PHILIPSBURG — Independent Member of Parliament Christophe Emmanuel on Friday questioned Minister of TEATT Ludmila DeWeever about the financial status of the Bureau of Telecommunication & Post, in particular government’s role over the years with the much talked about BTP building in Philipsburg and “who owes who” in the process. Emmanuel also questioned if a person with a legal conviction on his record still sits on the board of BTP. The MP used his time to speak in the Central Committee meeting to ask the minister how did BTP enhance its revenue generating capacity since its inception after 2010, from…
Author: The Publisher
~ Amateur hour with Bibi Shaw ~ By Hilbert Haar Freedom of the press and freedom of the right of expression are valuable to me. They are the cornerstones of professional journalism, but these rights are not absolute. Theoretically, the law protects individual citizens and companies against slander. If you are consistently and knowingly violate these principles you are giving my profession a bad name. That upsets me. Long before he became president of the United States, a nightmare that is thankfully behind us now, Trumpism was already alive and kicking in St. Maarten. For years, the publication of half-truths,…
PHILIPSBURG — Member of Parliament Claudius Buncamper will have to go back to court for a replay of his appeal against his conviction for tax fraud. That is the conclusion of the Supreme Court’s Attorney-General D.J.M.W, Parideans who handled Buncamper’s cassation. According to Parideans, the Common Court of Justice “insufficiently motivated” in its verdict of October 15, 2018, why it found Buncamper guilty of “factually leading” the submission of incomplete and incorrect profit tax returns over the years 1009, 2010 and 2011. The Supreme Court routinely follows the conclusion of its attorney-general. This means that the court will in all…
THE HAGUE — The Supreme Court’s Attorney-General D.J.M.W. Parideans has concluded that the verdict against former Minister of Public Health, Social Development and Labor Maria Buncamper-Molanus for tax fraud is valid but that her punishment has to be lowered because the Supreme Court took too long to handle the cassation. Attorney Claudia Reijntjes-Wendenburg handled the case at the Supreme Court for Buncamper-Molanus and her husband Claudius. On October 15, 2018, the Common Court of Justice sentenced both Buncampers on appeal to a 25,000 guilders fine and 240 hours of community service. They filed for cassation eleven days after this verdict.…
PHILIPSBURG — In the first quarter of 2025 St. Maarten will be evaluated by the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force (CFATF). “We should have started with the preparations last year but unfortunately we have not managed to do that due to the pandemic,” says Ligia Stella, the director of St. Maarten’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU, often referred to by its Dutch acronym MOT in answer to questions posed to her via email by StMaartenNews.com. Stella did not directly react to the suggestion that some consider that the powers that come with her position make her “the eighth minister with parliamentary…
PHILIPSBURG — After an initial go-ahead for the planning of this year’s Carnival, the Council of Ministers decided in its meeting of Monday, January 26, to cancel the event. The Heineken Regatta is also off the books for this year. The decision of the St Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) to go ahead with the planning of Carnival triggered outcries from citizens who considered holding such an event against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic irresponsible. But the plans soon began to unravel. The Council of Ministers gave its conditional approval on January 14, but ten days later three major…
PHILIPSBURG — It is a bit too strong to say that the wheels are coming off the wagon, but the fact remains that within half a year a second candidate for the United People’s party (UP) has canceled his membership. In June 2020 attorney Cor Merx left the party and now Jacques Heemskerk has followed his example. In a letter to UP’s secretary-general dated January 25, Heemskerk lists twelve grievances as the reasons why he “cannot stand with the current vision, approach and behavior of the UP” any longer. Heemskerk was the number 16 candidate op the UP list for…
PHILIPSBURG — The government had decided to take decisions about COVID-19 related cost saving measures without the express approval of the unions that are represented in the CvV (Commissie van Vakorganisties – Committee of labor unions) and the GOA (Committee for organized consultation about matters that concern civil servants). This appears from three pieces of draft legislation that deal with salary cuts for politicians, civil servants and employees of (semi) public entities. The parliamentary Committee for General Affairs discussed the drafts in a closed-door meeting with Minister of General Affairs Silveria Jacobs on Friday January 22. The decision to sideline…
PHILIPSBURG — To read an article that shows a Member of Parliament in The Hague questioning our Party’s Leader for interacting with a Citizen of St. Maarten, and making that a focal point for discussion, at a time when our people are suffering through a global pandemic, economic decline, job loss, homelessness and an uncertain future, belittles the integrity of our elected leaders. The UP Party issued the press release Sunday evening saying it found the article that appeared in the local newspaper portrayed an arrogant insistence by Dutch Politicians that they can dictate every action our elected officials take,…
PHILIPSBURG — More than three years after Hurricane Irma there are still 21 inmates from St. Maarten housed in prisons in the Netherlands. This appears from the 38th Progress Committee report. Per January 20 of this year this represents a cost of more than €3.6 million ($4.3 million or 7.8 million guilders) to the government of St. Maarten. According to the report there is “no perspective” for the return of these inmates to the troubled Pointe Blanche prison. The Progress Committee’s report covers the period July 1 – October 1, 2020. Currently there are 77 inmates in Pointe Blanche, while…
