PHILIPSBURG – Rumors have been circulating that the holdup in the appointment of the Chairman of Parliament Rolando Brison as the new Minister of VSA is due to the fact that there is no Main Voting Bureau because all the members have resigned. StMaartenNews.com spoke with the present Chairman of the Main Voting Bureau, Attorney Jason Rogers, who indeed confirmed his resignation. However, Rogers informed StMaartenNews.com that up until the present moment, there has not been a formal acceptance of his resignation – in the form a ‘besluit’ (decree) – and therefore, as long as there is no ‘besluit’, he…
Author: The Publisher
~ Says Chairman of Parliament setting dangerous precedent ~ GREAT BAY — Sewing seditious behavior and interfering with civil servants executing directives is a dangerous precedent to set, says Independent Member of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel in response to a circulating video of Chairman of Parliament Rolando Brison confronting economic inspectors at a nightlife establishment. In the video, Brison is recorded chiding and questioning the inspectors for trying to close the establishment, questioning their authority and legal basis. He further asked the inspectors if they “have a conscience” and called them “arrogant”. Related article: Economic controls aimed at fairness and the…
PHILIPSBURG — The Kingdom’s ministers of justice have agreed on a system whereby local Caribbean candidates will be trained for the function of public prosecutor every year. They took this decision during the half-yearly Judicial Four Countries Consultation (JVO), a digital meeting that was chaired by Aruba’s Minister of Justice Bikker. The ministers also agreed to fine-tune juristic education in such a way that graduates from the universities of Curacao and Aruba get equal access to selection and education for the professions of attorney, judge and public prosecutor in the Netherlands. The ministers furthermore acknowledged the importance of speedy information…
PHILIPSBURG — Immigration remains a hot topic and it has come to the forefront once more after Justice Minister Anna Richardson’s announcement of a “strict enforcement” of relevant legislation. There is however a big difference between strongly worded political statements and reality. The national ordinance Admittance and Expulsion, commonly referred to as the LTU (Landsverordening Toelating en Uitzetting) shows that the minister’s options are limited. For one, the document that contains the text of the ordinance states that its legal basis is “unknown.” Minister Richardson said during a press briefing that applicants for a residence permit must prove a minimum…
PHILIPSBURG — Former parliamentarian Chanel Brownbill has lost his appeal at the Supreme Court against his conviction for tax fraud. The sentence handed down by the Common Court of Justice on March 5, 2020, has therefore become irrevocable: 18 months of imprisonment, of which 12 months are suspended, 240 hours of community service and 3 years of probation. Attorney-General E.J. Hofstee concluded in a ruling dated January 12 that Brownbill’s appeal must be rejected. The Supreme Court routinely follows the attorney general’s conclusion. Thijs Kelder, an attorney with Sjöcrona van Stigt in The Hague submitted five arguments to the Supreme…
PHILIPSBURG – Management of “certain departments within the Justice Ministry” were booking the piket-stipend for all the days of a month, Justice Minister Anna Richardson said on Friday during a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee of Justice. This way, these managers added around 2,000 guilders to their monthly salaries. “This is an unlawful practice,” Richardson said. “Why would anyone want to be on call every day of the month?” The minister was answering questions MPs posed in an earlier committee meeting on December 14 of last year. A large part of her answers dealt with the function books that are…
MARIGOT — Two women – one employed by the police force and one by the government in St. Maarten have been sentenced to conditional prison sentences in the court in Marigot for fraud with social allowances. They collected money from the French welfare system for years without declaring their income on the Dutch side of the island. The first defendant, identified in a report on Soualigapost.com as I.R. (30) is employed by the police force in St. Maarten. Between September 1, 2014, and May 31, 2016, she collected €14,587 ($17,840 – almost $850 per month) from the CAF (Caisse d’Allocation…
PHILIPSBURG – “There is not and there will not be a Dutch take-over,” State Secretary Drs. Raymond Knops said at a press conference in Maho at the end of his flash visit to St. Maarten. “All these stories, all these fairytales are simply not true.” Knops said that he is confident that St. Maarten will overcome the current crisis. “But believing that we can do this by doing things the way we did them before is like believing in fairytales,” he said. Knops arrived Wednesday evening from Aruba together his delegation that consists of fewer than forty people. Some of…
PHILIPSBURG — Union representatives picketed in front of the Maho Resort where State Secretary Drs. Raymond Knops gave a press conference at the end of his visit to the island. They did not get an audience with Knops, who said during the press conference that he had not received any request for such an encounter. That did not stop the unionists, supported by Drs. Raymond Jessurun and others, to speak their mind to reporters. Nataly Frans, treasurer of the St. Maarten Communications Union (SMCU) was the most vocal. “They are cutting us and making us bleed and there is no…
~ An open letter from Supervisory board member Mr. Hans de Jong regarding the financial support provided to WINAIR ~ The granting of financial liquidity support by the Dutch Government in the form of a $3 million loan has apparently already brought about something in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom. The media, both in the Netherlands and in the Caribbean part of the Kingdom, paid extensive attention to it in recent days. In addition, questions were asked by a representative of the Dutch Parliament. In a letter dated 31 December to the House of Representatives of the Staten Generaal,…
