PHILIPSBURG – On Tuesday, August 13, 2019, during a continuation meeting with the minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure (VROMI), Miklos Gitterson, a motion was presented by member of Parliament Christophe Emanuel (NA) that basically reads that the entity Shipyard N.V., to which Mr. Michael Ferrier claimed he is one of the shareholders and a director of, owes the government over a million guilders and he needs to go pay.
During Tuesday’s meeting, the Minister of VROMI had returned to Parliament to provide Parliament with answers posed by members of Parliament about the current situation regarding the Erfpacht land in St. Maarten, what is currently being collected, what is owed to the government and policies by the Ministry of VROMI to improve all of the above. This meeting #30 was requested by MP R. Brison, MP E.J. Doran, MP F.G. Richardson and MP C.T. Emmanuel based on incoming documents IS/1032/2018-2019 dated May 21, 2019.
The motion mentions the following considerations:
- That the entity Shipyard NV has been responsible for the following pieces of government long lease land numbered by certificates of admeasurement (63/1993, 210/1993, 279/1993, 185/2006, 186/2006 and 187/2006).
- That the right to the long lease of these properties has expired September 21 2018; almost one year ago.
- That correspondence from the Airport CEO Brian Mingo to the Council of Ministers has indicated that the airport still considers it crucial that this and other parcels of land be put under lease of the PJIA Holding Company PJIAH to secure future expansion plans.
- That the Minister in his letter dated March 21 2019 has informed Shipyard N.V that the lease to these properties would not be renewed, especially considering the delinquency of payments from this entity.
- That in a letter to the Council of Ministers dated March 26th 2019, Former Minister of Finance Mr. Michael Ferrier has acknowledged himself as one of the managing directors and shareholders of this property.
- That much of the information in the letter was sent by Mr. Michael Ferrier to the Council of Ministers has been sent in false pretense, as evidenced by Chamber of Commerce extracts presented in today’s parliament meeting, and could be considered forgery.
- That penal code Section 2: 185 states “The person guilty of forgery in writing or impersonation shall be punished by imprisonment of up to eight years or a fine of the fifth category, if committed in authentic documents.”
- That this company Shipyard N.V. and one of its self-purported managing directors Michael Ferrier has not lived up to its commitment to pay their lease, and now owes the country in excess of Naf 1,250,700 guilders and has shown no effort to make payments.
- That the government is in urgent need of cash flow, and payments of these arrears would greatly help the coffers of government.
The motion goes on to establish…
- That Shipyard NV to which Mr. Michael Ferrier claimed in his letter of March 26th 2019 he is a shareholders and director owes the government over a million guilders and he needs to go pay.
- That the former Minister of Finance has attempted to make use of his former position as Minister and current relationship to the current government to, by means of his letter dated March 26th, to strong-arm the Minister of VROMI to pull back his decision to cancel the lease of the Shipyard N.V, which is in violation of article 2:185 of the penal code regarding false impersonation.
The motion resolves…
- To have the government disallow any situation from existing where Shipyard N.V ends up being the ultimate holder of the land as described in the certificates of admeasurements in point 1 of this motion.
- To have the appropriate authorities investigate the possible abuse of power and/or forgery of the former Minister of Finance Mr. Michael Ferrier.
The motion which goes over to the order of the day was signed by MP Brison, MP Richardson, MP Marlin, MP Irion, MP Doran and MP Emanuel himself. Copis of this motion to be sent to the Governor of Sint Maarten, the Government of Sint Maarten, the Parliament of Aruba, the Parliament of Curacao, the Government of Aruba and the Government of Curacao.
The motion received six votes for and three votes against and is therefore passed.
