Taco Stein
Previous Statements06/04/2010
Joran Van Der Sloot Sent To Peru To Face Murder ChargesAruba's attorney general, Taco Stein, told the AP that island authorities had not been keeping track of the movements of van der Sloot, who was lately living mostly in the Netherlands.
He said he didn't know how the young man was supporting himself. "He's an ardent poker player and that means every now and again he wins too," Stein said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/04/joran-van-der-sloot-sent-_n_600691.html06/08/2010
CNN LARRY KING LIVE - Murder Suspect Van Der Sloot ConfessesKING: Joining us by phone from Aruba is Taco Stein. He's the solicitor general of Aruba. What, Taco, is your reaction to the arrest of Joran Van Der Sloot in Peru?
TACO STEIN, SOLICITOR GENERAL, ARUBA (via phone): Well, I'm glad for the people there that this happened. It was a terrible tragedy over there. And I think it's a good thing that they got him so fast.
KING: Have Aruban authorities spoken to anyone in Peru about this?
STEIN: Right this morning, my colleague that's still in charge of the Natalee Holloway case here has tried to be in contact with the prosecutor in Peru. She was not available at that time, but we left message and we are expecting a call back from them to share information and see how we can help each other.
KING: Do you want Peruvian authorities to question him about Natalee Holloway?
STEIN: That's -- would be a possibility, but I might imagine that they have enough on their own hands. So we have to see how we can work this out in a way that is profitable for both of us.
KING: Natalee's aunt said she didn't expect Aruba to try to extradite or anything, says he is going to be serving a number of years in Peru. Is that correct?
STEIN: Well, extradition -- there is no treaty between the Dutch kingdom and Peru as far as I'm aware that makes an extradition a possibility. So then it's up to the countries themselves to work a deal out. But I can imagine that Peru will be reluctant to let him go.
KING: Yes.
STEIN: In view of what has happened there.
KING: They've got him nailed, as they say.
STEIN: Yes. Sure. Yes.
KING: What is the status of the case -- the case of Van Der Sloot in Aruba right this minute?
STEIN: OK, well, if you look at it from what has happened recently, for us not much has changed. We are still in a position that we say we have done a very great number of land inquiry which didn't work out, and we still are willing and ready to pick up on new lines of inquiry or new information that needs to be investigated.
But at this moment, they are not yet there. But the new case might bring something about. We've heard about the laptop and that laptop might or might not -- we don't know that yet of course -- information that might be useful for us.
KING: To your knowledge, when was the last time he was in Aruba?
STEIN: He was in Aruba until recently, somewhere in May.
KING: Now this is puzzling. What was Aruba's awareness of, involvement in this May 10th sting operation against Joran in connection with an alleged extortion of money in which he would get money and give you information about Natalee?
STEIN: Well, to begin with, I don't know if this would be a real sting operation, that's one. But that's not up to me to decide. Two, if that was an American investigation done by the American authorities, and we were only involved in the investigation in a support of capacity.
So we helped in the investigation, but it was not our investigation. The crime was an American crime perpetrated on American soil against an American citizen.
KING: So you don't know anything about money exchanging hands?
STEIN: Not more than I've heard, and I know that that was the story behind what was happening was that as far as I get it that Joran Van Der Sloot asked for money to show the place the remains of Natalee were buried.
KING: Without admitting that he harmed her.
STEIN: Of course.
KING: Yes. Have you been keeping track of him?
STEIN: In a part of the help in the investigation was keeping track of him, yes.
KING: As you look back, were there mistakes made by Aruban authorities?
STEIN: You mean in this last part of the investigation?
KING: Yes.
STEIN: I don't think so, because we were just supporting the investigation.
KING: How about the early part?
(CROSSTALK)
STEIN: -- how it worked.
KING: How about the early part?
STEIN: That is very difficult to say for me. I wasn't there when the investigation took place. Only was appointed to Aruba recently about six months ago. And it's a very complex and big file, and I cannot say I know the whole file.
But I know about the early start of the investigation, 2005 until, say, 2009. I was on St. Maarten so I'm not aware of that.
KING: OK.
STEIN: I don't know -- I'm not aware of the details of that. KING: Thank you, Taco. Taco Stein, solicitor general of Aruba.
http://archives.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1006/08/lkl.01.html06/11/2010
Aruban Authorities on Van der Sloot CommentsAruban Solicitor General Taco Stein says that they are reaching out to Peruvian authorities to discuss the reported statement and that if Van der Sloot did, in fact, say he will tell investigators where the body is, the Arubans will weigh the information to see if they can act on it. "We are in the process of reaching out to them," Stein said of Peruvian investigators, "as you can understand they are very busy with their case... it's very hard to get the proper person."
Stein reports that there is no formal treaty between the Dutch Kingdom, which the island nation of Aruba is a part of, and Peru. Thus, he says it would be difficult for Aruban investigators to request Van der Sloot be brought to Aruba. Without speculating on the veracity of the reports regarding Van der Sloot, Stein says if they are true it is more likely that Aruba would send a small team of investigators to Peru. "We can ask the Peruvian authorities if we can come there and interrogate him on this point and see what we can do on the information he gives," said Stein. Since it is highly unlikely there is any trace evidence related to the Holloway case in Peru, Stein says only one or two investigators familiar with the Holloway case would be sent and that such a team could be ready to go within a day of being granted permission.
As for the investigation on the island of Aruba, Stein says there have been no new developments in the Holloway case since the murder of 21-year-old Stephany Flores last month in Peru.
