GREAT BAY – TelEm Group and RBC Merchant Bank (Caribbean) Ltd. announced the signing of a $32 million Bond agreement after months of negotiations. The TELeM Group uses the bond issue to finance future capital expenditure and refinance current debt obligations. This bond supplements an €8 million loan obtained from the European Investment Bank (EIB) last year for an island-wide Fibre to the Home project. According to Andrew Boissiere – Vice President Corporate and Investment Banking and TelEm Group Chief Financial Officer Helma Etnel, the bond agreement was officially signed in August 2016 and represents a significant achievement for both…
Author: The Publisher
Work on the replacement of drinking water and sewage lines in downtown Marigot began at the end of July and is now about halfway through the four months that were scheduled for the project’s completion. Photo caption: Workers are busy in the Rue de la Liberté. Photo Today / Leo Brown
WILLEMSTAD –MAN won the elections in Curacao on Wednesday with 16.2 percent of the vote. Behind MAN are MFK (Movementu Futuro Kòrsou) with 16 percent and PAR (Partido Antiá Restruckturá) 15.1 percent. All three parties won four seats in the 21-seat parliament, that will consists of eight factions. The new party KDNT (Kòrsou Di Nos Tur) van Amparo dos Santos won three seats, PNP (Partido Nashonal di Pueblo) and Pueblo Soberano won two seats each and the Movementu Progressivo van Marilyn Moses and Omayra Leeflang’s Un Kòrsou Hustu one seat each. The question is now with which parties MAN will…
GREAT BAY – The appeal of MP Silvio Matser against his conviction for tax fraud with his now defunct construction company Energizer was postponed yesterday afternoon at the request of the defense that wants to hear two additional witnesses. The case will now be heard on December 13, providing that the interviews with the witnesses have taken place before that date. In January 2015, the court sentenced Matser to 24 months of imprisonment for a string of fiscal offenses. Energizer was sentenced to a fine of 4.5 million guilders. Of Matser’s sentence, 18 months are suspended and he’ll have to…
Photo caption: On September 23, striking pro bono attorneys marched to the Ministry of Justice on Illidge Road, supported by several civil law attorneys. File photo Today / Milton Pieters GREAT BAY – The strike of the pro bono lawyers ended yesterday, Cor Merx, chairman of the criminal justice section of the Bar Association announced. “Everyone who had outstanding claims has been more or less paid and that is good to hear. Those who have not been paid in full did indicate that the amount they received was substantial.” Merx noted that the increased tariffs will be applied to the…
GREAT BAY – Pro bono lawyers are still on strike and the effects were felt in court again yesterday when Felix Floyd Crawford appeared before judge Yvonne Vanwersch for handling the prosecution’s demand to strip him of his criminal profits. Crawford insisted on having his attorney Sjamira Roseburg present and the court saw no other option than to postpone the case until November 24. In July, the court sentenced Crawford to 20 years for nine home burglaries, four armed robberies, one count of attempted manslaughter on a police officer and firearm and ammunition possession. Crawford committed his crimes between December…
The decision by the court to keep an 82-year-old suspect incarcerated until at least his trial date of December 7 shows in a rather unexpected way that everybody is equal under the law. The octogenarian is a suspect in an arms dealing investigation – a serious matter for sure. While he complained to the court about his detention conditions, saying that he could not take it a day longer, the prosecution maintained that the man is not unfit for incarceration. The court considered the defendant’s (unspoken) request for a suspension of his detention, but in the end turned it down.…
GREAT BAY – Erato brothers held liable as people who bought into the failed Aquarius project in Red Pond will not see a penny of their investment due to bankruptcy. Photo caption: Part of the abandoned Aquarius project in Red Pond. File photo Today / Hilbert Haar Duped buyers won’t see a penny from bankrupt Aquarius Erato brothers held liable By Hilbert Haar GREAT BAY – People who bought into the failed Aquarius project in Red Pond will not see a penny of their investment, it appears from the second public report about the bankruptcy of Sabra NV and Aquarius…
THE HAGUE – The Second Chamber says that the Dutch government is naïve when it comes to Venezuela, Pieter Hofmann reports on Caribisch Netwerk. The parliament is concerned about Venezuelan influence on local elections and about the recent purchase of the refinery in Aruba. Second Chamber members: “Government is naïve when it comes to Venezuela” The parliament sees with a heavy heart how Venezuela is taking over the Aruban Valero-refinery through a daughter company of state oil company PdVSA. Alexander Pechtold (D66): “How naïve. A corrupt and bankrupt country that is going to mess up things through a daughter company…
GREAT BAY – The St. Maarten Carnival Development Foundation (SCDF) will host a month’s worth of activities for Carnival 2017; according to the foundation this is “being dictated by the rapid and enormous growth of the festival.” As it prepares to release its tentative schedule next week, the foundation announced that Carnival activities will kick-off as early as mid-March and end May 4. “The days of Carnival being crammed into two weeks with a handful of pre-Carnival events, are long gone. This is our new reality,” SCDF-President Alston Lourens said. The number of Carnival initiatives and events which visitor and…
