Four years in jail for millionaire cop
~ Judge calls Loor ‘greedy wolf in sheep’s clothing’ ~
PHILIPSBURG--Police Commissioner and former Chief Immigration Officer Marcel Loor will have to spend four years in prison. He was found guilty by the Court of First Instance on Friday of having committed forgery, bribery, tax evasion and money laundering.
Judge Luis de Lannoy showed no mercy for the man he described as a “greedy wolf in sheep’s clothing.” He was found guilty of all seven charges against him.
The Court decided to hurt Loor (38) more in his wallet than the Prosecutor had suggested, and ordered Loor to pay a fine of NAf. 600,000 and NAf. 191,254 in damages to the Coast Guard of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.
Prosecutor Maarten Hemelaar had asked for a four-year prison sentence and a NAf. 100,000 fine.
The Court also indicated that the bad news might not yet be over for Loor. It is highly likely that the Tax Department will claim NAf. 379,114 in evaded taxes and premiums. Apart from that, the Prosecutor’s Office will also take steps to seize all money and property Loor gathered through criminal activities.
Attorney-at-law Richard Gibson Jr. announced Friday that his client would appeal his conviction, in the Joint Court of the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba.
Loor had claimed he was innocent and his lawyers had pleaded for his acquittal.
The Court found the police commissioner guilty of forgery of immigration re-entry forms for 106 persons between January 2002, and June 2007; accepting bribes; defrauding the Coast Guard of more than NAf. 230,000 in rent allowance; income tax evasion; the forgery of requests to lower wage taxes; and money laundering.
Loor had blatantly misused his position as chief immigration officer to provide fraudulent re-entry documents to a large number of illegal immigrants, the Court stated on Friday.
In the cases of two Colombian prostitutes it could be proven that Loor had taken bribes to provide them with such documents, the Court indicated.
Loor had put the police force to shame, and “for a few dollars more” had given substance to allegations that in St. Maarten lack of integrity and corruption were to be found up to the highest ranks of the civil service and the police, according to the judge in his written verdict.
According to the judge, Loor had been obsessed by money. For months he had minutely been calculating his financial position, which the judge deemed to be an unusual habit for a “high-ranking, yet simple civil servant.”
In a few years, Loor had gathered more than two million guilders, money he transferred in cash to a Nevis-based company of which he was the sole stockholder and ultimate beneficiary owner, carefully keeping it out of sight of the tax office.
Prosecutor Taco Stein said Friday that Loor would remain incarcerated in the Pointe Blanche prison for the time being. However, he would not exclude the possibility of Loor being transferred to Curaçao at some point in time to serve his sentence in the section for convicted civil servants at Bon Futuro Prison.
