A little while ago, Leoncita Arends regained her freedom in the Avestruz case. She had been incarcerated since the 13th of April when they arrested her in her home in Sero Blanco. This occurred only two days after her daughter, Rebecca Richardson, was arrested at the airport. In total, Leoncita was incarcerated for 46 days, in either the police station or in KIA. Her freedom comes with the requirement that she is not allowed to meet up with any other suspects, and that she has to continue complying with the Public Ministry.
Since the 11th of April, twelve suspects have been arrested in relation to the Avestruz case, eight of which have since regained their freedom.
The suspects:
• Rebecca Richardson on the 11th of April
• Jeff Franken on the 12th of April
• Maria Leoncita Arends on the 13th of April
• Ninosca Nuñez on the 19th of April
• Gaby Werleman on the 19th of April
• Franklin Abath on the 28th of April
• Pieter Susebeek on the 5th of May
• Freddy Every on the 11th of May
• Mary Hsing on the 19th of May
• Claudia Sevinger on the 26th of May
• Benny Sevinger on the 26th of May
It should be mentioned that all these suspects are not allowed to have any form of contact with Carlo Mansur, Ewald Biemans or Mary Winterdal. They are also prohibited from having any form of contact with one another.
The Avestruz case
The public ministry informed the public on the 2nd of October 2019, when the search teams together with the Aruban Police Corps had done a search of a home in relation to an ongoing criminal investigation concerning corruption and other punishable acts committed related to governmental grants and terrain approvals.
More concisely, the investigation circles around the question if one or more companies received the birthrights to inherit certain Aruban terrain illegally and unjustly spanning from the years 2009 till 2017. Additionally, the role that the former minister Benny Sevinger had in all of this.
