By Hilbert Haar Parliament missed yet another opportunity to make clear where it stands on corruption and money laundering on Friday afternoon. It does not come as a surprise because every time “one of their own” ends up on the wrong side of the law, members of Parliament massively stick their heads in the sand. It sends an odd message to the community: breaking the law is okay but don’t get caught. Parliament accepted Heyliger’s suspension in Friday’s meeting as a matter of fact and nobody had to say anything about it. Heyliger’s second in command, MP Franklin Meyers, even…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG — Chief Prosecutor Mirjam Mol informed Minister of Justice Cornelius de Weever already on March 1 in writing about the beginning of United Democrats leader Theo Heyliger’s pretrial detention. Based on this information, Heyliger was suspended as a Member of Parliament. Parliament convened on Friday to acknowledge the information from the prosecutor and the inherent suspension. Parliament only received Mol’s letter, via the Justice Ministry, only four days later, on March 5. The President of Parliament, MP Sarah Wescot-Williams, convened an urgent meeting of Parliament on Friday about the matter. In the morning there was no quorum but when…
MULLET BAY — Owner and managing director of Island Real Estate (IRE) team, Arun Jagtiani, in a candid conversation with StMaartenNews.com, explained the reasoning behind his email announcement on Wednesday, March 6, regarding the fact that Tower B of the Mullet Bay Fourteen two tower development project would no longer be developed as a hotel. In his email newsletter Jagtiani had announced that “By popular demand, the developers of Mullet Bay Fourteen have officially announced that Tower B will no longer be developed as a hotel. Due to the success of the pre-sales in Tower A they have decided to…
PHILIPSBURG — The Public Prosecutor’s Office has serious concerns about the financial investigative capacity of the police force. Answering questions from stmaartennews.com, the prosecutor’s office said that the police force has only one financial investigator. “Due to the lack of financial investigative capacity the expectation-level of investigations has been lowered.” This does however not mean that the police force or the anti-corruption task force TBO (Team Bestrijding Ondermijning) are doing nothing at all. In 2017 the financial intelligence unit (MOT – Meldpunt Ongebruikelijke Transacties) reported 358 suspicious transactions with a value of 60.8 million guilders ($33.4 million) to the prosecutor’s…
CAY HILL — About seventy-five persons seeking employment visited the job fair which was hosted by the Sonesta Maho Beach Resort and Casino which was held at the Bel Air Community Center of Friday. “We are looking for local talented people to strengthen our operation and because we have recently opened we will need all the help we can get,” said vice president of the Sonesta Maho Group of companies Johan Halvarsson. Although he pointed out that most of the departments in the resort they are looking to strengthen, they are in urgent need of culinary and food and beverage…
WILLESTAD – InterCaribbean Airways Ltd. does not have to pay a penalty of $500,000 to bankrupt airline Insel Air, the Common Court of Justice ruled on Thursday. The Court in First Instance imposed this penalty in a ruling dated December 28, 2018 in case interCaribbean failed to provide financial guarantees for the Insel Air’s creditors. When those guarantees fell short, the court refused to approve the creditors agreement and subsequently declared Insel Air bankrupt on February 26. On November 16, 2018, Insel Air signed a so-called Heads of Agreement with interCaribbean. This agreement is “a binding legal framework for the…
By Hilbert Haar MP Franklin Meyers is quite outspoken – to put it mildly – when it comes to standing up for St. Maarten and its people. Wednesday’s Central Committee meeting about the conditions at the detention facilities in Pointe Blanche and at the police station was an exquisite opportunity for Meyers to describe the Dutch as the bad guys in vivid detail. Hypocrisy at its highest level. That’s how the good MP headlined a monologue in which he pointed out sixteen contradictions in the behavior of the Dutch: they say one thing but they do exactly the opposite. And…
PHILISBURG — “They want to show that they can do again what they did to Theo Heyliger’s grandfather years ago. That is the main reason for transporting him to Bonaire,” MP Franklin Meyers (United Democrats) said during Wednesday’s Central Committee meeting about the conditions at the Pointe Blanche prison and the police station. Meyers made a dramatic presentation in which he exposed “Dutch hypocrisy” when it comes to St. Maarten. “I want to be just like the Dutch,” he said. “I want to tell the world that we are equal partners in the Kingdom but threaten my partners when they…
PHILIPSBURG — The debate in the Central Committee on Wednesday about the situation at the Pointe Blanche Prison and the Police Force turned into a frontal attack on the Dutch government, the Progress Committee and financial supervisor Cft. All this came on the heels of the question hour in the Dutch parliament on Tuesday where Minister Sander Dekker (Legal Protection) said that Justice Minister Cornelius de Weever frustrated offers to help from The Netherlands. It didn’t help that Dekker saw fit to refer to the guarantee function in the Kingdom Charter: “If there is insufficient progress (with the conditions at…
Another case and a perfect example highlighting the fact that we are a young Constitutional State yet only in our infancy stage and we are to learn, adapt and grow as we go. Where our Constitution failed to elaborate on procedures for certain processes, it was expected that wise heads, legal minds and mature politicians would solve any constitutional dilemmas that rise up from the ambiguities that can occur in our laws and guidelines that govern us as a country. Fortunately, there is no need for a panic in the case at hand with a 14-member Parliament. The Constitution simply…
