Defense attorney mr. Doris Canwood refuted the argument made by the Public Prosecutor where they claimed that Leoncita Arends bribed Benny Sievinger. They spoke about a large amount of cash that Arends would have sent to Sevinger with the help of a acquintance. This person allegedly declared that the sum was around 200 thousand florins in bills of 100 florins. To refute this argument, the attorney came well prepared.
The topic of bribery played a major role in the witness testimony of Gen Roja. In her statement she mentioned that she brought an envelope that was folded in four. To illustrate the absurdity of this statement, Canwood presented a bag with false bills of 100 florins with a total value of 200 thousand.
Canwood placed various piles of cash on the table for the judge to see including an enveloped. The witness mentioned that the height of the piles was around seven centimeters.
Canwood illustrated that the pile of bills would have never fit into an envelope as described by the witness who also mentioned to have smelled the money. Besides not opening the envelope, Canwood also placed another envelope filled with American lottery bills which have around the same thickness as a 100 florin bill. This envelope matched the descripton of the witness. Canwood told the judge to check if the prosecutor wanted to attempt to fill the 2000 bills of 100 florins into the envelope. The prosecutor refused.
The reason for this defense presentation was due to the fact that the witness declared to have brought a sum of 200 thousand florins from Leoncita to Sevinger as a reward for selling the shares. The witness herself did not open the envelope but said she could ‘smell’ the money.
With regards to the lottery tickets; it was the wife of Sevinger who brought the lottery tickets from the US for Arends as a favor. The tickets were in a folded envelope and the entire case was to prove that Leoncita Arends did not have anything to do with bribing the former Minister and thereby requested her to be exonerated of all accusations.
