By Hilbert Haar The history of St. Maarten’s Integrity Chamber is an interesting one. Parliamentarians bickered endlessly over the establishment of this institution and when they finally agreed with it in August 2015 (only the National Alliance faction with William Marlin, Silveria Jacobs, George Pantophlet and Christophe Emmanuel voted against) the Ombudsman sent the law for review to the Constitutional Court. That court found ground to strike the law down and it took until December 2017 before an amended version was back in parliament. It was again approved. Current MP Emmanuel was at the time Minister of VROMI and therefore…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG — Integrity Chamber President Rian Vogels has informed independent parliamentarian Christophe Emmanuel that providing opinions “does not fall within the scope of its assigned tasks.” Emmanuel asked the Integrity Chamber on July 22 for an opinion about the tender for the reconstruction of the airport. In his letter Emmanuel referred to a bribery scandal the winner of the bid, Ballast-Nedam, was involved in more than a quarter of a century ago. Related article: MP Emmanuel asks Integrity Chamber to provide opinion on Ballast Nedam selection Emmanuel wanted to know whether awarding the airport reconstruction project to Ballast-Nedam “constitutes an…
PHILIPSBURG — For the first time in 36 years of the Dutch St. Maarten Taxi Association’s history a female member has been elected as its president.The 33-year old St. Maartener Ms. Maya Friday won the position of president with 80 votes against former president Conrad Richardson, who garnered 8 votes.The election was held on Tuesday, August 10th, 2021.The association’s new treasurer is Mr. Guillermo Simmons with 63 votes. He competed against Bernadette Gumbs (16 votes) and Conrad Richardson (8 votes).A third boardmember, Mrs. Alvita Lake, was elected with 82 votes as the secretary. No other members postulated for this position.The…
PHILIPSBURG — Political instability is a major challenge, Ombudsman Gwendolien Mossel writes in the introduction to her office’s 2020 annual report. “Responses by government to queries of the ombudsman as well as the execution of recommendations were met with constant delays. The recommendations issued by the ombudsman in various systemic investigations such as the Cadastre, Rental Tribunal and Princess Juliana International Airport Exploitation Company (PJIAE) remain unexecuted.” Between its establishment in 2010 and 2020 the ombudsman investigated 680 complaints and handled 2,464 so-called information windows. In 2020 the Ombudsman received 47 complaints of which five were retracted for different reasons;…
PHILIPSBURG — On July 1, President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden spent three hours with the families of victims of the Surfside apartment building that collapsed on June 24, killing 98 people. The visit was hosted at the St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort by St. Maarten’s Alexina Beauperthuy, the resort’s Food and Beverage manager. Beauperthuy and her team had the opportunity to meet with the President and the First Lady. After the visit, she received a personal letter from the President, thanking her for her “hard work and flexibility” during the visit. “We are grateful that you made…
PHILIPSBURG — The prime ministers of St. Maarten, Curacao and Aruba have reached an agreement with the Netherlands about adjustments to the draft law COHO (Caribbean Reform and Development Entity). On September 3, the new draft is on the agenda of the Kingdom Council of Ministers. After its approval, the draft law will be submitted to the parliaments of the Netherlands, St. Maarten, Curacao and Aruba for debate and decision making. At that moment the draft law will become public. Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs stated in press release issued by the Dutch Ministry of Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations (BZK)…
PHILIPSBURG — The Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor (VSA), Omar Ottley held a meeting with club nightlife business owners, beach bar owners, directors and managers from Dutch Sint Maarten. The purpose of the meeting was to ensure a safe environment for patrons and to avoid COVID clusters within the respective establishment. Minister Ottley wanted the parties to understand the seriousness of COVID-19 and to give them time to establish the protocols moving forward. “ I will continue to say, we must work together to get through this pandemic” Minister Ottley stated. All parties acknowledged and underlined…
Now more than ever entrepreneurs need to know what it takes to get their business startup projects off the ground. StMaartenNews.com invited Clifford Illis to once again share his expert opinion with our readers. Illis is an experienced accountant and independent auditor with over 25 years of expertise and knowledge of accounting, tax consultancy, and auditing services on St. Maarten. Here is what Illis had to say to our readers…. Clifford Illis: “I hope this will be able to shed some light on your request regarding entrepreneurs.” When a person plans to start a company, they must first and foremost…
PHILIPSBURG — Public Prosecutor’s Office in St. Maarten has issued a press release stating that six illegal guns have been confiscated in the past 16 weeks. According to the press release these weapons are related primarily to armed robberies committed against Front Street jewelry stores. The weapons were confiscated by the St. Maarten Police Force, KPSM, in collaboration with the Prosecutor’s Office. These confiscations average at least one illegal firearm taken off the streets approximately every three weeks by law enforcement officials. The weapons were confiscated directly from suspects, found in (house) searches or from crime scenes. While the removal…
PHILIPSBURG — Stay-over arrivals dropped by 66.7 percent in 2020 and cruise arrivals fell 77.3 percent last year, the Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten (CBCS) states in its annual report. “Cruise tourism performed relatively well in the first three months of 2020 but stopped completely beginning in the second quarter of the year. This forced many medium and large resorts to close their doors during the lockdown and border closure.” The manufacturing sector suffered a decline of 27.8 percent, after a 3.6 percent growth in 2019. This reflects a decline in yachts repair and service activities in line…
