Marcel Loor trial
to continue today
PHILIPSBURG--The long-awaited trial of former chief immigration officer Marcel Loor will resume today at 10:00am. Loor will have to answer to seven charges, amongst them forgery and accepting bribes.
On September 19, the court hearing was postponed at the defence’s request because Loor’s lawyer Richard Gibson Jr. needed more time to study the case, especially two tax evasion charges that had been added by the Prosecutor’s Office at the last minute.
Gibson also wanted extra time to hear two more witnesses: Police Chief Commissioner of the Windward Islands Derrick Holiday and the personnel officer of the Coast Guard of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.
Both witnesses have been heard by an investigating judge in the meantime: Holiday provided information concerning daily procedures at the Immigration Department, while the Coast Guard officer provided information about labour emoluments at the Coast Guard.
Loor is charged with seven crimes, including forgery of immigration re-entry forms for 106 persons between January 1, 2002, and June 10, 2007, and accepting bribes.
Other charges include defrauding the Coast Guard of more than NAf. 230,000 in rent allowances, income tax evasion, the forgery of requests to lower wage taxes, and laundering an amount of US $448,875.
Loor has been in pre-trial detention since his arrest on June 10.
