PHILIPSBURG–Bada Bing strip club owner Jaap van den Heuvel, who is the centre of a corruption probe involving apparent bribery of Member of Parliament (MP) Patrick Illidge, was held by authorities in St. Maarten on Monday.
Police spokesperson Inspector Ricardo Henson confirmed that Van den Heuvel had been held by the Federal Detectives, but could not provide any additional information on the matter when The Daily Herald contacted him last night.
Reports circulating last night indicated that Van den Heuvel, who had been off-island at the start of the probe, had reported to authorities in St. Maarten, following which he was held.
Interim Chief Prosecutor Hans Wesselink and Solicitor-General Taco Stein could not be reached for comment. Repeated calls to both officials went unanswered. Stein had told this newspaper recently that “progress” was being made in the investigations, but said he would not comment on whether any arrests were planned.
The Bada Bing corruption case surrounds a videotape of Illidge apparently accepting money from Van den Heuvel. While the video suggests that the payment was for arranging permits, Illidge had said in earlier media reports that it was repayment of a loan.
Both Illidge and Van den Heuvel had said subsequently that United People’s (UP) party leader Theo Heyliger had asked the strip club owner to make the video to blackmail Illidge into returning to the UP, which was in opposition at the time of the tape’s release, to get that party back in government. This newspaper had sought comments from Heyliger on this matter when the allegations first were made, but he never responded to the newspaper’s questions.
A number of persons were interviewed as part of the investigations, including Illidge, Van den Heuvel, former justice minister Roland Duncan, Immigration and Naturalisation Department (IND) head Udo Aron, Minister of Economic Affairs Romeo Pantophlet, Duncan’s former driver Marina Serrant, Heyliger and Daily Herald publisher Paul de Windt.
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