After a lengthy process of more than a year, the serious accusations directed at Member of Parliament Mike de Meza have resulted in what his defense describes as a trivial matter. Lawyer Ms. Desirée Croes confirmed that the Public Prosecutor’s Office (OM) approached them for a so-called ‘tomzitting’ (a session with the prosecutor), where an offer for a settlement was presented to definitively end this criminal case.
According to Ms. Croes, this situation is a drastic change from the start of the investigation. “The case began with unbelievable accusations such as fraud, money laundering, and other major offenses. Now, the reality is that everything has boiled down to simply checking the wrong box,” the lawyer explained.
Settlement offer on the table
“The Public Prosecutor’s Office has a proposal on the table for us, and now it is up to the client to decide what to do with it,” Croes declared, adding that this is a matter they will sit down and analyze in the coming days.
An elephant turned into a tiny ant
Describing the trajectory of the past year, Ms. Croes emphasized the impact and the effort the defense had to put in. She explained that they had to go to court on several occasions and that they had to demand and fight for every step in the process to gain clarity.
“Of the entire large group of accusations that we could finally see in the complaint after a year, that ‘elephant’ turned into a tiny ant,” the lawyer illustrated. “Formally, all the big things that came with it resulted in nothing.”
No damage to the Country of Aruba
The lawyer emphasized that it was demonstrated right in the courtroom that Mr. de Meza has no outstanding tax (belasting) debts and that there were no serious faults in that regard. Croes assured that the mistake was solely due to a late submission of registrations or declarations, a matter that over time was completely finalized and settled.
“Mr. de Meza is not at fault for what was happening, and it has been proven that he complied with everything. The Country of Aruba did not lose a single cent in this matter, and there was no malicious intent,” Croes underlined.
Lastly, the lawyer remarked that these types of administrative errors, like filing a declaration late, can happen to any ordinary citizen without major consequences. However, in the case of a public figure like Mr. de Meza, this was magnified, transforming a small mistake into a seemingly massive problem for public opinion.
