PHILIPSBURG — On Saturday, September 11th, 2021, a group of taxi drivers representing the Dutch St. Maarten Taxi Association, Airport Taxi Association and Down Town Taxi Association came out to help clean up the Harold Jack lookout point that is frequented by the island’s visitors and used as a stop on tours. Amongst the rubbish many face masks, plastic bags, glass bottles, napkins, foam food containers, cardboard boxes and some hurricane debris from Irma were removed. It took two dumpster loads and three trucks to haul away the amount of rubbish that the taxi drivers were able to collect. Unfortunately,…
Author: The Publisher
GREAT BAY, Sint Maarten (DCOMM) – NV GEBE and their two (2) remaining members of the Supervisory Board of Directors lost both of the cases they filed against Country Sint Maarten on Friday, September 10th, 2021, the Cabinet of the Ministry of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning, and Infrastructure (Ministry of VROMI), said on Friday. The Shareholder will continue to address the current situation within NV GEBE. The first injunction case was deemed inadmissible because the plaintiffs did not take the right entity to court which should have been NV GEBE and not Country Sint Maarten. The claims in the…
WILLEMSTAD — Eighteen months of imprisonment and a 5-year ban on functioning as a public notary. That is the punishment the Court in First Instance handed down on Friday to Johnny Kleinmoedig for stealing around 1.4 million guilders (a bit more than $782,000) from his clients over a ten-year period. The verdict is more severe than the demand from the public prosecutor. The court ordered the immediate imprisonment of the defendant, even though the prosecutor had not asked for this measure. The court also ignored the prosecution’s suggestion to make 6 months of the prison sentence conditional. The 59-year old…
DUTCH QUARTER — Representatives of the Qredits organization and several volunteers braved the 90-plus degree weather in an effort to help clean up the Dutch Quarter district. The Qredits organization focused on the emergency homes in the district which is known as the 911 homes. Public Relations Officer and Q Care Manager Tishauna Richardson said the main reason for the initiative was to ensure that the organization was visible to the general public and to give back to the community. During the clean-up effort, several persons who live in the area came out to help by bringing out their garbage…
PHILIPSBURG — In 2014 the government appointed fourteen confidential advisors for a period of two years. After their tenure ended, no new appointments were made. Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs expressed her government’s commitment to implement an advice from the Integrity Chamber about the confidential advisors in a letter dated August 9. So far, there has been no official announcement about the appointment of new confidential advisors. The Integrity Chamber issued its advice to the government in May of this year. “The Integrity Chamber recognizes the role of confidential advisors as a required component within the government’s infrastructure,” this advice states.…
PHILIPSBURG — Governor Drs. Eugène Holiday has confirmed the reappointment of Justice Bob Wit as the president of the Constitutional Court in a national decree dated August 19. The decree lists Bob Vermeulen as the Court’s newly appointed vice-president. Justice Wit will step down per January 1, 2023. On December 24, 2022 Wit turns 70. The national ordinance that regulates the Constitutional Court stipulates that members step down on the first day of the month after they have reached the age of 70. Ben Vermeulen was born on March 9, 1957 in Willemstad. He will be able to remain on…
PHILIPSBURG — The Chamber of Commerce has announced its proposal to dissolve more than 500 businesses and thereby taking them off their registry. The complete list of affected businesses has been published in the National Gazette of September 3. All of the 531 listed companies have outstanding fees and 36 companies have no director, it appears from the Chamber-publication. Both circumstances – outstanding fees and not having a director – are reasons for the Chamber to dissolve the companies. If these circumstances still exist six weeks after the publication of the list, the chamber will dissolve the companies. That the…
PHILIPSBURG — On Friday, September 3, 2021 the recently appointed new members and substitute members of the Central Voting Bureau were sworn in by His Excellency Governor drs. Eugene B. Holiday at his cabinet. These members and substitute members are: Nancy Guishard-Joubert as the chair, Nathalie Tackling as the deputy chair, Ingrid Gumbs-Arrindell as a member and Sandy Offringa and Mario Gumbs as substitute members. Besides the newly appointed members and substitute members, the Central Voting Bureau currently also comprises of two previously appointed members namely Mercedez James and Anastacio Baker. In accordance with article 12 of the Electoral Ordinance…
PHILIPSBURG — The financial situation of St. Maarten’s social security funds is untenable, financial supervisor Cft writes in a reaction to the country’s second execution report for the year 2021. The deficits at the ZV-fund (healthcare insurance), the OV-fund (accident insurance) and the FZOG-fund (healthcare insurance for retired civil servants) increased in 2020 to 291 million guilders (approximately $162.5 million). This is an increase of 21 percent compared to 2019, the Cft points out. The expected total deficit of these funds for 2021 is 328 million guilders ($183.2 million). “This is an untenable situation that requires immediate and drastic measures.…
PHILIPSBURG — Bureau Telecommunication and Post (BTP)-director Anthony Carty has been suspended for the duration of the criminal investigation against him that started back in 2019. After the completion of the investigation, the Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication will take a decision about Carty’s future. This appears from the relevant national decree that was published in the National Gazette on September 3. Carty’s suspension went into effect per August 13. The suspension is based on article 3 of the National Ordinance that regulates BTP. This article states that the BTP-director is appointed, suspended and dismissed based on…
