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Reaction To Pwc Integrity Report: Dutch Want Criminal Investigation (Into The Government Of St. Maarten)

THE HAGUE – Justice has to initiate a large-scale criminal investigation into the “utterly corrupt” government of Sint Maarten. “The Second Chamber demands this, now that the controversial politician Theo Heyliger is grabbing the absolute power on the island,” the Telegraaf reported yesterday.

A majority of VVD, Socialist Party, CDA and PVV wants action according to the newspaper, after it appears from an investigation by consultant PricewaterhouseCoopers that the complete government apparatus is rife with cronyism Read more

Parliament Takes Vorst Estate Purchase Out Of 2014 Budget

St. Maarten – The Parliament approved a motion to take a $5.5 million provision for the purchase of the Vorst Estate out of an amendment to the 2014 budget with 7 votes to 6. This blocks the purchase of the land, for which Vromi-Minister Maurice Lake signed an agreement in February of this year, but it does not absolve the country of liability towards the Vorst-family, because the Court in First Instance has already ruled that the purchase-agreement Lake signed is a valid one.

The meeting to handle the budget amendment has a long history Read more

Social Media Abuzz With Messages Of Congrats For Telcell Breakthrough Winners

St. Maarten –Judges announced the 2014 TelCell Breakthrough Talent Search winners in true Hollywood style at Saturday’s show at Maho. The winners and runners-up in the four categories were: New Generation Status won the Instruments segment with Brandon Potmis as the runner up; Vocals went to Arias-4 with Sinatra Bauld as runner up; winner in the rap category was Serenity Martinus with Rumari Rogers as the runner up and in the dance category the winner was Tristan Defoe with Deveny Elferink as runner up.

“The winners will now begin a one year dream program in which they will be granted celebrity status, assisting TelCell and the TelEm Group in various promotions, while further honing their own artistic talents Read more

Prime Minister Wescot-Williams Highlights The Importance Of Safety, Security, Efficiency And Growth For The Future Of St. Maarten's Airport

PHILIPSBURG, St. Maarten - The Prime Minister of St. Maarten the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams in her opening address at the Princess Juliana International Airport Safety and Security Conference highlighted the importance of safety and security for the economic stability on the island;

"As you as representatives from the aviation industry have travelled to our shores to attend the Safety and Security Conference at the beautiful Westin Resort it is important for us to realize the importance of safety, security, efficiency and growth for the further development of the ports on our island.

"In recent decades airport safety and security has been one of the most important areas not only to airport administrators and security experts but also especially to the general public.

Oftentimes while traveling or preparing to travel we are confronted by the disquieting perception that air travel is inherently risky and that these risks are often dictated by the international political climate and instances that have plagued the airline industry recently Read more

Editorial - Fair chance

There can be little doubt that the conclusions of the "Integrity Inquiry into the functioning of the Government of St. Maarten" first reported on in Saturday's paper are reason for concern. To a certain extent the general reaction coming from the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament in The Hague (see today's related story) is therefore understandable.

On the other hand, outgoing Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams and Justice Minister Dennis Richardson had a point in their official reaction on the report to Dutch Prime Minister and Kingdom Council of Ministers chairperson Mark Rutte: The relatively young country lacks means to deal effectively with integrity breaches and really could use more help from the Netherlands in that sense.

One concrete example is that almost a year of discussions on requests for assistance to strengthen the National Detectives and Prosecutor's Office so they can better tackle corruption and fraud have not yet led to tangible results Read more

Holier than thou

Dear Editor,

The country is abuzz about yet another attempt to form a government after the first parliamentary election since the elimination of the failed Netherlands Antilles. It would appear that the Red, White and Blue effort turned out to be dead on arrival and people are left to speculate as to what exactly transpired. As is more often than not the case, the rumour mongering is again rife about money and promises of pies in the sky.

It would seem that whenever the green party has an opportunity to form the government, the haters come out with one fantasy or another Read more

Israel's Netanyahu: Iran poses greater threat than Islamic State

UNITED NATIONS-- Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday tried to shift the spotlight away from the Islamic State militant group and back to Iran, warning the United Nations that a nuclear-armed Tehran would pose a far greater threat than "militant Islamists on pickup trucks."

Islamic State's seizure of large swaths of Syria and Iraq and its killings of civilians and soldiers have dominated discussions during five days of speeches at the United Nations General Assembly podium and on the sidelines.

