Land grabLiterally anything is possible in St. Maarten. This time my column is about an example of how one can legally become the owner of a piece of land in an illegal way and – fortunately – what someone can do about it.Lawyer and Acting Governor Reynold Groeneveldt has written an instructive article about ‘prescriptive rights’. In that article, Mr. Groeneveldt gives a description of ‘prescriptive rights’.I quote and translate the description using Google Translate as follows. By means of the procedure of ‘prescriptive rights’ one can become the owner of part of movable and/or immovable property. Ownership can be…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG — The Progress Committee is concerned about the participation of UNOPS, the United Nations Office for Project Services, in the construction of a new prison. This appears from the 43rd progress-report that covers the fourth quarter on 2021. “St. Maarten is already two years talking with UNOPS about their role in the execution of the detention plan and the construction of the new prison,” the report states. “But up to now nobody of that organization has visited St. Maarten to assess the local situation or to speak about their role in this process.” The report states that there is…
PHILIPSBURG — St. Maarten’s economy could grow by as much as 14.3 percent this year, but the Central Bank warns that the length and the intensity of the war in the Ukraine could have a mitigating effect. “It is therefore likely that inflation will further increase and that the economic growth will be lower than projected,” the bank writes in its 2021 annual report. Things are nevertheless looking up for St. Maarten. The Central Bank expects a strong increase of foreign demand due to a significant increase of exports and an increased recovery of stay-over and cruise tourism. However, increased…
PHILIPSBURG — The Kingdom Council of Ministers will take a decision about the eight conditions St. Maarten will have to meet in exchange for permission to drop the 12.5 percent salary cut for government employees on June 24. So far, only three conditions have been made public and local politicians like MP Sarah Wescot-Williams demand that the government makes the remaining five conditions public as well. According to MP Wescot-Williams, State Secretary Van Huffelen demands that St. Maarten finances the effects of lifting the 12.5 percent-measure from its own budget, that it keeps the 25 percent salary cut for ministers…
It is a sign of the times when we see convicted former Port CEO Mark Mingo after five years of radio silence giving an interview about his conviction in the Court of First Instance on SOS Radio 95.9FM with host Billy D. His case is presently in appeal and we look forward to the outcome of that appeal case in June. In his Facebook Live show, suspended MP Claudius Buncamper rails against his prosecution which after 12 years is turning out to be nothing but persecution. Look at the two broadcasts and look for the similarities. There are many commonalities,…
PHILIPSBURG — The Court of Appeals acquitted suspended Member of Parliament Claudius Buncamper in a ruling dated May 30 of tax fraud related to the Eco Green case. His wife, former Minister of Public health Maria Buncamper-Molanus was found guilty of similar charges in 2018. The Supreme Court confirmed her conviction in January 2021 but noted that her punishment – a 25,000 guilders (close to $14,000) fine and 240 hours for community service – ought to be lowered because the court took too long to handle her appeal on cassation. The acquittal in the Eco Green case is not the…
PHILIPSBURG — Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIAE) completed the refinancing of its 2012-loan with a celebration at the Mimosa Sky Lounge on Rhine Road. The airport secured a $90 million loan package from lenders in St. Maarten (46 percent), Curacao (44 percent) and Aruba (10 percent). AIB Bank arranged the loan and the RBC Trust of Trinidad and Tobago functioned as the facility and security agent. The airport’s chief financial officer, Ben van der Klift said that the new loan is “an important step forward and another vote of confidence. This also underscores our transformation into an airport with strong…
PHILIPSBURG — Acting Governor Reynold Groeneveldt unexpectedly passed away on Tuesday, May 24, 2022. News of his passing soon spread quickly throughout the legal community on the island. “With his passing, St. Maarten has suffered a great loss,” Governor Drs. Eugène Holiday said in a press statement. Groeneveldt started his career as a teacher, but he later went on to become a legal scholar, a respected attorney and a champion of St. Maarten’s constitution. He was also the initiator of the Legal Review pages on StMaartenNews.com. Publisher Terrance Rey said that Groeneveldt had just promised him another article for the…
PHILIPSBURG — What are the chances that the four countries in the Dutch Kingdom reach an agreement about the draft consensus kingdom law COHO? If you look at the criticism from the Caribbean side of the ocean, the answer is simple. Zero. But the untimely death of the Caribbean Organization for Reform and Development will not mark the end of Dutch interference in Caribbean affairs. No sir, the reform train has already left the station because the governments of St. Maarten, Curacao and Aruba have signed agreements for the execution of so-called country packages. In St. Maarten politicians voiced their…
PHILIPSBURG — With the public demanding answers about the cyber-attack at NV GEBE, Party for Progress (PFP) Member of Parliament (MP) Melissa Gumbs has called on Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure (VROMI) Egbert J. Doran to answer questions the MP has sent in writing during Parliament’s Question Hour. “This attack on NV GEBE is a serious and constantly changing situation. It has been more than two months since it happened, and all the public really knows is that the main office is closed and the company is working to become operational,” said MP Gumbs. “This long-term…
