Ben Komproe

Benard Komproe (22 October 1942 – 11 October 2004) was Minister of Justice for the Netherlands Antilles. He also served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles for a few months in 2003.

Komproe was a member of the local party Frente Obrero Liberashon 30 di Mei (FOL), and was fifth on the ballot for the 5 May 2003 national elections. When party leader Anthony Godett was blocked from being appointed formateur (person responsible for forming the cabinet, see Elections in the Netherlands Antilles) because of a police investigation, Komproe was appointed instead. For the same reason, Komproe was named Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles from 22 July until 11 August 2003. After that, he was replaced by Mirna Louisa-Godett, and became Minister of Justice.

As Minister of Justice, Komproe attempted to order the local authorities to cease investigating his brother Hedwig Komproe. Additionally, he tried to have Attorney General Dick Piar fired. When word finally got out that he had abused his position to help keep fellow party member Nelson Monte out of prison, the Netherlands Antillean parliament forced Komproe to step down, leading to the fall of the Godett Cabinet.

After his resignation, a judicial investigation was started on Komproe's tenure as a minister. The investigation included what went on at an open-air brothel Campo Alegre. Komproe was alleged to have given out signed letters, basically to allow dozens of prostitutes from Colombia and the Dominican Republic to reside on Curaçao. He was said to have plans to process each prostitute's permit of residence personally, and to have ordered a special stamp just for this purpose. In July 2004, a judge determined that Komproe was not authorized to issue letters of that nature. Additionally, Komproe did favors for Giovanni van Ierland, the incarcerated owner of the brothel.

In September 2004, Komproe was to be on the Curaçao Island Council for the FOL. However, he was arrested on 6 September 2004, and charged with corruption, fraud, and membership of a criminal organisation. On 24 September his imprisonment was delayed, because he had had a severe stomach operation a few days before. He never regained consciousness after his operation and died at age 61.

External links

• Frente Obrero Liberashon (FOL)