PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten – The pre-trial detention of Member of Parliament and leader of the United Democrats, Theo Heyliger has been extended to eight days. Mr. Heyliger, who was arrested on Tuesday morning at his home in Guana Bay by members of the TBO, is alleged to have committed several illegal acts including bribery and money laundering. The decision to extend his detention was taken during a closed door session Thursday afternoon. However, the accused, the Member of Parliament did not attend the closed door hearing. According to the spokesman of the of the Anti-Corruption Taskforce TBO, Roderick Gouverneur, a…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG – Two motions of no confidence – one against Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin and one against Tourism and Economic Affairs Minister Stuart Johnson – failed to get majority support in parliament on Friday morning. Both motions, tabled by the opposition factions of the National Alliance and the United St. Maarten party, were rejected with seven votes in favor and seven votes from coalition members against. USp-MP Rolando Brison called Minister Johnson “the biggest threat to our tourist economy” but that did not convince any coalition-MP to give the motion a majority. Fourteen of the fifteen members of parliament were…
GLOSSARY OF KEY WORDS IN THE INSURANCE BUSINESS Questions Answers 1. What is an application form? It is a form you fill out which provides information the insurance company will use to decide whether to issue you a policy and how much to charge. The application form is a part of your contract with the insurer thus it is therefore important that it is filled out as completely and accurately as possible. 2. What is an endorsement? This is a written amendment to an existing insurance policy that changes the terms/ conditions or scope of the original policy issued.…
By Hilbert Haar This morning the political life of Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin and Tourism and Economic Affairs Minister Stuart Johnson hangs in the balance. There are two motions of no confidence on the table and the meeting where these motions will be handled begins at 10am. The arrest of MP Theo Heyliger has put the government coalition in quite a pickle. With his presence, and assuming that all members of the governing coalition show up in the meeting, the motions would most likely be defeated, unless there is a snake hiding in the UD-grass. As things stand right now,…
By Hilbert Haar The Financial Action Task Force has put forty recommendations in place that St. Maarten is supposed to follow. It is all about combating money laundering and the financing of terrorism. The Financial Intelligence Unit or MOT (Meldpunt Ongebruikelijke Transacties) plays a key role in these efforts. The Netherlands Antilles had an MOT that was managed from Curacao and since 10-10-10 St. Maarten has its own reporting center. If you don’t count the Standard Trust Company and its successor, there seem to be few problems with getting financial and non-financial institutions to abide by the mandatory reporting of…
PHILIPSBURG – In 2017 and 2018, St. Maarten’s Financial Intelligence Unit (MOT) received close to 53,000 reports about unusual financial transactions with a combined worth of 29.7 billion guilders ($16.6 billion). Over these two years, MOT analysts deemed more than 1,700 transactions with a combined value of 293.2 million guilders ($163.8 million) to be suspicious. These numbers appeared from a presentation by MOT-director Ligia Stella in a meeting of the parliamentary Justice Committee on Wednesday morning. In 2016, the MOT received 20,218 reports worth 8.1 billion guilders ($4.5 billion) from financial and non-financial institutions about unusual transactions. In 2017 these…
PHILIPSBURG – “Make sure that you don’t send UTS to the cemetery and let it function as a real private company.” That was the message UTS-director Glen Carty had for members of the central committee on Wednesday afternoon during a discussion about the pending sale of the telecom provider to Liberty Latin America. The sale of the company is practically a done deal because its major shareholder – the government of Curacao – is ready to ink the deal with Liberty. Curacao holds 87.5 percent of the UTS-shares while St. Maarten owns the remaining 12.5 percent. Curtis Haynes, member of…
PHILIPSBURG — The arrest of the leader of the United Democrats Member of Parliament Theodore Heyliger by the Anti-Corruption Task Force (TBO) on Tuesday morning at his home has drawn support from the coalition. Minister of Education who is also the deputy Prime Minister and the leader of the St. Maarten Christian Party Wycliffe Smith in a statement said that his party remains committed to the Governing Accord with the determination to provide the country with a stable government. “It is unfortunate that MP Heyliger is faced with these personal challenges at this time but we must allow time for…
PHILIPSBURG — The legislation for general health insurance is now with the Council of Advice and it is expected to be completed in March. This was announced by the Minister of Health Emile Lee at the weekly Council of Ministers Press conference on Wednesday. This document deals with a comprehensive health care plan for all residents that live on the island. When this is completed it will be sent to the Parliament of St. Maarten to be ratified. Health care for all was one of the issues raised during the election campaign, in the Governing program and also it is…
PHILIPSBURG — Teachers and educators will be attending meetings today and tomorrow on a training program on behavioral management which is geared to address the behavior children in the classroom and the playground. This was announced by the Minister of Education Wycliffe Smith at the Council of Ministers press conference on Wednesday, February 20. These meetings comes on the heal of an incident at one of the secondary schools where a student stole a teacher brand new vehicle which was found stripped and barely recognizable a few days later. Since then the student has been suspended from the school and…
