PHILIPSBURG – Defendant in the Larimar case Theo Heyliger remembers that building consultant Ronald Maasdam brought stroopwafels for him from the Netherlands. But envelopes with banknotes, no, he never received them, according to Heyliger. Nevertheless, co-suspect JanHendrik Boekhaar, former CEO of construction company Windward Roads, believes that he saw Heyliger accept envelopes with money. Has he seen the banknotes? “No,” says Boekhaar, “but I now understand, after Maasdam’s interrogation by the judge, yesterday, why Maasdam and Heyliger always acted so mysteriously and Heyliger had to go to Maasdam’s car to get an envelope out of it.” Dutch construction consultant Ronald…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG – Bribery-suspect Theo Heyliger denied any wrongdoing during the second day of the Larimar-trial at the Belair Community Center. The denials of the former politician and founder of the United People’s party are diametrically opposed to statements made a day earlier by crown witness Ronald Maasdam. Heyliger said that he had only received donations from Maasdam for his political party during the run-up to elections. He claimed that Maasdam had not paid him for anything else, that he had had no involvement in the dredging contract for Devcon and that he did not, as Maasdam claimed, held any informal…
PHILIPSBURG — “A deal was a deal,” says Ronald Maasdam, crown witness in the Larimar case, about paying bribes to Theo Heyliger and the late Roy Marlin. For years, the Dutch building consultant delivered a newspaper several times a month, with an envelope with banknotes hidden inside it. Until he incited Heyliger’s anger by withholding several hundred thousand euros. The fight led Maasdam to leave St. Maarten. Today Ronald Maasdam (65) is back on the island for the first time after five years, as a crown witness and as a suspect. He is the last of five main suspects in…
PHILIPSBURG – The public prosecutor demanded a 3-year prison sentence on Monday against Ronald Maasdam, the 66-year old crown witness in the LARIMAR corruption trial. Maasdam implicated the late Roy Marlin and the founder of the United People’s party (UP) Theo Heyliger in the bribery schemes where he functioned as the middleman, collecting around 2.5 percent of the project price for his efforts. Initially he shared this money equally with Heyliger, later he kept one-third of the bribes. Maasdam said that he had paid bribes to Heyliger in cash with funds obtained through the Standard Trust Company, but that no…
PHILIPSBURG — The board of the United People (UP) party on Monday said that despite months of creating negative and false impressions about its founder Theo Heyliger, the prosecutor’s office did not present any physical evidence of wrong-doing by Heyliger in the so-called Larimar case. Instead, the board said, what the prosecutor managed to do was put nefarious dealings among Dutch contractors operating on St. Maarten and their efforts to manipulate the system on full display. The UP board said while charges against Heyliger are frivolous and with no grounds, the person that the prosecutor made into a “crown witness”…
PHILIPSBURG -– Starting today, Monday, March 9, five defendants are in court for one of the largest bribery scandals in St. Maarten’s history. While the charges have yet to be proven, the names of the defendants have inspired the court to handle the case in the Belair Community Center – not only because of the number of defendants, but also because of the expected high turnout of spectators. Theo Heyliger, the founder and former leader of the United People’s party (UP) stands trial together with his stepfather George Pelgrim, former Windward Roads director Janhendrik Boekaar, Ronald Elferink and Ronald Maasdam.…
By Cdr. Bud Slabbaert Many Caribbean economies find themselves already in a difficult situation with low growth, high debt, fiscal deficits, and low domestic private sector investments. Because of the current developments around the spread of the novel coronavirus around the world, economies worldwide will be dealing with an unforeseen shock. While action is taken to contain and mitigate the outbreak, a global recession is likely, and the Caribbean will also be affected. Global recessions are known to have an impact over a two-year period. Now is the time to be prepared for what comes thereafter. January 23, 2020 -…
PHILIPSBURG – The governments of Curacao and St. Maarten have to appoint one or two “international heavyweights” to strengthen the management of the Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten (CBCS). That at least is the opinion of several lobby organization in Curacao’s international financial service industry, expressed in a letter addressed to Prime Minister Eugène Rhuggenaath and Finance Minister Kenneth Gijsbertha. The signatories to the letter are the International Financial Services Association (CIFA) and Curacao International Financial Center (CIFC), the Chamber of Commerce and the Curacao Business Association (VBC). The Antilliaans Dagblad reported about the letter that is –…
PHILIPSBURG – The Foundation for Catholic Education in St. Maarten (SKOS) has survived an attempt by the St. Catharina Foundation to kick it off the property where the St. Joseph School is located. The Court in First Instance ruled that SKOS is entitled to put an attachment for the purpose of delivery on the school grounds on Front Street in Philipsburg – thus preventing the Catharina Foundation from selling the property for $1.7 million to a third party. The dispute between the two foundations finds its roots in an agreement they signed back in 1990, the year when the Catharina…
PHILIPSBURG – De Windward Islands Bank (WIB) has prevailed in a lengthy legal battle against travel agency Travel Planners over the payment of the 1 percent foreign exchange license fee for bank transfers to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). In 2017 the Court in First Instance ruled that the WIB was not allowed to charge this fee to Travel Planners but the Court of Appeal has now overruled this decision. The troubles for Travel Planners started back in 2012 when the Central bank decided that the bank account of the IATA in St. Maarten was no longer a resident-account.…
