Benard Komproe (22 October 1942 – 11 October 2004) was a Curaçaoan politician who briefly served as the 24th

prime minister of the Netherlands Antilles Below is a list of prime ministers of the Netherlands Antilles from 1951 to 2010. In 2010 the position of Prime Minister of the Netherlands Antilles was abolished, together with the dissolution of the country itself. List of prime ministers of ...

from 22 July 2003 to 11 August 2003. Komproe was a member of the local party Frente Obrero Liberashon 30 di Mei (FOL), and was fifth on the ballot for the

2003 Curaçao general election Island council elections were held in the Netherlands Antilles on 9 May (Bonaire and Curaçao) and 23 May 2003 (SSS islands) to elect the members of the island councils of its five island territories. The election was won by the Bonaire Patriotic ...

. When party leader Anthony Godett was blocked from being appointed ''formateur'' pending a police investigation, Komproe was appointed instead. 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 investigations into his brother Hedwig Komproe. Additionally, he tried to have the Attorney General fired. when it became known that he violated his oath of office, the

Parliament of the Netherlands Antilles The Parliament of the Netherlands Antilles (; ), also translated as the Estates of the Netherlands Antilles, was the parliament of the Netherlands Antilles. It comprised 22 members, elected for a four-year term in three multi-seat constituencies a ...

forced Komproe to resign, leading to the fall of the Godett Cabinet. After his resignation, a judicial investigation was started on Komproe's tenure as 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

prostitute Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

s from

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

and the

Dominican Republic The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares wit ...

to reside on

Curaçao Curaçao ( ; ; pap, Kòrsou, ), officially the Country of Curaçao ( nl, Land Curaçao; pap, Pais Kòrsou), is a Lesser Antilles island country in the southern Caribbean Sea and the Dutch Caribbean region, about north of the Venezuela coast ...

. 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 Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...

, and being member of a criminal organisation. On 24 September his imprisonment was delayed, followings complications from an abdominal operation he underwent a few days earlier. He never regained consciousness and died at the age of 62.

References

External links

Frente Obrero Liberashon (FOL)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Komproe, Ben 1942 births 2004 deaths Prime ministers of the Netherlands Antilles Government ministers of the Netherlands Antilles Party Workers' Liberation Front 30 May politicians Heads of government who were later imprisoned