Author: Online Editor

PHILIPSBURG – Wndward Roads deal with the public prosecution in the Larimar corruption case is finally coming to fruition. The Larimar-trial examined the activities of several companies, among them Windward Roads, that paid bribes to offshore entities and that ended up in the pockets of former politicians Theo Heyliger. At the trial, Windward Roads promised to execute $2 million worth of projects on the island to compensate for its wrongdoings. The public prosecutor’s office announced in a recent press release that it has agreed to allow Windward Roads to complete work on the Dutch Quarter sewage pump station and the…

PHILIPSBURG – If the government does not manage to reach an agreement about the refinancing of the corona-loans with the Netherlands before October 10, it could cost St. Maarten’s treasury an additional €18 million ($20.16 million) in annual interest, dossierkoninkrijksrelaties.nl reports. Curacao and Aruba would each be confronted with €54 million ($60.48 million) in additional annual interest costs. State Secretary Alexandra van Huffelen (Kingdom Relations) confirmed after Friday’s meeting of the Kingdom Council of Ministers that there is still no agreement about the refinancing of the loans. Time is of the essence because such an agreement requires the approval of…

PHILIPSBURG -The government has to pay 1 million guilders ($558.659) in damages to Bearing Point Management Consultancy (BPMC), the Court in First Instance ruled on July 7. The amount is an advance payment on damages of more than 10 million guilders ($5,586,592) the company has claimed because the government of Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs canceled the transformation of the tax inspectorate in November 2019, shortly after taking office. Bearing Point had won the tender for the IT part of this 15-million guilders project. After the government canceled the plans, Bearing Point went to court, demanding that the country continue with…

PHILIPSBURG – The 30,000 Ennia-clients in St. Maarten and Curacao do not have to worry about their pensions. This appears from the statement State Secretary Alexandra van Huffelen (Kingdom Relations) made in a meeting with Caribbean journalists that the pensions are secure. The Netherlands is currently working together with the governments of Curacao and St. Maarten on a solution for Ennia’s solvency deficit, she said according to a report published by dossierkoninkrijksrelaties.nl. The state secretary did not say how the governments intend to solve the deficit – estimated to be between €600 and €700 million ($672 to $784 million). Curacao…

ORANJESTAD – The public prosecutor’s office in Aruba is going to prosecute former Minister Otmar Oduber for “fraudulent practices,” dossierkoninkrijksrelaties.nl reports. After he left the Aruban People’s Party (AVP) and founded Pueblo Orguyoso Progrerista or Proud and Respected People (POR), Oduber was Minister of Urban Planning, Infrastructure and Environment in the cabinet Wever-Croes. The allegations against him cover the period from November 2017 until December 2019. In the investigation dubbed Flamingo, there are eight suspects who are being prosecuted for allegations of fraud, abuse of position, active and passive bribery, and forgery. The investigation focuses on the question of whether…

PHILIPSBURG – Independent MP Grisha Heyliger-Marten has expressed her concerns about “ongoing issues” at the airport in a letter to Minister Arthur Lambriex (Tourism, Economy, Transport and Telecommunication). In June, UP-MP Rolando Brison stated in a press release that he finds the complaints from airport employees “disheartening.” Airport CEO Brian Mingo did not react to our request for comment on Brison’s allegations. ‘Since the tenure of the current CEO at the airport started our national airport has experienced a number of serious and persistent problems,” MP Heyliger-Marten stated in a press release. For example, she mentions cost overruns in the…

PHILIPSBURG – The One SXM Association is not satisfied with the apologies King Willem-Alexander offered on July 1 during the commemoration of the end of slavery 160 years ago, in 1863. The association states in a press release that the apology is incomplete because “it does not contain a commitment to non-repetition, eradication of colonialism by the Dutch Kingdom or reparations or other forms of reparatory justice.” The association is also miffed because the king mentioned Suriname and Indonesia in his speech but “failed to acknowledge the Dutch territories in the Caribbean.” Neither did the king acknowledge that St. Maarten…

PHILIPSBURG – Melinda Hoeve, Jimmy Challenger, and Jeroen Scheelbeek have been appointed as new members to the supervisory board of directors of Winair, the company announced in a press release. The other board members are Chairman George Greaux Jr. and Hans de Jong. In 2011 the board consisted of George Graux. Jr., Robert Budike and Gerrit Draai. Budike stepped down after three successive terms and Draai, an aviation veteran with over 35 years of experience, passed away in 2018. “The expansion of the board to five members is a strategic step forward for Winair,” the airline’s press release states. “The…

THE HAGUE – St. Maarten will not get more time to repay the loans for liquidity support it received from the Netherlands during the corona pandemic. A motion by Green Left MP Kauthar Bouchallikh to give the country more time did not get enough support in the Dutch parliament. The motion states that Aruba, Curacao, and St. Maarten have to repay these loans during the next couple of months. “They are not able to do that without significant cuts in crucial services or without being confronted with an additional financing deficit.” Bouchallikh asked to give the countries more time to…

PHILIPSBURG – “Not finalizing a resolution strategy for Ennia could trigger a run-off of international reserves and cause a deep economic and social crisis,” the Central Bank of Curacao and St Maarten (CBCS) writes in its Economic Bulletin entitled From Swift Rebound to Steady Growth that was published in June. The statement about Ennia is part of ten concerns about the economic future of Curacao and St. Maarten. “Risks are significant and tilted to the downside,” the report states. Higher interest rates on international markets could result in a decline of direct foreign investments into the monetary union while triggering…