PHILIPSBURG–The Joint Court of Justice has mostly confirmed the lower court’s criminal dispossession verdict against businessman O’Neal Arrindell, who is currently serving a 40-month sentence at the Point Blanche prison.
Arrindell has been irrevocably convicted in the so-called “Emerald” investigation, where he was found guilty of defrauding St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies between July 2012 and June 2014.
The fraud involved forged documents pertaining to “mobilisation cost” and “general conditions” charged to the port for dredging work done by contractor Devcon TCI Ltd.
Arrindell received roughly US $2.7 million in consultancy fees through this arrangement, and later used a sum of $370,000 to bribe then-Member of Parliament (MP) and Emerald co-defendant Frans Richardson.
In January 2023, the Court of First Instance ordered Arrindell to repay $2.33 million to the St. Maarten government, ruling this amount to be illegally earned wealth. This figure was calculated by taking the $2.7 million that Arrindell received in fees and subtracting the money handed over to Richardson.
Tuesday’s verdict in the Joint Court mostly confirmed the previous judgement, with a small amount deducted because the case took more than two years to go through the appeal process
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/o-neal-s-dispossession-verdict-is-largely-confirmed-on-appeal-3
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