Insel Air embezzlers to court in July

PHILIPSBURG – The Court in First Instance postponed the trail against two former Insel Air employees for the second time on Wednesday because their pro bono attorney Safira Ibrahim is still on strike and because the defendants were not properly summoned. The trial has been rescheduled for July 22.

Alonzo Alfred H., the now 51-year old former station manager of Insel Air in St. Maarten, and 28-year old ticket agent Stephanie B.B. allegedly embezzled more than $100,000 from the airline. The prosecution suspects that Alonzo H. grabbed $88,000, while the ticket agent pocketed something like $28,000.

Already at the first court hearing on April 11, both defendants claimed that those amounts should be at least one-third lower, though they admitted that they had taken money.

The court asked Insel Air to provide bank statements so that it can determine the exact scale of the embezzlement.

After Insel Air discovered the discrepancies in the summer of 2016, Alonzo H. fled to the Dominican Republic but he eventually returned to the island where he was arrested at his home in Fort Willem on May 16, 2017. Later he was released, awaiting his trial.

“I was paid poorly by Insel Air,” Alonzo H. told the court in April.

Stephane B.B. embezzled money from her employer because she was unable to make ends meet.

It appears that Insel Air’s internal control system lagged behind the incoming payments, thus enabling the two employees to grab some of the money they received from clients.