By Hilbert Haar Boom! Gerrit Schotte to jail for three years, banned from politics for five years. It is not unexpected, but the Supreme Court ruling has sealed it. The implications of this ruling also spread to St. Maarten and not only because of the involvement of casino owner Francesco Corallo in the Schotte-case. Remember, this is all about buying political influence and in the run-up to the elections in 2010 everything seemed possible for aggressive politicians who had managed to dress up their message in a new outfit. Schotte floated into the position of prime minister in Curacao on…
Author: The Publisher
THE HAGUE – In a 65-page ruling containing 169 articles the Supreme Court has confirmed the conviction of Curacao’s former Prime Minister Gerrit Schotte to 3 years of imprisonment and a 5-year ban from membership of parliament. His partner Cicely van der Dijs also saw her verdict confirmed by the highest court in the kingdom: 15 months of imprisonment with 6 months suspended. The ruling put St. Maarten’s casino owner Francesco Corallo once more in the spotlights. Schotte accepted more than $213,000 from Corallo to finance his Movementu Futuro Korsou (MFK) in the run-up to the 2010 elections. After the…
By Hilbert Haar The title of this opinion – Curtain – may not mean a lot to younger readers, so let me explain it briefly. It was the title of the British detective-writer Agatha Christie’s book about the last case of her sleuth Hercule Poirot. No wonder this came to mind when I read about the conviction of former Tourist Bureau and airport director Regina Labega. The court handed down a 12-month conditional prison sentence and a fine of 300,000 guilders for embezzling funds from the Tourist Bureau’s New York office to enrich herself. Her partner in crime, Fabian Badejo…
By Andrew Bishop PHILIPSBURG — The Council of Ministers are busy with the evaluation of the final three candidates who have applied to fill the vacancy for the new prison director at the Pointe Blanche Prison. This issue was addressed by deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education of Education, Youth and Sports Wycliffe Smith who stated at the Council of Ministers Press briefing that the advice on the eligible candidate has not reached the Council of Ministers as yet. According to a report, Minister of Justice Cornelius De Weever had placed an advertisement in the Netherlands and the former…
~ Faction seeks postponement of debate ~ Philipsburg — The faction of the United St. Maarten (US) party on Tuesday said the draft 2019 country budget is rushed, even less transparent than the last, lacks detail and, with expedited scheduling, does not allow members of Parliament adequate time to review. The USP has dispatched two letters to the Chairlady of Parliament outlining its objections and seeking answers from the Minister of Finance to its urgent question regarding budget 2019. As such, the USP also is calling for a postponement in the scheduled Central Committee meeting of November 29 to debate…
PHILIPSBURG — Several residents have reported that they were questioned by some unknown persons posing as bank officials and asking about the status of their accounts. According to a resident of St. Peters he received a call from a source telling him if he had used his card to purchase overseas at an amount of US$ 780. He was then asked if he had lost his card and after he responded that he had the card, she instructed him to get the card. She then told him the same story again about the overseas purchase and he will have to…
CAY HILL — St. Maarten Medical Center (SMMC) is elated to announce that it has officially received the building permit for the construction of the new hospital for which a groundbreaking ceremony is planned on December 3rd, 2018. SMMC General Director, Kees Klarenbeek stated: “It is great to see that the new hospital project that we started to plan for back in 2015 has now come to a phase whereby we will officially break ground making way for the construction works to officially start!” Klarenbeek continued: “We want to thank the SMMC team for their dedication and patience, the Tripartite…
By Hilbert Haar When I read that the anti-corruption taskforce (TBO) has started an investigation into the shenanigans at the Bureau Telecommunication and Post (BTP) I was not in the least surprised. Finally, I thought, somebody is taking action after the General Audit Chamber published a devastating report about BTP. Politics has failed us one more time. On November 25, 2015, I wrote an article for the Today newspaper about this report under the headline: Chaos at Bureau Telecommunication and Post with a flag that summed up the critical issues: outrageous salaries, expensive building and no responsibilities. If I understand…
FRENCH QUARTER — The Johnson family in French Quarter are “breathing easier” since they acquired their new home from the Collectivite earlier this week. The mobile home which is made in Croatia are among the homes that the Collectivite has apparently bought to house the residents who had lost everything during the passing of the storms in 2017. The family, who had no place to go after their home and appliances were lost in the storm, were given a tent to live in by the Collectivite with their two children. The tent was not large enough to house the entire…
By Hilbert Haar Anybody who has ever insured a car on our island on the French side knows one thing for sure: those insurances are much more expensive than the ones on the Dutch side. The reason for this price difference is obvious. Dutch-side insurers have limited their liability to 90,000 guilders, while French side insurers are not allowed to put any limit on their liability for personal injuries their clients suffer in traffic accidents. The limitation-clause in Dutch-side insurance policies is based on the law. The legislator has chosen to allow insurance companies to limit their liability to a…
