Bridgetown, Barbados, 25 August 2021 – CIBC FirstCaribbean has officially extended its partnership with The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus with the signing of a memorandum of understanding for three years. The agreement, which was signed on Tuesday August 17, 2021, is for the period 2021/22 to 2023/24, and will cover four areas: support and development of UWI programmes and students around the region; enhancement of research in Banking and Finance at The UWI; the joint pursuit of mutually beneficial business opportunities, and entrepreneurship and innovation. The bank has contributed over US$2 million to The UWI to…
Author: The Publisher
Simpson Bay — On Monday, August 23rd, 2021, the Honorable Minister of Justice, Anna E. Richardson visited the Princess Juliana International Airport to welcome the arrival of Mr. Alvin Daal from Curacao. During her work visit to Curacao last month, Minister Richardson aimed at re-establishing and forging a positive working relationship between the Ministry of Justice in Curacao and Sint Maarten. One of the topics discussed most during her work visit was the reorganization of the Point Blanche Prison & House of Detention. In an effort to improve the situation at the Prison and house of detention, Minister Richardson sent…
Philipsburg — Member of Parliament, Sarah A. Wescot-Williams in a recent statement stated that “It has been some months now that the Association of Psychologists and Allied Professionals (APAP) has approached me regarding challenges faced by its members. In fact, nearly one year ago, the association publicly expressed its concern with respect to the continuation of mental health services by its members due to a number of reasons, such as timely payments, adjustment of tariffs and the fact that since 10-10-10, these professionals, unlike most of their peers, are still subjected to Turn-over-Tax.” MP Wescot-Williams said that “for months I…
WILLESTAD — Renowned composer and piano player Johnny Kleinmoedig is facing an 18-months prison sentence (with 6 months suspended) and a ban from practicing as a public notary for five years. The public prosecutor holds Kleinmoedig responsible for transferring money from a third party account to his private bank account. The court in Curacao handled the case on Friday, August 20. Kleinmoedig is a partner in the office of Kleinmoedig&Alexander in Willemstad. According to the prosecution the defendant had no legal basis for transferring the funds to his private account. Kleinmoedig told the court that the money “no longer had…
by Cdr. Bud Slabbaert It is common knowledge that the economies in the Caribbean desperately need diversification. Being dependent for about 70-85% on tourism is insane. It is sad that no realistic alternatives have been developed yet as the dilemma is older than V.S.O.P. ripened in an oak barrel. The problem needs attention because it is hotter than a firecracker lit on both ends. Sure, there is a lot of ‘um diddle diddle diddle um diddle ay’-talk about it, but there are no meaningful initiatives or results. More of the same, tourism development, is not a solution but rather fueling…
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…
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…
