As we point out in our editorial today, the witch hunt UP-leader Theo Heyliger speaks about (see article on page 3) is a figment of his imagination. On one count the UP-leader is correct: the court acquitted the suspects in the Masbangu election fraud case. But how innocent were these defendants really? In court Roy H., an uncle of the party-leader freely admitted that he had paid money to the police officers who came begging for money in exchange for their votes. One of the police officers freely admitted that he had taken the money. All this took place right…
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GREAT BAY – MP Silvio Matser will have to find another attorney after his legal counsel Cor Merx threw in the towel yesterday during a pro forma hearing about the Octopus-investigation into vote-buying ahead of the 2014 elections. Merx was upset with Judge Dirk Gruijters when it came to setting a date for the next court hearing. Merx did not have his agenda with him and suggested to exchange options via email but the judge adjourned the meeting for fifteen minutes to give the attorney the time to go to his office and come back with his agenda. “I do…
The United People’s party goes into the elections with a severely damaged reputation. That is not, as party-leader Theo Heyliger suggests, due to a so-called witch hunt by the prosecutor’s office but to the party’s shenanigans that marred the elections of 2010 and 2014. It is true that the court acquitted the suspects in the Masbangu-case, but it has nevertheless been established – and admitted by an uncle of Heyliger – that he paid police officers at the party headquarters just before the 2010 elections. And that uncle told investigators that he gave account to the UP-leader. Yesterday details became…
GREAT BAY – “I promised some months ago in parliament not to raise the taxes on car license plates,” Minister of Finance Richard Gibson said yesterday. Based on legislation that has been put in place an agreement was made with the receiver to go after casino fees. “The receiver collected 2 million guilders in arrears,” the minister said. In October the receiver will collect another 650,000 and from there on every month 195,000. The minister noted that the documentation for the legislation that makes the collection of these fees possible disappeared three times. “I was relentless,” he said about his…
GREAT BAY – Finance Minister Richard Gibson struck back at United St. Maarten party-leader Frans Richardson at yesterday’s Council of Ministers press briefing. Richardson said last week that Prime Minister William Marlin should “put to bed and shut up” Gibson, adding that the finance minister is “too old and that it is time for him to go home.” “People out there say that I am too old and that I should be put to bed,” Gibson said in a reaction yesterday without mentioning Richardson’s name. “Well, I want to apologize to all senior citizens in St. Maarten because the persons…
King Willem-Alexander’s third Troonrede King Willem-Alexander, with Queen Maxima by his side, pronounces the Troonrede. Photo contributed THE HAGUE – The Caribbean part of the kingdom remains the poor cousin in the annual speech of King Willem-Alexander at the opening of the parliamentary year in the Netherlands. Last year, the so-called Troonrede contained one line: “Together with the Caribbean part of the Kingdom the Netherlands keeps working on a good future.” This year, the reference to the islands was summed up as follows: “In close cooperation with the Caribbean parts of the kingdom the government conducted a successful campaign for…
Justice Ministry does not pay GREAT BAY – The strike of on-call attorneys, initiated by attorney Geert Hatzmann two weeks ago, has widened. Currently eleven attorneys are on strike. They only serve paying clients and do not handle cases of defendants who have to rely on the state for legal assistance because they cannot afford an attorney. “Up to this moment the minister of justice (or one of his associates) has not been in touch,” Cor Merx, the chairman of the section criminal justice of the Bar Association, states in a press release. “The minister of finance has also put…
GREAT BAY – The Prosecutor’s Office has lodged an appeal against the four verdicts of the Court of First Instance of St. Maarten in the Masbangu investigation. The investigation focuses on vote fraud during the Parliamentary elections in 2010. The suspects R.C.H.J., C.C. and A.R.W are suspected of selling their votes and R. H. is suspected of buying the votes of the other three suspects for the United People’s party. Last week Wednesday the Court in First Instance acquitted the four suspects of all charges of (attempted) vote buying. According to the court it has been established that payments have…
The strike of by now eleven pro bono attorneys shows that not everything is fine and dandy at the justice ministry. There is an apparent budget problem – suggesting that the minister has run out of money, but keen observers wonder how this could be. There is reportedly $1.3 million in the crime fund – money that the minister can spend at his discretion in the fight against crime. Question: where is that money? And it is not like the attorneys showed up out of nowhere to become an unexpected burden to the minister’s budget. The concern about this situation…
On St. Maarten, the beach party is loud. You’ve seen the photos of airliners casting shadows over the heads of beachgoers. You’ve watched the YouTube videos of people getting blasted by the jet exhaust. You have either shaken your head in disbelief or longed to be there yourself. I have done both and now I can say: There is no way to understand the phenomenon of St. Maarten’s Maho Beach without experiencing it. Earlier this year, I finally made the pilgrimage to St. Maarten, home to Princess Juliana International Airport and its famous surfside approach. An activity once on the…
