is also questioning whether the government obtained an independent property valuation before agreeing to the purchase.
She wants to know who conducted the valuation, what the property was determined to be worth, and whether the government is prepared to submit the valuation report to Parliament.
Another issue concerns the negotiations that preceded the transaction. Mc William has asked Cooper to identify the individuals who negotiated on behalf of the government and disclose when discussions with Otrabanda Village began.
The timing is particularly important because the parliamentarian wants to establish whether negotiations were already underway before the June 30 transfer from the curator to the private company.
She is also seeking clarification about earlier bids of XCG 11 million and XCG 15 million that Cooper reportedly mentioned. The minister has been asked to provide the exact dates of those offers and explain the government's involvement in the bidding process.
The parliamentary hearing is expected to provide greater insight into how the government arrived at its decision to acquire the former hospital property and whether the transaction represented a financially responsible use of public resources.
For now, the central question remains why the government and CMC Vastgoed paid XCG 13 million for property that had been sold only months earlier for XCG 10 million, and whether differences in the parcels or transaction conditions can explain the higher price.