GOVERNMENT AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE (IV)
Code Corporate Governance Curacao
On January 1, 2010, the National Ordinance regarding corporate governance came into effect. Based on this the Code Corporate Governance Curacao came into being, that also came into effect on January 1, 2010. In it, reference is still made to the Executive Council and the island territory of Curacao, but as from October 10, 2010 these are understood to mean the government of Curacao and the Country Curacao.
The National Ordinance does not only undertake to establish a corporate governance code, but also to implement the Code in the government-owned companies. In 2011, this implementation obligation …
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GOVERNMENT AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE (III)
The government is not automatically an ‘ordinary’ shareholder
It is obvious that in a small community such as that of Curacao, with only a limited choice when it comes to directors and supervisory directors to be appointed, and in which (family, social) networks seem to play an important role in making choices, there is a field of tension. It is even more important therefore that government has a clear vision regarding its shareholdership and that there are good and transparent procedures, e.g. regarding the appointment of directors and supervisory directors.
Does the obligation exist for the government to, briefly stated, …
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GOVERNMENT AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE (II)
Government (not) at a distance?
Being a director of a government-owned company is certainly not always as easy. Neither is being a shareholder in a government-owned company. The directors will usually complain about too much influence from politicians, while the politicians will usually find that they have too little grip on government-owned companies. In this connection, there are two important topics we will have to consider briefly.
I will ignore cultural aspects here. In that respect see e.g. chapter 8 of the dissertation of A. van Marrewijk, Internationalisation, cooperation and ethnicity in the telecom sector, Delft: Uitgeverij Eburon 1999, 340 …
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GOVERNMENT AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE (I)
For Hobbes, it is certain that there must be a sovereign
According to Thomas Hobbes we all have natural passions that carry us to, among other things, partiality, pride, and revenge. The laws of nature, as Hobbes sees them, including ‘justice’, ‘equity’, ‘modesty’, and ‘mercy’, are contrary to our passions. Therefore, we will only observe the laws of nature if we have fear of some power to cause them to be observed. According to him, covenants, without the sword, are but words that lack every strength to protect a person.
See Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Amsterdam: Boom 2007, p. 207 and …
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CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND BAD HABITS
Letter to the editor of The Daily Herald
Dear Editor,
According to Leroy de Weever (DP), he doesn’t need a Corporate Governance Council to come tell him how to do his job. He wants to disband the Corporate Governance Council as soon as possible.
Corporate governance rules were designed to protect companies from politicians, in particular from the government. Government-owned companies should be kept out of the political sphere as much as possible, so that they may benefit from commercial, businesslike and market-oriented management. In doing so, they also run less of a risk of being milked …
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GOOD CORPORATE GOVERNANCE REVISITED
Where these rules not designed to protect companies from the government?
It has been my opinion for many years already that government-owned companies should be kept out of the political sphere as much as possible, so that they may benefit from a commercial, businesslike and market-oriented management. In doing so they also run less of a risk of being milked or used as political toys.
When the current government of Curacao came into power a couple of months ago, it made it very clear, right from the beginning, that it intended to dismiss all and any supervisory directors of both …
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LECTURE ON GOOD CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IN CURACAO
Corporate Governance Adviser must be a strong and independent watchdog over the executive also
On April 13, 2010 a seminar on Good Corporate Governance with respect to Curacao-owned enterprises and foundations was held in Curacao, and organized by Certa Legal. I was one of the keynote speakers and delivered my presentation in the Dutch language (click here for the presentation or click here for the coverage of the event by the Antilliaans Dagblad).
I argued that government-owned companies should be left out of the political sphere as much as possible, so they can benefit …
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AANSPRAKELIJKHEID OVERHEID ALS AANDEELHOUDER
Symposium 26 februari 2010
Op vrijdag 26 februari 2010 vond het symposium ‘Overheid en aansprakelijkheid‘ plaats. Het symposium was georganiseerd door het Centrum voor Postacademisch Juridisch Onderwijs van de Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen in samenwerking met de Universiteit van de Nederlandse Antillen.
Ik heb daar een verhaal mogen houden. De andere sprekers waren prof. mr P. van Schilfgaarde (emeritus hoogleraar Ondernemingsrecht Universiteit Utrecht en Universiteit Groningen, advocaat Hoge Raad der Nederlanden), mr. B.M. Mezas (General Counsel van de Bank van de Nederlandse Antillen) en prof.mr. S.C.J.J. Kortmann (Rector magnificus, tevens hoogleraar Burgerlijk recht, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen).
De dagvoorzitter was prof.mr. F.B.M. Kunneman …
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