On Monday 21 March, the Court in Curaçao ruled in favor of telecom provider UTS in the case the state-owned company had instituted against the General Audit Chamber Curaçao (Algemene Rekenkamer Curacao or ARC) and the government. The ARC had been instructed by Parliament via a motion, to audit the regularity and efficiency of the policy in the state-owned company. UTS objected to this and was assisted by partners Frank Kunneman and Mayesi Hammoud of VANEPS in the shortened proceedings on the merits.

In 2015, the Curaçao Parliament decided to give the ARC the instruction mentioned above, because it wanted to conduct its own audit of the company. From the beginning, UTS has objected to this audit, as the ARC does not have any legal authority to conduct such an audit. Moreover, the company believes that their own audit, conducted by external accountants, is sufficient. In addition, UTS is afraid that competition sensitive information will become public through the ARC report.

The Court held that the ARC is not authorized to conduct an audit of UTS and prohibited the government, or to be more precise, the ARC as government body, from continuing the announced audit. The counsel of the government affirmed that it is going to appeal against the judgment of the court.