But Netanyahu described Iran, Islamic State and the militant group Hamas that controls the Gaza Strip as part of a single team, comparing them all to Germany's Nazis, who killed six million Jews in World War Two.

"The Nazis believed in a master race, the militant Islamists believe in a master faith," Netanyahu said in his speech at the annual gathering of the 193-nation assembly in New York Read more

Syria backs global fight against Islamic State, minister tells U.N.

UNITED NATIONS-- Syria stands with a worldwide effort to combat Islamic State, Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem said on Monday, in a statement to the United Nations that appeared to give tacit approval of U.S. and Arab air strikes in Syria targeting the militants.

Moualem told the United Nations General Assembly that military action to tackle Islamic State, al Qaeda's Syrian wing Nusra Front, and other extremist groups should coincide with cutting off their flow of funds, weapons, fighters and training.

"It is due time to pool all our efforts against this terrorism, since imminent danger is surrounding everyone and no country is immune to it," Moualem told the annual gathering of world leaders, though he cautioned that any military action must abide by international law and respect a country's sovereignty.

The United States forewarned Syria's U.N Read more

Sarah: Counterpart policy was ‘moot point,’ unclear why Cornelius de Weever defected

~ He has not resigned from DP ~

PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) leader Sarah Wescot-Williams says the counterpart policy was a "moot point" and could not be the reason DP Member of Parliament (MP)-elect Cornelius de Weever had pulled his support from the slate on which he was elected to help United People's (UP) party form a one-seat Parliamentary majority.

Wescot-Williams told reporters at a press conference at Holland House Beach Hotel on Sunday that the policy never had been an issue, as De Weever's proposal in the Council of Ministers on August 12 to establish a counterpart policy had been approved.

De Weever indicated at the time that the policy would be introduced as a pilot programme in collaboration with social partners and said there were some businesses that were willing to work with him on the initiative Read more

Vorst land purchase to be omitted from 2014 budget amendment

~ Roy's amendment to budget amendment passed ~

PHILIPSBURG--An amendment to remove the purchase of the Vorst Estate property from a budget amendment tabled by Finance Minister Martin Hassink was passed during a public plenary session of parliament on Monday.

It was the third time the meeting had been convened to handle this and other issues. The first two meetings were cancelled due to lack of quorum. The motion, which was tabled by Democratic Party (DP) Member of Parliament (MP) Roy Marlin, was passed by seven of MPs voting in favour of the amendment and six voting against it.

Supporting the motion were author Roy Marlin, National Alliance (NA) MPs William Marlin, Hyacinth Richardson, George Pantophlet and Louie Laveist and Independent MPs Frans Richardson and Romain Laville Read more

Second Chamber calls for intervention in St. Maarten

THE HAGUE--The Dutch media reported on Monday that there is majority support in the Second Chamber of the Dutch Parliament for intervention through a large criminal investigation of "St. Maarten's corrupt government." Dutch politicians are especially worried now that the United People's (UP) party of Theo Heyliger is about to take power.

Two major Dutch newspapers, De Telegraaf and Trouw, reported on Monday morning on PricewaterhouseCoopers' (PwC's) Integrity Inquiry report on St Read more

De Weever issues political statement

PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party (DP) Member of Parliament (MP) elect Cornelius de Weever issued what he called a "political statement" on Monday in the wake of two press conferences Sunday in which his defecting from DP was raised.

De Weever said the old habit of blaming others needs to stop Read more

Amendment to budget approved, Vorst Property out of 2014 Budget.

>PHILIPSBURG:--- The long awaited budget amendments to the 2014 budget were approved unanimously on Monday by the Members of Parliament that attended the meeting. However, Member of Parliament Roy Marlin submitted a motion to amend the budget amendments to remove the purchasing of the Vorst property. The motion submitted by MP Roy Marlin was accepted with seven votes in favor of the removal of the purchasing of the Vorst property while six members all from the UPP voted against the motion Read more

>POND ISLAND:--- It was a night to remember at the Theatre Royale, Maho, Saturday, where judges announced the 2014 TelCell Breakthrough Talent Search winners in true Hollywood style.
The winners and runners-up in the four categories were:

Instruments:
Winner: New Generation Status (GNS STM)
Runner up: Brandon Potmis

Vocals:
Winner: Arias -4
Runner up: Sinatra Bauld

Rap:
Winner: Serenity Martinus
Runner up: Rumari Rogers

Dance:
Winner: Tristan Defoe
Runner up: Deveny Elferink

The winners will now begin a one year dream program in which they will be granted celebrity status, assisting TelCell and the TelEm Group in various promotions, while further honing their own artistic talents.
They will also collaborate on a recording contract and will act as mentors and role models for St Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Maurice Lake on Monday visited a road paving project in the residential district of St. Peters.

