WILLEMSTAD – The bankruptcy trustee of SEHOS says a nearly XCG 80 million claim against the Country of Curaçao has become one of the highest priorities remaining in the hospital’s bankruptcy proceedings.
Trustee Danilo Narvaez disclosed the amount in an October 7 letter to SEHOS creditors and other interested parties explaining the controversial sale of the former hospital complex.
The claim concerns alleged non-performance and unlawful conduct connected to a 2013 Memorandum of Understanding governing the transition from the former SEHOS hospital to Curaçao Medical Center.
According to Narvaez, the agreement provided that SEHOS would remain responsible for operating the new hospital and that, at the time of transition, existing mutual claims would be settled.
The dispute has now become particularly important because the physical hospital complex has already been sold.
Narvaez said continuing the proceedings against the Country of Curaçao is currently one of his main priorities as trustee.
The XCG 80 million claim also played a direct role in the government’s unsuccessful attempt to acquire the SEHOS property.
According to Narvaez, Curaçao first approached him as a potential buyer in July 2025 and offered XCG 4 million for the complex.
One of the conditions attached to that proposal was that the trustee abandon the nearly XCG 80 million claim against the government. Curaçao also wanted the trustee to withdraw legal proceedings against the Country that had begun on May 13, shortly before SEHOS was declared bankrupt.
Narvaez rejected those conditions.
He said abandoning an approximately XCG 80 million claim was not in the collective interest of SEHOS creditors, particularly in exchange for a purchase offer of XCG 4 million, which he also considered far below the hospital complex’s forced-sale value.
The disclosure adds another dimension to the dispute between the government and the SEHOS bankruptcy estate. While much of the recent political discussion has focused on whether the former hospital should have been sold to Curaçao rather than a private company, the same parties remain involved in a separate legal dispute potentially worth tens of millions of Caribbean guilders.
Narvaez said he will continue handling the bankruptcy in the collective interests of SEHOS creditors and what he described as the general interest of Curaçao.