GREAT BAY – Financial supervisor Cft has received annual financial reports for 2015 from just three out of 41 government entities that are obliged to produce such reports- social and health insurer SZV, the Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten and Saba Bank Resources. Of the SMH care company NV the latest annual report known to the Cft dates back to 2008. Cft-chairman prof. dr. Age Bakker writes in a letter to Finance Minister Richard Gibson that the annual accounts have to be compiled the latest five months after the closing of a financial year. Only 3 out of…
Author: The Publisher
GREAT BAY – The supervisory council of the St. Maarten Tourism Authority does not support the appointment of Rolando Brison as its director, the board said in a press statement issued yesterday. “Under the current conditions, given information obtained since the interview of Brison and based on the articles of incorporation the supervisory council cannot and will not support the appointment of Brison,” the press release states. When news about Brison’s pending selection as the top candidate for the job emerged from a photo-op with Tourism and Economic Affairs Minister Ingrid Arrindell and her puppet master MP Silvio Matser, criticism…
It appears now that Tourism end Economic Affairs Minister Ingrid Arrindell has been lying about the candidacy of Rolando Brison as director for the St. Maarten Tourism Authority. Contrary to what the minister claimed in August, Brison was not the top candidate for all members of the selection committee. She also broke the agreement to vet the top-three candidates first and announced an appointment afterwards. With MP Silvio Matser in the background it may be understandable that this happened, but it remains unforgivable. To add insult to injury, the supervisory council of the STA made crystal clear yesterday that it…
AMSTERDAM – The closure of five prisons in as many years against the background of a falling crime rate, is the kind of news many governments would give their eye teeth for, St. Maarten included. But not everyone in the Netherlands is happy, as Gordon Darroch reports. The Dutch cabinet has faced awkward questions since Justice Minister Ard van der Steur told parliament in March that the rapid decline of the prison population has left around one-third of cells empty. Unions accused him of breaking a promise made by his predecessor, Fred Teeven that no more jails would shut before…
GREAT BAY – The Netherlands is hesitant about becoming a part of the solution for de-risking on the islands out of concerns about the supervision of the Central Bank, Finance Minister Richard Gibson said yesterday. The minister has discussed the de-risking issue with American authorities together with Curacao’s Finance Minister José Jardim. The islands, together with Jamaica, want an exception similar to the solution the Americans have granted to Mexico. Correspondent banks in the United States threatened to cut ties with banks on the islands out of fear for huge fines that could come their way as a punishment for…
GREAT BAY – The United People’s (UP) party submitted yesterday its full slate of candidate financials related to September 26 elections to the Electoral Council. Treasurer Earl Wyatt submitted the financials to the Electoral Council at 2 p.m. The Electoral Council recently appealed to 118 out of 125 candidates (seven candidates had already done so) who had participated in the elections to submit their donation registration list before the October 26 deadline. Candidates who don’t comply accordingly are subject to sanctions for non-compliance of the National Ordinance, which includes the publication of their names in all mass media. Elected Members…
GREAT BAY – Finance Minister Richard Gibson disagrees with the opinion of financial supervisor Cft that the 2016 budget no longer meets the requirements of the kingdom law financial supervision. The Cft informed the kingdom government that St. Maarten does not qualify for new loans because of the budget-situation. “They do not take into consideration information we have provided,” Minister Gibson said, adding that this information included an expected dividend payment from the Central Bank. The government has in the meantime received this payment of 9.2 million guilders. “Not only that,” Minister Gibson said yesterday. “There is also another windfall…
The governor of Curacao has sent the controversial 80-20 labor law back to the cabinet because she considers it discriminatory – and rightly so. There is however more to this archaic law that deserves our attention. It is a form of far-reaching government-interference in the private sector, where companies ought to be free to hire the people they need. With the right people in the right place, companies will flourish and when they do, other jobs become available. Again, and this is also true for St. Maarten, when there are two candidates for a job and a local is equally…
Hmmm, a discussion on Facebook about the election results shows that not everybody is happy. What else is new? Interestingly, the discussion is based on knowledge we don’t have: that five of the seven ministers in the new cabinet won a seat in parliament. Based on the list, that shows the fifteen parliamentarians, the following politicians will presumably be part of the next Council of Ministers: Theo Heyliger, Franklin Meyers, Jules James, William Marlin, and Silveria Jacobs. Actually there are six, if you count Christophe Emmanuel in. The seventh minister is of course Richard “gibson who will stay on as…
We don’t like anonymous letters; especially those that accuse someone of wrongdoing. We’d say: if you’re man enough to accuse somebody, then be man enough to show your face. Otherwise, get lost. Unfortunately, we have websites that pretend to be in the news business that have a different opinion. They publish such letters with gusto, without asking themselves why somebody comes up with certain accusations. There is always an ulterior motive and none are stronger than those of the anonymous letter-writer. Maybe you say: wait a minute. Is the message not more important than the messenger? Well, that depends. The…