The secondary roads that are scheduled to be paved are Guavaberry, Marigot Hill and Sugar Apple Road.

"The work is progressing and local sub-contractors are involved in the work Read more

>GREAT BAY (DCOMM):--- Tuesday September 23, 2014 saw the official handing over of the sports materials by USONA to the Minister of Education Culture Youth and Sports Hon. Patricia Lourens-Philip.
These materials have been a long time coming and they were purchased to facilitate the increased upgrading of Sports on Sint Maarten.
Minister Lourens-Philip stated the Government of Sin Read more

>PHILIPSBURG:--- In mid March 2014, Benjamin & Parker (www.b-parker.com), initiated onsite certification sessions for the online course "Efficiency Auditing", a new science to secure corporate workflow effectiveness and corporate financial waste, in association with PCMI under management of Mr. Robert Budike. The course had a particular characteristic as it emphasized the Colombian method of efficiency and risk management applications, after considering its thoroughness and security scrutiny safeguards to contain operation and financial high impact incidents Read more

Corrupt St. Maarten should be thoroughly investigated --- Dutch MPs.

>THE HAGUE, Netherlands:--- Justice must undertake a major criminal investigation into the thoroughly corrupt St. Maarten. That is what the Second Chamber demands now that Theo Heyliger has grabbed absolute power on the island.
A majority of the chamber members of the VVD, SP CDA and the PVV want action after it appears from a Price Waterhouse report, released this weekend, that the entire administration is steeped in cronyism Read more

Minister De Weever Already Knew In October 2013: “Executing Counterpart-Policy Is Detrimental For Economy”

St. Maarten / By Hilbert Haar – Executing the counter-part article of the executive order on foreign labor is detrimental for St. Maarten’s economy because the labor supply is strongly dependent on immigration. This is the conclusion from an advice the Social Economic Council (SER) already issued on October 22 of last year to the minister of Public Health, Social Affair and Labor, Cornelius de Weever Read more

Ex-Formateur William Marlin: “Matter Of Time Before We See Another Shift”

St. Maarten – “It is a matter of time before you will see another shift,” former formateur William Marlin said at a press conference yesterday in answer to a question from this newspaper about political instability. “There is not a problem with the system, but there are too many who approach this like, I have my seat and I am going to peddle it to the highest bidder Read more

Local Poem Selected For Choral Music Performance In The Netherlands

St. Maarten – Newly created music to Drisana Deborah Jack’s poetry will be performed at the 55th anniversary concert of the Delft Ars Vocalis Chamber Choir in the Netherlands, according to Jack’s publisher HNP.

Dutch composers Rita Hijmans and Anke Brouwer selected Jack’s poem “I dare you” and its Dutch translation from a long list of verse proposed by Ars Vocalis to four composers that it commissioned to create “new musical composition” for its anniversary concert.

“I am very intrigued by the notion of interpreting the poetry into music for a choir,” said Jack, a leading local poet and artist Read more

Usm And Vlf Offer Eft Classes To General Public

St. Maarten – The University of St. Martin in its efforts to meet the growing needs of the community of St. Maarten, is now embarking upon an adult education class, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) in collaboration with Victorious Living Foundation.

“The EFT course provides the participant with the history, science and practical application of EFT so that he/she may utilize these techniques to overcome physical, emotional, or psychological pain, trauma, or other challenges in his or her life Read more

Bewilderment In Dp About Appointment Informateurs

St. Maarten – Democratic Party leader Sarah Wescot-Williams used air quotes yesterday afternoon to express her bewilderment about Governor Holiday’s decision to appoint two informateurs on  Thursday, after UP-leader Theo Heyliger’s presentation of a coalition-agreement signed by eight elected members of the new parliament.

When the DP, together with the National Alliance and the United St Read more

Minister Lake Visits Road Paving Projects Throughout Districts

PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – Minister of Public Housing, Environment, Spatial Planning and Infrastructure (Ministry VROMI) Hon. Maurice Lake on Monday visited a road paving project in the residential district of St. Peters.

The secondary roads that are scheduled to be paved are Guavaberry, Marigot Hill and Sugar Apple Road.

"The work is progressing and local sub-contractors are involved in the work Read more