PHILIPSBURG — Former harbor-director Mark Ming took the harbor holding company and country Sint Maarten to court in an attempt to get his job back and to claim compensation for damages he suffered because of his dismissal in 2020. But the Court in First Instance did not go along; it rejected all of Mingo’s claims and ordered him to pay the cost both parties incurred for the procedure, an amount of 48,000 guilders, or $26,815 US dollars.
The court ruled that Mingo’s dismissal was justified. His tenure at the port began more than twenty years ago, on September 1, 2002. His downfall revolves around a dredging contract the port awarded to Devcon in June 2012. The contract had an initial value of $4.9 million but after the company claimed “additional work” it received between 2012 and 2016 an amount of more than $12.8 million.
Devcon paid $3.1 million to seven different construction companies. Its directors stated to investigators that they paid this because otherwise they would not get the contract. In reality, these payments did not cost Devcon a penny because it charged the port for it under the guise of mobilisation and general conditions costs. Especially the mobilization costs were remarkable because Devcon was at the time already established in Simpson Bay.
In July 2015 the Prosecutor’s Office began an inquiry procedure by gathering information from the harbor and its affiliated companies. In November 2016 prosecutor’s searched the offices of the port and confiscated documents and data storage devices.
Four months later, on March 24, 2017, the prosecutor’s office confirmed the search and announced that it had opened an investigation against Oneil Arrindell, at the time the public relations officer for the harbor.
In June 2017, Mingo was arrested during the so-called Emerald-investigation and a month later prosecutors informed the harbor about serious suspicions against Mingo who allegedly took millions of dollars from the port. The alleged fraud continued even after the search had taken place.
In November, the prosecutor’s office urged the harbor to fire Mingo. The board of supervisory directors heard Mingo on August 21, 2017, about the suspicions and suspended him for the duration of the investigation.
Mingo’s situation worsened after the Common Court of Justice suspended him on June 14, 2018, for serious reasons.
In the meantime, the beleaguered port-director was not taking all this lying down. During a press conference at the office of his attorney Cor Merx, in June 2024, he made clear that he was preparing a multi-million dollar claim against the port.
On January 29, 2020, the Court in First Instance had found Mingo guilty of defrauding the port for an amount of $6.8 million. It also found Mingo guilty of fraud by paying Devcon $3 million for mobilization cost while in reality this money went to Oneil Arrindell.
Mingo told the court that he relied on verbal statements from others that the work for which he received invoices had indeed been performed. But a member of the supervisory board of directors told the court that he did not even know the companies for which Mingo had signed invoices. He concluded that all this was unacceptable and that the one who had signed the invoices should be removed from his position.
The court found that there is no evidence whatsoever to support the claim that the work for which Mingo signed the invoices had indeed been performed. The companies who received the money could not produce a bid or an order to perform the work and they declined to provide names of those who allegedly executed the work at the harbor. Investigators only found invoices and payment-orders.
Descriptions in the contested invoices were so vague that the court regarded this as an indication that the invoices were fake. Judges also noted that there was no control on the execution of the invoiced work.
Three companies – Windward Roads, Devcon and Liccom – all declared that they did not know the companies that supposedly helped them with the execution of the work. All contested invoices were signed by Mingo. The court concluded that they were about work that was not, or only partially, done and that Arrindell and Mingo conspired to keep the flow of fake invoices going.
This way, the court ruling states, the port was defrauded for an amount of $6.8 million and that Mingo listened to Arrindell because he was considered to be “the man.”
The court also found that Mingo left a change order, that charged $800,000 for mobilization costs, unchanged even though the amount of sand Devcon had to dredge was lowered from 150,000 to 50,000 cubic meters.
The court concluded that Arrindell and Mingo conspired to defraud the port of $3 million.
On April 23, 2020 the general shareholders meeting (AVA) stated that Mingo’s position as port-director is untenable due to his conviction for fraud and embezzlement and the judgment that he was banned from holding a function as managing director for any government-owned company. The AVA furthermore quoted a lack of confidence and Mingo’s damaged reputation in the eyes of local, regional and global investors as reasons for his dismissal.
The shareholders dismissed Mingo, observing a notice period of six months, and decided that during those six months he would not receive any salary and that he would not get any compensation for his dismissal either. The shareholders also want to recover from Mingo the 10 million guilders ($5.58 million) in damages the port suffered.
On September 23, 2020, the Court in First Instance approved of Mingo’s conditional dismissal. Mingo appealed and he must have thought that his chances of success had improved after the Common Court of Justice acquitted him of all criminal charges against him.
However, this court acquitted Mingo because there was insufficient evidence for a conviction. It noted that the prosecutor’s office had used a random sample from the 272 questionable invoice to support its claim that all these invoices were fake. For solid evidence, the prosecution should have examined all of these invoices one by one, the court ruled.
Mingo went to court to demand the reinstatement of his labor contract and the payment of his salary starting om April 24, 2020, and to order the harbor and the country to pay $3,495,107 for material and immaterial damages. He also wanted $10,000 as an advance for his legal costs, as well as some other financial demands, all based on the statement that his dismissal was not justified.
His house was sold for a forced sale value and he held the prosecutor’s office liable for the losses he incurred because of it. According to Mingo he lost $718,000 because of this.
The court ruled that Mingo’s acquittal of criminal charges does not mean that his dismissal was not justified. The harbor was not negligent because it heard Mingo every time before taking a decision.
Mingo’s financial situation had already worsened a couple of years earlier. On December 30, 2019, RBC terminated all banking relations with him and on March 3, 2021, it appeared that he had an outstanding mortgage of $1.2 million on his house in Guana Bay. In July of that year, he sold the property privately for $648,000.
The court ruling also states that insurance companies already paid out $99,200 to Mingo for legal assistance.
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