Court Convicts R.B. to Six-Months and J.A.D. to Four-Months in Bribery Case
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Court of First Instance, Philipsburg, Sint Maarten Court House (file photo)
SINT MAARTEN (GREAT BAY) - The Court of First Instance of Sint Maarten has today, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, ruled in the "Lisbon" case, which concerns official bribery, the Court of Justice stated in a press statement.
The statement says that the main suspect R.B. was suspected of having allowed himself to be bribed by three people as a member of the Parliament of Sint Maarten by, among other things, accepting bribes in exchange for favoring these people.
“The General Court has now ruled that bribery cannot be proven in two cases. In one case, bribery has been established: the Court has declared proven that R.B. has favoured co-defendant J.A.D. in exchange for, among other things, money and airline tickets.
“The General Court emphasizes that citizens must be able to trust that public servants are not guided by self-interest in their actions. It is important that a punishment is imposed that makes it clear to everyone that this type of action will not be tolerated and that action will be taken against it.
“In those circumstances, the General Court imposed prison sentences. R.B. was sentenced to a prison sentence of 6 months. J.A.D. was sentenced to a prison sentence of 4 months.
“In addition, R.B. is deprived of the right to stand for election and of the right to be a civil servant for a period of five years. Finally, R.B. was ordered to repay the gifts he received in the context of the bribery. It concerns an amount of about 8,000 dollars,” the Court of Justice statement concludes.
The judgments will be published on www.rechtspraak.nl as soon as possible.