Richard Gibson Sr. response to article in Antilliaans Dagblad
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 Chairman of each of the operating companies of ENNIA (ENNIA LIFE, ENNIA SCHADE and ENNIA ZORG) in Curacao, as well as the Aruban companies with the same name). He also resigned as Chairman of Banco di Caribe Curacao and Chairman of Banco di Caribe Aruba, as well as supervisory board-member of ENNIA CARIBE HOLDING. Gibson also held the position of General-Legal-Counsel for all the above companies and was available 24/7 to the board of managing directors of these companies, the board of supervisory directors of these companies and to the Chairman of the Board of ECH, as a lawyer with more than 50 years of legal experience.
In appreciation for all the services rendered during the many years he served the ENNIA GROUP, management of ENNIA and its ultimate beneficial owner decided to give a golden parachute payment to Gibson when he departed from the companies in 2014. Circa 50% of the payment was deducted for taxes and paid to the government.
After his departure from ENNIA Gibson was approached to become Minister of Finance by a political party on Sint Maarten. This however did not materialize at the time. A year later after a change of government at the end of 2015 the NA party of Sint Maarten appointed him as Minister of Finance. It takes a very fanciful, devious and warped mind to link the above golden parachute payment Gibson received from ENNIA in 2014 to his appointment as Minister of Finance of Sint Maarten in 2015 when he became a government official.
Indication of bribery of a government official to do what exactly and on whose behalf remains unexplained. And….., by the way, what exactly constitutes “INDICATION OF BRIBERY”? Is it anything you can fabricate to try to tarnish someone’s reputation?
It is regrettable that news organizations employ these questionable tactics.
Richard F. Gibson (Sr)
Sint Maarten, July 17, 2022
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Related article:
Article in the Antilliaans Dagblad
Gibson defiant about bribery-insinuations
