PHILIPSBURG — Outgoing Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT) Grisha Heyliger-Marten opposes the renewal of the contract of airport director Brian Mingo, it appears from a letter dated July 4 she sent to Perry Wilson, the managing director of the airport holding company. Read related press release here: Minister Grisha Heyliger-Marten not in favor of contract renewal for airport CEO In her letter, the minister speaks of “the upcoming transition in leadership” at the airport, adding that she does not support an overlap period between the current and incoming director. Mingo’s contract expires in December. Minister Heyliger-Marten…
Author: The Publisher
WILLEMSTAD — The Court in First Instance sentenced Emsley Tromp and René Lourents to conditional prison sentences for forgery. The court acquitted both defendants of bribery and corruption. At the time of the alleged crimes, Tromp was President of the Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten (CBCS); Lourents was adjunct director for corporate relations and facilities management. The Hercules-investigation began on February 1, 2019, as a follow up to the Saffier-investigation. The latter investigation focused on suspicions of corruption linked to a $400,000 transaction from Banco di Caribe to Tromp’s pension fund. In the end the charges were limited…
PHILIPSBURG — The National Alliance submitted a list of seventeen candidates for the August 19 elections on Postulation Day to the Central Voting bureau in the legislative hall of the Parliament building. Former Prime Minister and MP Silveria Jacobs heads the list, followed by two former ministers: Egbert Jurendy Doran and Ardwell Irion. Campaigning with the slogan We are one the party welcomes four new members to its team: Carlita Guy, Edsel Gumbs, Curtis Thomas and Allen Conner. Gumbs is a senior loan officer at Qredits, who said no to getting into politics for nine years, but, he said, “The…
PHILIPSBURG — “Every discussion about the future of our kingdom is completely meaningless as long as article 73 of the United Nations Charter is considered as a given.” This statement is part of an article written by Sietse Fritsma, a former parliamentarian for the extreme right party PVV. The question is whether Fritsma’s ideas will resurface now that the PVV will be a part of the new Dutch government. Fritsma’s explanation of Article 73 is that the interests of the inhabitants of the Caribbean islands come first and that their wellbeing must be promoted “in order to ensure their progress…
PHILIPSBURG — It is not at all certain that the parliament will approve the proposal to save Ennia from bankruptcy and thus protecting the interest of its policy holders. Finance Minister Marinka Gumbs presented a detailed overview of the proposal (see related story) but she said at the same time that what is now on the table is not the best solution for St. Maarten. “If you say that this is not the best solution, then take your time and present a better one,” MP and former Minister of Finance Ardwell Irion said. He noted that Gumbs had sought advice…
PHILIPSBURG — Finance Minister Marinka Gumbs is highly critical of the proposed solution to keep insurance company Ennia out of bankruptcy. The Netherlands has made the interest rate St. Maarten has to pay over its 316 million guilders ($176,536,313) Covid-loans dependent on the parliament’s approval of the rescue plan. Parliament has not approved the proposal yet but if it does, the interest rate goes from 3.4 to 2.9 percent. The lower interest rate would save the treasury 1,580,000 guilders ($882,682) per year. Parliamentarians asked several questions but Minister Gumbs asked time to prepare all the answers and suggested that she…
~ Looming Crisis: Unresolved Sinkhole on Cole Bay Hill Raises Concerns ~ COLE BAY — It’s been six weeks since a significant sinkhole appeared on Cole Bay Hill on May 15, 2024, and there is still no resolution in sight. As one of the main roads on the island, this area is crucial for daily commuters, and its current state is becoming a growing concern for the community. The government’s primary focus has been on the energy crisis with GEBE, almost to the exclusion of other pressing issues. This tunnel-vision approach has left the sinkhole problem on Cole Bay Hill…
WILLEMSTAD — After Insel Air ceased operations on February 16, 2019, it was replaced by another Curacao-based airline called Jetair. Five years later, on June 18, 2024, Jetair filed for bankruptcy and the Court in First Instance confirmed its status. Both Insel Air and later Jetair were the national airlines of Curacao. Jetair was founded in 2006 as United Caribbean Airlines and rebranded as Jetair Caribbean in 2019. After the court declared both entities bankrupt, Jetair canceled all flights and the company’s planes were grounded. The trustees in the bankruptcy, attorneys of HBN Law &Tax reported the possibility of a…
By Hilbert Haar Plans to help St. Maarten move forward in a positive direction are wonderful, unless those plans are at odds with reality, or if those plans go in the opposite direction of other plans. I remember that years ago the European Commission funded programs that aimed to discourage smoking, while the same Commission at the same time subsidized tobacco farmers in Greece. That did not make a lot of sense to me. Now we are confronted with another impressive report from the European Commission about the multiannual indicative program (MIP) for St. Maarten. Reading Annex IX of that…
PHILIPSBURG — “It is imperative for St. Maarten to look into renewable energy sources and alternative energy sources. The COVID-19 crisis has shown St. Maarten that making deep structural changes and reforms is unavoidable,” Annex IX of the European territorial multiannual indicative program (MIP) states. The program has €7.7 million (around $8.2 million at the current rate of exchange) available for initiatives in the fields of sustainable and resilient energy and cross-border cooperation. There is even more European money on the line for St. Maarten: €42.67 million ($45.66 million) through the Resilience, Sustainable Energy and Marine Biodiversity Program and €21…
