St. Maarten – The Court in First Instance found civil servant Paul Brookson and Shamwatie Seepersaud guilty of bribery. Brookson worked at the census office where, back in 2012, he organized driver’s licenses for Seepersaud in exchange for payment.
The court sentenced the two defendants to conditional prison sentences, community service and a fine. Brookson, as the recipient of the bribes, received a 6-month conditional prison sentence with 3 years of probation, 180 hours of community service and a fine of 3,000 guilders.
Seepersaud got off a bit lighter: 4 months conditional imprisonment with 3 years of probation, 120 hours of community service and a fine of 2,500 guilders.
If the two do not serve their community service, they will have to serve 1 day in jail for every two hours: 90 days for Brookson and 60 days for Seepersaud.
In case they do not pay the fines, Brookson would have to serve another 60 days in jail, and Seepersaud 50.
The court considered that Brookson, who worked on a labor contract at the census office, falsely made driver’s licenses for people who were not entitled to them and that he received bribes in return. He has put the confidence of the census office on contract workers to shame and seriously damages the reputation of the department,” the court ruling states.
The court reproached Seepersaud for endangering traffic by recruiting people willing to buy a false driver’s license.
Corrupt civil servant gets hefty fine
