Willemstad – As a result of anonymous notifications to the Board of financial supervision an independent investigation was conducted, commissioned by chairman Raymond Gradus. It has been concluded that no integrity violations or excessive conduct have occurred; however, certain inaccuracies have been found. It is necessary that the administrative organization be improved and internal procedures be strengthened at the Cft secretariat. The anonymous reports, which have been submitted at the beginning of this year, concerned allegations against the Cft secretariat of the three Boards. The fact-finding investigation was carried out by the independent bureau EBBEN Partners.

Gradus: “Although the reports were made on an anonymous basis, I considered it my responsibility to take these allegations seriously and have them investigated as soon as possible by an independent agency. That has now taken place and we have received the investigation report.”

Gradus continues: “Although on the basis of the investigation, no integrity violations or excessive behavior have been detected, it does appear that there is a general need to implement improvements in the administrative organization and to further strengthen the internal procedures.”

Gradus indicates that in response to the results of the fact-finding investigation, various decisions have been taken. For example, the procedures for hiring temporary staff and others with regard to foreign travel will be tightened up, and in the future bonuses will no longer be provided in kind. In addition, the bonus policy will be drawn up, adopted by the chairman and applied by the secretary.

A correction is also made in another area. Until December 2019, a Christmas allowance of net ANG 1,000 was paid annually to all employees of the secretariat. This bonus was converted to a gross amount (grossed-up) for the local employees. It was neglected to perform this administrative processing for the deployed personnel. Discussions will now be held with the Ministry of the Interior Affairs and Kingdom Relations (BZK) on how this operation can still take place for these deployed employees. Thereafter an audit will ensure that the payroll procedures have been properly complied with.

Gradus: “In short: the Cft has an exemplary function. It is important that everyone at Cft demonstrates a high level of integrity. A process has been started to further increase integrity awareness in the organization with the help of a confidential counselor.”

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