PHILIPSBURG — The Court in First Instance has ordered former parliamentarian Frans Richardson and the former director of the Harbor Group of Companies Mark Mingo in separate rulings to pay the country large amounts of money after their convictions for corruption. The court sentenced Richardson to pay $107,050 (192,690 guilders) for his role in the Aquamarine investigation and $370,000 (666,000 guilders) for his role in the Emerald-case. If Richardson does not pay he will have to go to prison for 1,080 days (2 years and 11.5 months). Mingo has to pay $4,989,599.75 (8,315,278 guilders) or go to prison for three…
Author: The Publisher
PHILIPSBURG — The draft bank account law that Member of Parliament Rolando Brison (UP) sent to the media this week contains a couple of interesting but debatable provisions. The apparent objective of the draft is to improve the banking sector’s customer service. The draft opens with a reference to a European Union guideline that gives European citizens the right to a basic bank account. While this seems logical, it is a fact that St. Maarten is not a part of the European Union; that triggers the question up to what point such a guideline is applicable to the citizens of…
Dear editor, It should have surprised absolutely no-one in the Sint Maarten business community that businesses now must place ads in a newspaper to get a bank’s attention, as happened in the January 6th edition of The Daily Herald. Apparently, the business simply tried to set up online banking with three banks but couldn’t get through for over a month. This is not only a national embarrassment, but also a clear and present danger to the economic recovery of our island. Reports that the contractor that is building our new national hospital is not able to open bank accounts, and…
PHILIPSBURG — Alexandra van Huffelen, Raymond Knops’ successor as State Secretary of Kingdom Relations, was quick to communicate with the Caribbean part of the kingdom after she was sworn in as a member of the fourth Rutte-cabinet on January 10. “I am eagerly looking forward to the cooperation with Caribbean Netherlands and the Caribbean countries in the Kingdom,” she said in a brief video message released on January 11. “Based on equality I hope that we can make our common ambitions come through in the near future. I will visit the islands as soon as possible.” Van Huffelen also referred…
PHILIPSBURG — The website dossierkoninkrijksrelaties.nl published an article about Aruba’s former Minister Benny Sevinger and his “incomprehensible decision” to grant the company Ocean Eco Cleaning in 2017 the right to change the purpose of a piece of land it held on long lease to commercial. The court annulled this decision in a ruling published on November 3, 2021. Why does all this sound so familiar? Because St. Maarten’s former VROMI-Minister Christophe Emmanuel did something similar with government-owned land on the day before the government he was a part of faced a motion of no-confidence in Parliament in November 2017. The…
By Hilbert Haar One would think that discussing the suspension of a parliamentarian who has just been sentenced for corruption and forgery is an excellent opportunity for the remaining members of parliament to take stand against these practices. That’s not what happened when the suspension of MP Claudius Buncamper was on the agenda on Thursday. Let’s not forget that, according to the court ruling of December 23, 2021, Buncamper handsomely lined his pockets while he made a mess of the management of the dump. People suffered, while this esteemed representative of the people fattened his bank account. So what did…
PHILIPSBURG — Parliament’s President Grisha Heyliger-Marten sent a letter to the Central Voting Bureau on Thursday, informing it about the suspension of convicted Member of Parliament Claudius Buncamper and asking for its advice which candidate of the United St. Maarten party (USp) is eligible to take his seat as a substitute. She also sent a letter to Buncamper, informing him about his suspension. Buncamper’s suspension was a given, after the Court in First Instance sentenced him to 32 months of imprisonment on December 23 of last year, combined with a seven-year ban on holding public office. Buncamper has appealed the…
PHILIPSBURG — Party for Progress Members of Parliament Melissa Gumbs and Raeyhon Peterson have expressed their concerns about developments at utilities company GEBE in a series of questions to prime Minister Silveria Jacobs and VROMI-Minister Egbert Doran. The questions revolve around the dismissal of interim director Mauricio Dembrook and the appointment of Sharine Daniel as his successor. “Sint Maarten has been plagued by a culture where CEOs of crucial government-owned companies are being used as tools for personal and political gain. When trying to appoint a person to lead our only utility company – the company responsible for the basic…
by Cdr. Bud Slabbaert It is the season for it. It can show the difference between the message of a real Leader and the work of a ghostwriter. In most cases, you wouldn’t even know, because of the lack of unique vibrant and fiery expressions that characterize the Leader in question. A New Year’s speech should bring the audience to a new next level. They seldom do. What is missing in all these New Year’s messages? They should be planned like a firework show. Start with Saturn Sky Rocket for grabbing the audience attention, then on to Crazy Palm Fountains…
PHILIPSBURG — “My heartfelt congrats to all service members of the justice chain with the approval of the function books.” That text, accompanied by a picture of a smiling Minister of Justice Anna Richardson appeared in Facebook on Monday evening. A swift reaction from police union NAPB created confusion: “Is this a prank or are we being punked? We have zero knowledge of any completion and/or approval of said function book.” StMaartenNews.com is in the process of verifying the authenticity of the union-statement. The 42nd report of the Progress Committee points to other issues that may or may not have…
