TLDR Curaçao’s finance ministry opened a probe into Random Consulting Limited (RCL) RCL is run by Mario Galea, former Malta Gaming Authority chief executive The firm reportedly received 8.3 million Caribbean guilders a year, about €4.1 million Finance minister Charles Cooper said the fee equals more than 35% of online gambling revenue RCL disputed the figures and asked for a correction and an inquiry into a leak
Curaçao’s finance ministry has launched an investigation into Random Consulting Limited, a firm run by former Malta Gaming Authority chief executive Mario Galea. The probe centers on payments the company received from the island’s gambling regulator.
Finance minister Charles Cooper said Galea’s consultancy was paid 8.3 million Caribbean guilders each year. That figure equals about €4.1 million.
Cooper called the sum unusually high for the type of work involved. He said the world of gaming shows this figure is very high for a company providing such a service.
He added that the investigation should run its course before any next steps are taken. The minister also said the payment represented more than 35 percent of the government’s online gambling revenue.
The probe comes during a period of political disruption in Curaçao’s gambling sector. Javier Silvania, the minister who built the island’s new regulatory system, resigned last October over a separate corruption scandal.
Since Silvania’s resignation, the ministries of finance and justice have disagreed over who should oversee the gambling portfolio. That dispute has continued into this year.
Parliament has also weighed in on the matter. Suzanne Camelia-Römer, a former prime minister of the Netherlands Antilles and current member of Curaçao’s legislature, issued a statement backing the investigation.
RCL Responds
Random Consulting Limited pushed back against the claims in a public statement. The company said Cooper’s remarks had created confusion about