PHILIPSBURG — During last week’s press briefing on Wednesday, August 28, 2019, Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin addressed the issue of the screening process at government-owned companies. The Prime Minister explained that it is the norm that members of the management boards of government-owned companies are screened prior to them being appointed to their functions. Contrarily to this procedure, members of the supervisory boards of government-owned companies are not normally screened. “The fact that members of the supervisory boards have access to all documents and take decisions together with management, government is of the opinion that it is necessary to have…
Author: The Publisher
Dear Editor, The decision by the Prime Minister to screen appointed members to the Supervisory Board of Directors of government-owned companies is commendable and should be welcomed by all. In executing this decree the Prime Minister should also require that a profile for such a position be drafted and used as a basis for appointing persons to these positions. She should even go as far as subjecting these positions to a recruitment process whereby applications have to be submitted, interviews carried out and character testing and assessment undergone. Present members not having gone through this process should be asked to…
PHILIPSBURG — The Honourable Stuart Johnson Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport & Telecommunication (TEATT) returned to St. Maarten on Sunday following a meeting of the Dutch Caribbean Air Navigation Service Provider (DC-ANSP) Shareholders meeting at the Renaissance Resort in Curacao on August 30. Johnson stated on Sunday that the meeting provided a clear direction for the Aviation Service providers in the region as crucial topics were addressed. One such topic of discussion was the debts of Insel Air which was declared bankrupt earlier this year after failing to attract investments. They have since then lost their Air Operators certificate.…
Dear editor, If you claim ownership of land and problems occur about the claim, you can go to court and ask a verdict. The judge will check the claim related to the civil code and eventually other legislation in effect. If you don’t agree with the verdict you are entitled to appeal this verdict to see if the higher court has the same opinion. This will cost a few hundred guilders of procedural fees as well as a few thousand guilders for a lawyer. If you lose, you might have to pay a (big) part of the legal costs of…
Dear Editor, The integrity filled TBO (Team Betterment Oppression) that is being permitted to create havoc here. This team of Dutch investigators have a modus operandi (MO) which can be qualified as abuse of the law. There is a difference between suspects and witnesses in our law. TBO, to make their chances of conviction better, now make everyone a suspect in their investigation, just to eliminate them as witnesses in the investigations. When you make persons a suspect ,you scare them into talking not about themselves but about others. So from suspects they can now get witness testimonies for other…
POND ISLAND — On Thursday, August 22, 2019, Winair conducted its annual general meeting of shareholders in the Council of Ministers meeting hall. Main agenda point was to review the 2018 fiscal year financial results. Present at the meeting were Prime Minister Romeo-Marlin, Minister Smith, Minister Geerlings, Minister De Weever, and Minister Johnson – all representing the Sint Maarten Shareholder -, and Mr. Cor van Wijk as the Dutch Shareholder representative assisted by Mr. Chris Johnson representative of the Netherlands. On Winair’s side, present were the executive board consisting of Mr. Michael Cleaver as CEO and President, and Mr. Roberto…
PHILIPSBURG — Today, Monday, September 2, 2019, the Anti-Corruption Taskforce (TBO) detained a Member of Parliament on St. Maarten. He is suspected of accepting bribes, (co-)committing official coercion and abusing his position. The suspect was arrested in the past on suspicion of comparable facts in connection with another investigation. The Anti-Corruption Taskforce (TBO), specializes in tackling corruption and undermining financial economic crime. Among other things, the team investigates fraud, forgery and money laundering. UPDATE Due to several calls and emails about for a comment about the detention of MP Frans Richardson, below is a short comment for now from the…
By Hilbert Haar How is it possible that St. Maarten is the only island where the “local media” is from everywhere else in the world BUT St. Maarten? Thus begins a Facebook-post by historian Will Johnson. Pseudo journalist Michael Granger put in his two cents in a reaction to this question. Unfortunately it does not make a lot of sense. If Johnson refers with the term “local media” to journalists who actually write (or wrote) stories for local media outlets he is right in the sense that there are no locals working in this industry. But his observation that those…
Dear Editor, TBO is the team for betterment of oppression. That is the true meaning of the abbreviation. There is no interest of discovering the truth. The only objective is to get a story plausible enough to go before a judge, with a conviction guaranteed. Lawyers, Police officers and civilians alike make constant remarks that it looks as if we no longer need lawyers in this country. It is evident in court cases that prosecutors make no effort in court to present their cases, that lawyers fight a well-supported battle, and judges just waltz passed it all to convicts. There…
PHILIPSBURG — “The ‘ownership’ of the property may already be illegal.” says MP Rolando Brison in response to an opinion piece by independent journalist Hilbert Haar published on StMaartenNews.com. Haar’s take on the inquiry is that it is indeed time for appropriate action, however, he writes, buying or expropriating Mullet Bay is not going to be a walk in the park. “I think its a fair assessment to some extent but it has not gone far enough into what is expected of the Mullet Bay inquiry.” wrote MP Brison. It’s an okay take, he added. Hilbert Haar’s opinion piece titled “Time…
