POND ISLAND – Acting Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transportation and Telecommunications (Ministry TEATT) Cornelius de Weever, says he welcomes the news about an agreement that has been signed this week between the Netherlands and Winair that would establish a direct air link between Bonaire and the Windward Islands of Saba, St. Eustatius and Sint Maarten. The first flight under the banner CN-Express is scheduled for February 26. “Air transportation links between the Caribbean Netherlands islands of Saba, St. Eustatius, Bonaire and country Sint Maarten are essential when it comes to economic development (tourists), air transportation for family and friends,…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG – No serious prison sentences for the first two defendants in the Emerald tax fraud case, but community service and relatively low conditional jail terms. The Court in First Instance sentenced firefighter Keith Gastia Fleming on Thursday to 120 hours of community service and a conditional prison term of 6 months. A second defendant, police officer Akeem Emile Arrindell was sentenced to 240 hours of community service and a 12-month conditional jail term. In both cases, the court imposed 3 years of probation. The sentences must be a disappointment for the anti corruption task force (TBO) and the public…
PHILIPSBURG – Collin Anthony J. is looking at a 10-year prison sentence for three armed robberies during which he allegedly also robbed his victims of their freedom. The Court in First Instance will pronounce the verdict against the 30-year old defendant on March 15. The defendant attended the trial in Philipsburg on Wednesday morning via a video link from the prison in Zutphen, the Netherlands, where he is detained since three months. While J. ranted and raved during an earlier court hearing on January 24, this time he was composed; at the end of the trial he offered his apologies…
PHILIPSBURG – The court in first Instance sentenced drugs mule Orlando Cyril Overman on Wednesday to a 24-month prison term, with 14 months suspended and 3 years of probation. The public prosecutor had demanded 24 months with 12 months suspended for the 43-year old defendant’s attempt to smuggle 1,050 grams of cocaine into St. Maarten in bolitas. Overman was picked out at the airport on December 20 when he got off a Caribbean Airways plane that arrived at the Princess Juliana International Airport from Trinidad. Overman contested the weight of the cocaine found in the bolitas. “That cannot be correct.…
Dear Editor, In 2002 my wife and I purchased Air Lekkerbek, the plane on the Pondfill that was one of the major touristic attractions on the island and frequented by many residents. The business was bought as a retirement investment so that we could be self-sufficient when reaching the pensionable age. This opportunity was violently ripped away from us by former Ministers of VROMI Maurice Lake and Claret Connor. In 2010 the government decided to create ten parcels for long lease along the stretch of the ring road where Air Lekkerbek is located. When we were informed of such we…
Dear Editor, In a January 2018 article of The Diplomat they describe that,”as relations between the United States and Latin America appears to be deteriorating under the Trump administration, China is actively embracing Latin American and Caribbean countries.” In fact the significance of Chinese relations in the region is such that there was much ado about a diplomatic faux pas when the Trinidad Prime Minister appeared to misunderstand that no invitation was extended to a meeting in China last November. As we mark the start of the Chinese New Year, we must recognize Prime Minister William Marlin; as international diplomat…
PHILIPSBURG – “I have no opinion on his decision to give the land because it is his decision,” said former VROMI-Minister MP Claret Connor, currently the number 6 candidate on the list of the United Democrats at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon about the controversial issuance of land in long lease by former VROMI-Minister Christophe Emmanuel. Connor hosted the press conference to counter allegations by Emmanuel and former Prime Minister Williams Marlin against a decision he took in 2015 as minister of VROMI to issue 10,000 square meter of land on the ring road to the Chamber of Commerce.…
PHILIPSBURG – United St. Maarten party MP Silvio Matser has to go to jail for committing election fraud in 2014. The Court in First Instance sentenced Matser on appeal on Wednesday to 8 months of imprisonment with 2 months suspended and 2 years of probation. The court also revoked Matser’s passive voting right – the right to be elected to parliament – for five years. The court sentenced prison director Edward Rohan to 160 days of imprisonment with 80 days suspended and 2 years of probation for providing a list of Pointe Blanche inmates who were eligible to vote in…
PHILIPSBURG – The Common Court of Justice confirmed the verdict the Court in First Instance issued in June 2016 against Calvin Beresford Green, whereby the defendant was acquitted of attempted manslaughter on an arrest team; he was sentence though to 24 months, with 6 months suspended and 3 years of probation for firearm and marijuana possession. The solicitor-general demanded, 6 years of imprisonment with deduction of time already served during the appeal hearing on February 1. Green lives in Cay Bay where, in the early morning hours of June 30, 2015, members of the arrest team broke down the front…
PHILPSBURG – The Court in First Instance set the date for the next pro-forma hearing in the so-called Pompeii-investigation on Wednesday at June 27. The investigation focuses on the exploitation and illegal employment of 21 prostitutes at the El Capitan and Le Petit Chateau brothels between January 2014 and November 2016. The four suspects in this case are Etienne ‘Toochie’ M. (66), Dulcea F. (56), Louella Marianella R. (51) and Ramphsis R. (48). The court decided, at the request of attorney Eldon Sulvaran to handle the criminal trial and the process to seize close to $5 million from the defendants…
