WILLEMSTAD – The Common Court of Justice declared Insel Air bankrupt on Tuesday morning. All efforts to save the troubled airline have failed. Even before the court declared the company bankrupt, it announced in a Facebook message that it had ceased operations effectively February 16, 2019. “On behalf of the entire Insel Air family, past and present, we thank everyone of our passengers for their loyalty; it was truly a pleasure to serve each of you over the past twelve years.” Passengers with tickets issues on flights 2511/2513 from Curacao to St. Maarten and flights 2512/2514 from St. Maarten to…
Author: The Publisher
Reports coming out of Holland indicate that the Dutch government is prepared to stop the liquidity support for the St. Maarten government if the members of Parliament do not give up their exorbitant salaries. The authorities in Holland are expecting for the St. Maarten government to once again run out of money and needing a financial injection from The Hague as was the case last year when it received 32.6 million guilders in liquidity support. In reports, St. Maarten politicians are being labelled as ‘greedy’. We will be eagerly awaiting the response of the St. Maarten government to this latest…
By Hilbert Haar It is not for the first time that the bloated remuneration of parliamentarians in St. Maarten has drawn the attention from politicians in the Netherlands. The issue is not new, because shortly after St. Maarten assumed the status of autonomous country in the Kingdom on 10-10-10, the now defunct newspaper Today already published all the details about the exorbitant tax guilders that would flow into the pockets of local ministers and parliamentarians. Members of the Second Chamber in The Hague see every month the equivalent of 16,017 guilders ($8,948) arrive in their bank account, while their colleagues…
PHILIPSBURG – There is no proposal at the parliament in St. Maarten to use money earmarked for the reconstruction after Hurricane Irma for “a new expensive parliament, a futuristic project for a salt-crystal building of $145 million,” State Secretary Raymond Knops (Kingdom Relations) wrote in answer to questions from Socialist Party MP Ronald van Raak. Van Raak’s question is based on a remark MP Claude Peterson (Christian Party) made in the ad hoc committee of parliament that deals with plans for the construction of a new parliament building. Peterson quipped on that occasion that the country ought to approach the…
PHILIPSBURG – State Secretary Raymond Knops is not done yet with attempts to address the high remuneration of members of parliament in St. Maarten. This appears from answers to questions from SP-MP Ronald van Raak that Knops sent to the Second Chamber. Knops has asked financial supervisor Cft for information about the topic “in the context of future liquidity support.” Van Raak asked the state secretary whether he shares his astonishment about St. Maarten being the smallest country in the kingdom while its members of parliament receive the highest remuneration. He also asked what happened with the intention to lower…
PHILIPSBURG — On February 22nd 2019, Bureau Telecommunications and Post St. Maarten (BTP) and the vice-chair of the Supervisory Board of BTP conducted a meeting with the United Postal Union of the Americas, Portugal and Spain (UPAEP). UPAEP is an association of the postal authorities of the countries of the Americas, Spain and Portugal that promotes technical cooperation among Postal Operators of Member Countries. During the meeting in-depth discussions took place on the situation of the postal sector in Sint Maarten, and ways to further promote, develop and modernize postal services. The meeting was initiated by the Managing Director of…
PHILIPSBURG — Five fuel stations on St. Maarten were controlled to ensure proper calibration of fuel pumps by the Inspectorate of the Ministry of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Traffic & Telecommunication TEATT as part of a routine control last week. Additional inspections were conducted to ensure that the price per litre is displayed in Netherlands Antillean Florins (NAf), which is the official local currency. As part of the control, the Inspectors are affixing special marks on equipment to help consumers recognize whether the establishment they patronize has appropriately calibrated equipment. These controls are in keeping with Article 19 of the National…
WILLEMSTAD — Venezuelan authorities turned back the cargo ship Midnight Stone filled with humanitarian aid, goods and foods when it sailed from Curacao via Bonaire to Venezuela this past weekend. Another cargo ship is said to be in the port of Willemstad still awaiting sailing orders. Most likely, according to reports, this ship together with the Midnight Stone, will be offloaded in Curacao and the goods stored on the island there until further developments. As a direct result of this Curaçao has suspended the humanitarian aid support activities for the time being. Curaçao will only send relief goods to Venezuela…
~ Fate of Inselair’s future in the hands of a judge ~ WILLEMSTAD/PHILIPSBURG — Tuesday, February 26, 2019, is the day for Inselair. Once the biggest airline in the Caribbean, it is certain that the judge in the bankruptcy protection case of Inselair will have no choice but to declare airline company bankrupt. Rapid growth, un-collectable debts and lack of cash flow have decimated the company and left it with just the one aircraft: a Fokker 70. Hope was resting on a Trinidadian investment company to come to the rescue, but after the Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) in Curacao…
PHILIPSBURG — Communication’s Officer of the of the Anti-Corruption Taskforce TBO, Roderick Gouverneur, informed StMaartenNews.com that today the court has granted the Prosecutor’s Office permission in order to prosecute Theo Heyliger in the LARIMAR investigation. In a closed door session on Thursday afternoon, the Prosecutor’s Office petitioned the Common Court of Justice for permission to prosecute Heyliger in the Larimar investigation into corruption, bribery and money laundering. Photo caption: A gathering outside the court house in the alley with among others, President of Parliament Sarah Wescott-Williams and MP Sidarth Bijlani on Thursday, February 21, 2019. Photo by Andrew Bishop. More…
