Supreme Court chief unnerved by settlements

The outgoing chief of the Supreme Court, Geert Corstens, thinks that there should be limits to the number of criminal cases which are settled.

The Public Prosecutor increasingly settles criminal cases with a fine to avoid a long drawn out lawsuit. According to Corstens, even more cases are kept away from the court and therefore from the public in this way.

Corstens believes that the court should always rule on settlements with a fine of several thousand euros or more. "As a citizen I want to know why such high fines are imposed."

As an example Corstens mentions the settlement in the Libor affair. Rabbobank paid a 70 million euro fine to avoid a lawsuit. Bank employees had manipulated the interest rates for loans. According to Corstens it is unfortunate that such big cases are not addressed in public, in court.

Corstens will leave as chief of the Supreme Court next month. He has reached the maximum term of six years.