Curaçao’s former prime minister, Gerrit Schütte, who was convicted of corruption and fraud, is asking islanders for financial assistance in videos on social media. He still has to pay a claim for the confiscation of 1.8 million Antillean guilders (more than 900,000 euros). Schott is looking for donors because he will have to serve three years in prison if he does not settle before May 12.
Payment arrangements
Curaçao’s Public Prosecution Office said in response that there were arrangements for payment and that Schott had known since 2018 that he had to pay. Schott has denied in the videos that he received an offer to arrange payment.
Schott was released in 2020 after serving two-thirds of his sentence for fraud, money laundering, and taking tons of bribes. The Supreme Court dismissed the case in September. His wife was imprisoned for 15 months.
Effect
He accepted the money shot from Francesco Corallo, the Italian who runs online casinos. Through false invoices for Schott’s partner company, the money flowed to Switzerland and an offshore company in the Marshall Islands. Schott financed his campaign with laundered money. Through Schott’s government, Coralo gained influence in ruling Curaçao. president. This money was used in his election campaign. In exchange for money, Coralo will get a say in the government.
Schütte was the first Prime Minister of Curacao between 2010 and 2012 as an autonomous country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. As prime minister, he also had close relations with lottery king Ruby dos Santos.
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