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Merx says deal wouldget him off the hook ~ Wants Attorney General to testify ~
by The Daily Herald
Posted: Mar 22, 2006 14:43 UTC
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PHILIPSBURG - Former chief prosecutor of the Windward Islands Cor Merx stood trial on Tuesday morning on charges of having committed forgery and of having used falsified documents.
These criminal acts are punishable with a maximum sentence of ten years imprisonment, but Merx said Tuesday that he had made a deal with the Prosecutor’s Office that he would not be prosecuted if he resigned and left St. Maarten, which he did in April 2005.
The Prosecutor’s Office alleges that Merx made use of his position as a prosecutor to obtain a list of phone numbers that were contacted by his ex-girlfriend and her alleged lover. Merx did not deny these allegations, but states that the final report of the investigation into his case was not correctly made up. He therefore wants to hear five additional witnesses, he said Tuesday.
His lawyer Jairo Bloem also filed a request to hear six other witnesses. These would be able to give statements about a “deal” between Merx and the Prosecutor’s Office that allegedly was closed in February 2005. Bloem said he would want to hear Attorney General Dick Piar and other members of the Prosecutor’s Office in Curaçao, as well as Attorney General in The Hague Dato Steenhuis.
According to Merx, the facts about his tapping the phone of his former girlfriend were already known in early 2005. He stated that a deal had been made that he would not be prosecuted if he left St. Maarten. Therefore, the Prosecution’s case should be declared inadmissible, his lawyer argued.
Merx was honourably dismissed in April 2005, officially because of health reasons. Despite that the former chief prosecutor found himself a new job as prosecutor at the Court in The Hague. He returned to St. Maarten unexpectedly around mid-September 2005 to work as “coach” with Gibson and Associates, the law firm of Minister of Constitutional Affairs Richard Gibson.
According to Prosecutor Gert Rip, no deals were ever made between Merx and the Prosecutor’s Office. He asked for proof and confronted Merx and his lawyer with the contents of an e-mail sent by Steenhuis early Tuesday in which it was stated that Merx had never been promised he would not be prosecuted. But according to Merx’s lawyer, it is obvious that deals like these are not closed on paper, “because in cases like this things are not dealt with in that way,” Bloem said.
Judge Rick Smid will give his decision on April 4 whether the 11 witnesses will be heard.
Merx was arrested on December 9, 2005, and was detained for a week. His detention has been suspended until the handling of his case. Although he is no longer detained, he is not allowed to leave the Netherlands Antilles. The judge will also make a decision about Merx’s suspended detention in two weeks’ time. The handling of the case itself will continue on June 13.
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