PHILIPSBURG — Smoke and mirrors. That expression comes to mind after hearing VROMI-Minister Egbert Doran’s say in an interview on 102.7 FM radio with Lady Grace that the motion of no confidence the Party for Progress intends to table against him has nothing to do with the highly critical Ombudsman report about the tender for solid waste-collection. Instead, Doran said, it has to do with the role PFP-MP Raeyhon Peterson played in the granting of rights of long lease to Alegria. The facts tell however a different story. “This motion is not about the Ombudsman report,” Doran said. This is…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG / THE HAGUE — St. Maarten has started to pay out vacation allowances without a positive advice from financial supervisor Cft and without permission from the Kingdom Council of Ministers (KCoM), State Secretary Alexandra van Huffelen (Kingdom Relations) writes in a letter to the Dutch Second Chamber. This way, St. Maarten does not live up to conditions set by the KCoM. In its meeting of February 4, the KCoM agreed that the Caribbean countries (St. Maarten, Aruba and Curacao) are allowed to create alternatives for the 12.5 percent salary cut for civil servants. The condition is that these solutions…
PHILIPSBURG — How effective is the fight against undermining and organized international crime? That is a legitimate question, not only in St. Maarten but also in the Netherlands, it appears from an article on the news site of broadcaster NOS. In the Netherlands the fight is expensive, but it St. Maarten it is a lot cheaper. St. Maarten has the Detective Cooperation Team (RST) and the TBO (Team Bestrijding Ondermijning) that ceased to exist at the end of 2021. Its successor is called Sustainable Undermining Approach Caribbean (Duurzame Ondermijningsbestrijding Cariben), with DOC as its Dutch acronym. Starting in 2025, the…
PHILIPSBURG — The Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten (CBCS) and the ENNIA companies say that there are “indications of bribery” of former Minister of Finance Richard Gibson Sr. But Gibson states in a reaction that “it takes a very devious and warped mind to link the golden parachute payment I received in 2014 to my appointment as Minister of Finance in 2015.” The Antilliaans Dagblad reports that Gibson stepped down in 2014 as a member of the supervisory board of ENNIA Caribe Holding and that he received a golden parachute payment of 2 million guilders (around $1.1 million).…
Saturday morning July 16, 2022, the Curacao newspaper Antilliaanse Dagblad published an article on its front page with a photo of Richard Gibson (Sr) titled: “INDICATION OF BRIBERY”. From the content of the article it can be ascertained that the bribery hinted at here is bribery of a government official and the basis, according to the article, is a golden parachute payment Gibson received from ENNIA at the end of 2014 when he resigned from all of the companies he held positions in the ENNIA GROUP of companies and Banco di Caribe. At the end of 2014 Gibson resigned as…
PHILIPSBURG — Ombudsman Gwendolien Mossel was highly critical of the Parliament and the Ministry of Public Housing, Urban Planning, Environment and Infrastructure (VROMI) during an interview with Oral Gibbes on his TV-program Oral Gibbes Live. “In 2019 we addressed the problems with capacity and expertise at the ministry of VROMI. We see now that they are not able to respond to the public in a timely manner or they answer not at all. In 2020 we addressed the parliament with the request to do something about this. We are now in 2022 and we see an increase in complaints against…
Philipsburg – The Ministry of Justice held the second annual Justice Week Conference 2022 hosted by the Honorable Minister of Justice Anna E. Richardson from Monday, July 11, 2022, through Wednesday, July 13, 2022, at the Simpson Bay Resort. The conference themed ‘Justice with Efficiency’ is the first activity carried out by the Ministry in commemoration of Justice Week. The conference aims to provide a platform where departments, agencies, and external partners of the Ministry can discuss topics related to their operations such as year plans, policy-based budgeting, challenges, and plan of action geared towards their efficient functioning. Present at…
We don’t understand why the airport is asking employees to provide information about payments made to them while an internal audit – or even a forensic audit – should be able to provide them with the answers. How does a company the size of the SXM Airport not know how much monies were paid to employees or by company directors and to companies hired to work for the airport company? We see the same thing at the harbor. Isn’t there a paper trail to the money trail? What kind of checks and balances are taking place within these government-owned companies?…
PHILIPSBURG — The fraud that has recently come to light at the harbor as well as at the airport begs the question what the role of the supervisory boards has been in these matters. Or rather: what their role should have been. Robbert Delissen of the Dutch law office DelissenMartens described the responsibilities of supervisory directors in an article on his website. “A supervisory director has a large responsibility and he must be alert on developments in the company,” Delissen wrote. A supervisory director must act with the insight and carefulness that may be expected from a director who is…
By Hilbert Haar If you have no arguments left or if you fear that the outcome of a debate is not beneficial to your own interests, accusing others of playing political games is always a good idea. At least, that seems to be the way MP Rolando Brison approaches the looming motion of no confidence against VROMI-Minister Egbert Doran. That motion, an initiative of the Party for Progress, is the ultimate litmus-test for any serving minister. If such a motion gets a majority, the minister has to step down. If the motion fails, the minister can stay in his job…
