PHILIPSBURG – The Common Court of Justice sentenced former member of Parliament Patrick Illidge on Wednesday to 16 months of imprisonment for accepting bribes from Bada Bing owner Jaap van den Heuvel. Of the sentence, 6 months are suspended. The court also banned Illidge for five years from holding office and from his passive voting rights. The court sentenced Van den Heuvel – who was not present at the sentencing hearing – to 32 months of imprisonment, with 12 months suspended and 3 years of probation. The court found Van den Heuvel guilty of bribery, forging a rental contract, tax…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG — Minister of Economic Affairs and Telecommunications Mellissa Arrindell-Doncher has formally appointed a new board for the Bureau Telecommunication and Post (BTP), finalizing a process that started in May of 2017. The three new members to form the board are attorney Sjamira Roseburg, businessman Chester “Chet” Euton and businessman Louis Bute. All three were approved by the Council of Ministers and formally appointed via LB (Landsbesluit) signed by His Excellency Governor Eugene Holiday. The term of the former board had come to an end in 2016, leaving BTP without a board ever since. The Minister on Monday congratulated the…
PHILIPSBURG — As a part of the its quarterly review of the progress reports of the Police Force St. Maarten (KPSM) and of the Prison, the Progress Committee St. Maarten met officially for the first time since hurricane Irma passed in St. Maarten with the outgoing Minister of Justice, the honourable Rafael Boasman. In the photo, from left to right, Terrance Rey (deputy secretary), Gert-Jan Stortelers (secretary), Minister of Justice Rafael Boasman (64), Michel Marijnen (acting chairman) and Jason Rogers (member for St. Maarten). Photo provided.
Dear Editor, In the many conversations about the “Integrity Chamber” the majority of discussions are about the fact that this new chamber is apparently being imposed upon an unwilling Sint Maarten. But ironically there is very little conversation about whether it would indeed be an effective entity! Seeing as though we are going to be paying for yet another entity then surely we should be considering it’s likely value, besides just agreeing to it just because the political judgement in the Netherlands is that we should have it and because it facilitates a one time reconstruction payment. It seems to…
PHILIPSBURG — On Monday December 11th, the government represented by Minister Jacobs and supported by the Department of Education and the Divisions of Inspection and Exams met with members of the Board of USM foundation represented by President Mrs. Giterson-Pantophlet, Vice President Wycliffe Smith, member Marcella Henry and MFO Robert Judd in what the Ministry expected would be the final meeting to come to an agreement regarding saving the University from imminent closure and all the negative consequences thereof. After almost 2 weeks of discussion and correspondence back and forth about the MOU it appeared last Friday that the USMF…
Plenary Session of Parliament on Draft National Ordinance Integrity Chamber on Wednesday, December 13th, 2017, at 2pm. PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – The House of Parliament will sit in a plenary public meeting on Wednesday, December 13, 2017. The Minister of General Affairs will be present. The urgent plenary public meeting is scheduled for 14:00 hrs in the General Assembly Chamber of the House at Wilhelminastraat #1 in Philipsburg. The agenda points are: Incoming documents Approval Decision Lists Public meetings Parliamentary Year 2017-2018 no. 1, 3, 4, 6 and 9 Ontwerp van Landsverordening tot instelling van de Integriteitskamer, alsmede tot regeling…
Related news: Government money bag empty by month’s end No reason for panic Minister Gibson says
PHILIPSBURG – The amendment to the 2017 budget contains a provision of 8 million guilders for a training program for employees in the hospitality sector, Finance Minister Richard Gibson said yesterday afternoon during a meeting of the central Committee of Parliament about the state of the country’s finances. “St. Maarten is facing serious challenges with those who lost their jobs in the hospitality sector.’ Minster Gibson said. “The consequence of this could be a spike in crime and additional pressure on the police force. There is a need to create something as soon as possible to alleviate this.” Some hospitality…
PHILIPSBURG — With reference to the article that appeared in the stmaartennews.com online newspaper edition of December 11, 2017, concerning the land dispute between real estate developer Smart Homes and senior citizen, Ms. Fernett Payne, the Ombudsman herewith cares to clarify the following. It should be noted that the mandate of the Ombudsman is limited to complaints filed by citizens against government bodies. As such the Ombudsman would not be competent to investigate the complaint mentioned in the aforementioned article. If Ms. Payne brought her complaint to the Ombudsman earlier this year regarding her predicament, the Ombudsman would have directed…
MARIGOT – At the orders of President Daniel Gibbs, the Collectivité of Saint Martin proceeded last week with the removal of the most embarrassing car wrecks from public roads. Since the passing of Hurricane Irma on September 6, already 500 car wrecks have been removed and treated at the VHU-center for the clean up of cars that are no longer operational. The department for sustainable development will continue with the clean up of car wrecks in the coming weeks. Insurance companies pay for the removal of car wrecks that had an all-risk insurance. There is a list of 1,500 car…
