PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten — The “Instructions assets recovery” is in force as of July 1, 2017. This instruction sets out rules for the criminal prosecution by the Public Prosecutor (OM) of financial proceeds from criminal activities. The instruction identifies the criminal justice options. The starting point is that the effectiveness determines the choice for or a combination of options that can be taken.
Chain cooperation is central to the recovery of assets. Collaboration and exchange of information between the relevant public services, such as the Tax Department, is crucial in this. The instruction refers to the instruments available to the OM and is based on current laws and regulations. When dealing with the criminal justice instrument, the regular legal protection is the starting point. Criminal jurisdictions can only be deployed if there is a reasonable suspicion of guilt of any criminal offense committed by a suspect within the meaning of the Criminal Procedure Code, where the legal provisions regarding possible involvement of the court apply to be.
This is an instruction within the meaning of Article 5 paragraph 4 of the Public Prosecutor’s Office issued by the Attorney General (PG) of Curaçao, St. Maarten and Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba.
It is the Attorney General’s wish that the criminal prosecution policy in and between the OM Curaçao, OM St. Maarten and OM BES is unambiguous as far as possible. Therefore, it was decided to issue one instruction for the entire OM Caribbean.
The government represents a safe and equitable society, and therefore chooses a broad and comprehensive approach to all forms of crime, abuse, improper use and fraud in society. Many criminal offenses are committed for profit. The elimination of criminal property is therefore a valuable means of combating crime. The starting point is that the effectiveness determines the choice for a delivery option or a combination of packing options.
Chain cooperation is central to recovering assets. Collaboration and exchange of information between the relevant public services, such as the Tax Administration, is crucial. The use of the criminal justice instrument to deal with criminal capacity is an important part of this approach by the government, but certainly not the only one. Therefore, in different countries within the Kingdom, integral asset recovery teams are already active.
The instruction can be read and downloaded on the website: http://www.openbaarministerie.org/en/ag-soffice/guidelines
