PHILIPSBURG–The preliminary hearing in the “Catfish” investigation, in which Member of Parliament (MP) Theodore Heyliger (48) and co-suspect J.M.S. (70) are the main suspects, scheduled to take place at the Courthouse on Wednesday afternoon, was postponed until March 21 at 4:00pm.
In the investigation Heyliger and J.M.S. are both charged with having attempted to bribe former MP Romain Laville in or around the period of September 1, 2012, to July 25, 2013.
The suspicion is that both suspects made various promises to the former MP with the intention that Laville would give up his seat in Parliament, thus withdrawing support for the then-Wescot-Williams II Cabinet.
Sums of money ranging from “US $135,000 or $250,000 to $350,000” are said to have been promised to Laville. A parcel of land for Laville or members of his family as well as a post as Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) in the new Cabinet to then be formed were also promised, according to the Prosecutor’s Office, all of this if Laville “obliged by giving up his seat in Parliament.”
Any wishes of the defence, such as the hearing of witnesses, are discussed during a preliminary hearing, after which the judge makes a decision on the requests.
The Joint Court of Justice on August 21, 2018, granted the Prosecutor’s Office the authority to prosecute MP Heyliger. Two weeks later, Heyliger’s lawyer Eldon “Peppie” Sulvaran filed a final appeal against the Joint Court’s decision to grant the Prosecutor’s Office permission to prosecute the leader of United People’s (UP) Party.
Sulvaran also filed a case against Heyliger’s indictment, on which the Joint Court ruled on Monday, in which the Court stated it had no objections. As Wednesday’s hearing was scheduled only two days later, there was insufficient time to hand Heyliger a summons within the legally required timeframe, which rendered Wednesday’s hearing invalid.
Sulvaran filed for “cassation” with the High Court of the Netherlands in The Hague in September 2019 against the decision to prosecute Heyliger as a suspect. According to the Prosecutor’s Office, this procedure is not possible, but Sulvaran thinks otherwise. The Supreme Court has not made a decision as yet.
S.’s lawyer Geert Hatzmann proposed to the Court to handle his client’s case separately from Heyliger’s. Hatzmann said his 70-year-old client, who is frail and “burdened, scared and depressed” by this case, wants to have the matter over and dealt with as soon as possible.
However, the judge did not immediately take a decision to separate the two cases, as the next preliminary hearing is scheduled five weeks from now.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/85204-preliminary-hearing-in-catfish-case-postponed
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