PHILIPSBURG — A 59-year old casino-dealer with a rather checkered work-history gets more than 100,000 guilders gross from her now former employer as compensation for the termination of her labor contract, the Court in First Instance ruled in June. The employee, who entered service with the casino in 1991, collected 29 warnings from her employer between 2002 and 2021. The warning were related to theft, swearing, being present in the casino outside of her working hours and sending impolite text messages to her superior: “Look how. That bitch make my schedule.” In January 2021 the casino sent the employee with…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG — United Democrats-MP Sarah Wescot-Williams vented her frustration about recent political developments in a press statement that suggested the appointment of a professional as the new minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication (TEATT). MP Wescot-Williams notes that MPs Akeem Arrindell (Independent) and Chanel Brownbill (United St. Maarten party) will join the coalition for a joint appointment of a successor to Roger Lawrence at the TEATT-ministry. “MP Brownbill’s consent to this agreement is on shaky ground,” the press statement reads. “He is deputizing for suspended MP Buncamper. Deputizing can mean different things in different circumstances, but this particular…
PHILIPSBURG — “We question if the goals set forth in the country package are realistic,” the General Audit Chamber states in its audit on the possibilities of rent reduction for government. Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs signed the agreement for the country package in December 2020. One of the measures mentioned in this deal is a 20 percent reduction of the rent the government pays for office space by 2025. The Audit Chamber is puzzled about the basis that should be used to calculate the reduction. The budgets for 2020 and 2021 both mention total rental costs as 15.2 million guilders,…
PHILIPSBURG — Eliane Berwers has left the island of St. Maarten for a three-week summer intensive program of the Dance Theater of Harlem in New York this month. Not only due to the 15-year old’s determination but also thanks to the generous sponsorship of travel entrepreneur (and publisher of StMaartenNews.com) Terrance Rey. “I told her and the way she screamed I think Marigot heard her,” Eliane’s mother Christ’l Larmonie wrote in a message to Rey after he had informed her about what he is ready to do for this venture. Eliane Berwers dances at the INDISU Dance Theater in St.…
PHILIPSBURG — The Party for Progress hit a brick wall during last week’s Parliament meeting about the Ombudsman-report that details everything that went wrong with the tender for solid waste collection for the period 2021-2026. The minister responsible for the dossier, Egbert Doran, maintained that he had fully cooperated with the Ombudsman’s investigation before ducking a motion of no confidence from the PFP by asking for “at least” two weeks to answer 21 simple questions from parliamentarians. PFP-MPs Melissa Gumbs and Raeyhon Peterson stated in a press release after the meeting that the minister’s delaying tactics had not surprised them.…
PHILIPSBURG – Party for Progress (PFP) Members of Parliament (MPs) Melissa Gumbs and Raeyhon Peterson are not surprised by the deliberate stalling tactics played by the Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure (VROMI) Egbert J. Doran to avoid a motion of no confidence in Wednesday’s urgent public meeting. MP Gumbs opened the first round of Wednesday’s public meeting by announcing that PFP will introduce a motion of no confidence against Minister Doran, citing the numerous missteps, questionable decisions, and outright legal violations that has accompanied Minister Doran’s two-year tenure as VROMI Minister. The latest has been detailed…
~ Calls on Minister Doran to resign; requests Urgent Public Meeting ~ PHILIPSBURG – Following Monday’s publication of the Ombudsman’s report on the tendering and awarding process of the garbage collection contracts 2021-2026, outraged Party for Progress (PFP) Members of Parliament (MPs) Melissa Gumbs and Raeyhon Peterson have called on Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure (VROMI) Egbert J. Doran to immediately resign because of his demonstrated history of irresponsible governance and questionable decisions. The Ombudsman’s final report is the conclusion of the systematic investigation into alleged wrongdoings in the tendering and awarding process of five-year public…
PHILIPSBURG — The public tender for the collection of solid waste for the period 2021-2026 was “neither fair nor transparent,” the office of the Ombudsman concludes in a report about its systemic investigation into this issue. VROMI-Minister Egbert Doran reacted tersely when he was given the preliminary report. He considered the investigation to be incomplete and its findings to be unbalanced because the report does not include “additional documentation the ministry has provided from the onset.” In a postscript Ombudsman Gwendolien Mossel retorts that “all documentation and relevant information provided by the ministry is included in the final report.” Mossel…
PHILIPSBURG — The involvement of former minister and former parliamentarian Theo Heyliger in the import of goods at the port goes even deeper than previously described in our article ‘How Heyliger delivered a near monopoly to Tropical Shipping.’
PHILIPSBURG — Accusations leveled against the business practices of Tropical Shipping under the whistleblower provision of the American Securities and Exchange Commission Act of 1934 strongly suggest the existence of a corrupt scheme to establish a stevedoring and transshipment monopoly on St. Maarten. Together with Tropical Shipping, former minister and parliamentarian Theo Heyliger is at the heart of this scandal. The parties mentioned in the complaint to the SEC include companies like St. Maarten Port Services (SMPS), St. Maarten Terminal Services (STS), Tropical Shipping & Construction Company Limited and the Harbor Group of Companies. The complaint suggests that Heyliger functioned…
