PHILIPSBURG — From Monday, May 18th, to the 25th, it’s International Mental Health Awareness Week. And as we know from previous difficult times: mental health issues are likely to rise after a period of increased stress. It is for this reason that the mental health foundation decided to promote mental health awareness week this year, under the theme: Mental Fitness During Covid-19 Times. To spread information and awareness about mental health and tips on how to best deal with the current situation, the MHF is organizing a series of online activities this week. As a healthy mind resides in a…
Author: The Publisher
~ Economic Affairs Minister Ludmilla de Weever Calls on All Stakeholders to Come Together ~ PHILIPSBURG – Minister of TEATT Ludmila de Weever reached out to various stakeholders in the past several weeks to create an Economic Recovery Group with the aim of achieving a sustainable economic recovery as St. Maarten and the world begin to ease shutdown measures amid the Covid-19 pandemic. The diverse group comprises both up-and-coming and established professionals from the private and public sectors. They have offered to volunteer their expertise and collaborate with the common national goal of restoring economic activity and safeguarding the quality of…
By Hilbert Haar The conditions attached to the provision of continued liquidity support have put the government in a rather awkward position. Demanding a 25 percent salary cut for ministers and parliamentarians seems to be the least of all concerns: for ministers, it is just a small step from the 20 percent they already agreed to and parliamentarians will have a hard time objecting to a further cut in their income if this leaves their constituents without financial support. In my opinion, there is nothing indecent about the above-mentioned part of the conditions. Our politicians had it coming for a…
PHILIPSBURG – The Kingdom Council of Ministers had presented a brutal package of conditions for the release of continued liquidity support. Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs has labeled these conditions as an ‘indecent proposal’ but State Secretary Knops has made clear that continued support depends on “agreements and results.” The Kingdom Council will review on July 3 whether St. Maarten has put the required measures in place. The kingdom is prepared to release 53 million guilders in liquidity support, of which 24 million can be released immediately while payment of the remaining 29 million is earmarked for salary-subsidies “after St. Maarten…
Den Haag – As per July 1st, 2020 prof. dr. Raymond Gradus will be reappointed for a three-year term as chairman of the Board of financial supervision Curaçao and Sint Maarten, the Board of financial supervision Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba and the Board of financial supervision Aruba. Prof. dr. Gradus is chairman of the three Boards as of July 1st, 2017. The reappointment of Mr. Gradus has been discussed in the Kingdom Council of Ministers of May 15th. The reappointment shall take place by Royal Decree. Prof. dr. Raymond Gradus is professor in governance and economics of the public…
PHILIPSBURG — The judge acknowledges that former Member of Parliament Theo Heyliger has been brutally treated by holding him first in a filthy Philipsburg police cell and then in Bonaire, violating his right to visits from his family. His sentence for laundering nearly $4 million and taking bribes has been lowered as a result: Heyliger has to spend not 6,5 years, but five years in jail. Heyliger’s time in pre-trial detention will be deducted from the sentence. For the time being, the protagonist in the LARIMAR case does not have to go to prison. His doctors will be consulted first.…
~ Is it a good time now to take up the 2013 SER advice to split up the monetary union between Curacao and St. Maarten? ~ By Hilbert Haar The conditions the Kingdom wants to impose on Curacao for more liquidity support put the Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten basically under higher supervision of the Dutch central bank – De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB). This condition seems predominantly based on concerns about the viability of several financial institutions in Curacao, like the Girobank, PSB and insurance company ENNIA. These developments have resulted in new calls for the dissolution of…
WILLEMSTAD/PHILIPSBURG — In the so-called Larimar case, the St. Maarten Court of First Instance sentenced politician T.H. to a 60-month prison sentence for accepting nearly $4 million in bribes and money laundering. H. took these bribes from several companies in exchange for government procurement and keeping the relationship going. Consultant M., who acted as an intermediary, was given 36 months. His sentence is lower because he cooperated as a witness with justice to solve this case. The ex-director, B., of a construction company has been sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment for paying bribes, money laundering and forgery. The bribes made…
PHILIPSBURG – The government of Curacao and the Central Bank (CBCS) will have to provide the Dutch National Bank (DNB) with a broad insight into the situation in the financial sector and into potential losses, the Antilliaans Dagblad reports under the headline: DNB krijgt een dikke vinger in de pap – in other words, the DNB gets serious influence on financial matters in Curacao. The increased role of the Dutch National Bank is a specific condition for the release of liquidity support to Curacao. This appears from a letter State Secretary Raymond Knops (Kingdom Relations) sent to the Kingdom Council…
By Hilbert Haar The verdict is in and former parliamentarian Theo Heyliger is facing a 5-year prison sentence for accepting bribes and for money laundering. It is a given that Heyliger will appeal the verdict; after the court of appeals confirms the ruling (or hands down an even longer prison sentence, a distinct possibility) he will take his case to the Supreme Court. The board of the United People’s party arrived at the rather curious conclusion that, once you file an appeal against a guilty verdict, you are still innocent. Are these people for real? I figure that an appeal…
