SXMElections.com

Maria Plantz tipped as country’s CFT rep

PHILIPSBURG--Committee for Financial Supervision CFT will soon have a member from St. Maarten. Tipped for the post is Corporate Legal Expert Maria van der Sluijs-Plantz.

The St. Maartener, who lives in the Netherlands, has already served the country as the vice chairwoman of the first Corporate Governance Council (CGC) that was established in 2010. She serves as Vice Chairman of Strategic Development at TMF Group Holding BV, a company that focuses on corporate compliance. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CFT Chairman Age Bakker said in a press conference on Thursday that a nominee to fill the vacant St Read more

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Court to decide on SHHC appeal against Dock Maarten in October

POINT BLANCHE--After a failed attempt in Civil Court in December to halt Dock Maarten N.V. construction plans, St. Maarten Harbour Holding Company (SHHC) N.V. filed an appeal centred on a building permit and was heard in administrative court on Monday. The Court will give its decision October 19.

The Harbour is against a building permit for expansion issued by the Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI on July 21, 2014. The Harbour argues that the construction forms both a hindrance to vessels and a danger.

Attorney Marcha Woudstra also argued that the decision by the ministry to issue the permit had not taken into careful consideration previous reports made, and that the decision was at odds with the law Read more

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Sarah calls for urgent filling of open CFT post

PHILIPSBURG--“Government has really dropped the ball,” says Democratic Party (DP) leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams about the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet’s failure to find and appoint candidates to represent St Read more

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Shigemoto pleads not guilty in Piranha case

PHILIPSBURG--Former Minister of Finance Hiroshi Shigemoto (44) and Global Advisor Services (GAS) BV Director R.A.G. (62) both claim they are innocent. Their lawyers pleaded for their clients' full acquittals on Thursday during the second day of hearings in the so-called Piranha case.

Both men are accused of having committed fraud in connection with invoices sent in for payment of GAS services in connection with the recruitment of highly-skilled staff members for the Department of Fiscal Affairs and with a one-year USONA-financed project to hire staff for the new Tax Department to the maximum all-inclusive amount of NAf Read more

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Progress Committee to give report to Parliament

PHILIPSBURG--The Progress Committee, monitoring St. Maarten’s development since it became a country within the Dutch Kingdom, is keen to present its report to Parliament. Parliament Chairman Dr. Lloyd Richardson (United People’s party) is “very pleased” about this request of the Progress Committee Read more

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Dollarization – still a discussion point

Dear Editor,

The fact that there is still a discussion on the dollarization issue is somewhat strange to me and not because I think it would the worst thing that can happen to us in St. Maarten, but because of the total lack of actual benefits proposed by those supporting dollarization.

The symposium on dollarization organised by the Council on Advice at the University of St. Martin only confirms what I have believed all along, that dollarization is not a valid option for St. Maarten Read more

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Semeleer: Pegged currency system not broken, no need to fix with dollarization

PHILIPSBURG--“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” This was the view of Aruba Central Bank President Jeanette Semeleer on discussions about the option of dollarization for St. Maarten. She was speaking at an Advisory Council symposium on the advantages and disadvantages of dollarization, held at University of St. Martin (USM) on Thursday evening.

Semeleer told the audience, which included public and private sector representatives: “Islands [Aruba, Curacao and St. Maarten] have done well under the pegged-currency regime” and dollarization is “not one-size-fit-all” option for countries.

A country, such as St Read more

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Country St. Maarten ordered to pay indemnities to lawyer

~ For unreasonable dismissal ~

PHILIPSBURG--The Court of First Instance on Wednesday ordered Country St. Maarten to pay NAf. 25,000 in indemnities to attorney-at-law Ellen Knoppel. The lawyer had filed a lawsuit against her former employer, because she contested her dismissal at the Ministry of Justice, which had caused loss of income.

On May 10, 2013, one week before then Justice Minister Roland Duncan was to leave office, he granted Knoppel a permanent labour agreement with the Justice Ministry Read more

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Budget preparation continues, no St. Maarten CFT member yet

PHILIPSBURG--The Ministry of Finance continues to work on the preparation of the 2015 budget. The draft budget is due in Parliament in the coming weeks in order for the Gumbs Cabinet to meet the January 31 deadline as set by the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT in December.

Finance Minister Martin Hassink is said to be diligently working on the draft budget

with the goal of meeting the January 31 deadline. As a minister in the Wescot-Williams III Cabinet that demitted office in late December, Hassink has requested more time to get the budget in line with the regulations set out in the kingdom law.

The budget should have been established by Parliament since December 2014 Read more

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St. Maarten spot on CFT vacant

PHILIPSBURG--St. Maarten representative on the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT Richard Gibson Sr. has resigned from his post as of December 1. This leaves the country without a member on the committee that oversees its budget and finances.

The CFT confirmed Gibson Sr.'s resignation to The Daily Herald on Tuesday.

Prior to this, CFT Chairman Age Bakker had said during the committee's quarterly visit to the country last week that Gibson and CFT had agreed to keep some "distance for now." No information about the resignation was given during that visit.

Gibson's resignation possibly was linked to his candidacy for the post of Finance Minister in what is said to be the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet Read more

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Four minister candidates reportedly fail screening

PHILIPSBURG--It appears that efforts to put together a new cabinet have come up a few ministers short. Four of the minister candidates reportedly have failed the extensive screening to take up a post in what has been billed as the Marcel Gumbs Cabinet.

Those said to have failed the security and integrity screenings are finance minister candidate Richard Gibson Sr., health minister candidate Leroy de Weever, infrastructure minister candidate Peggy-Ann Brandon and deputy minister plenipotentiary candidate Lucas Berman.

According to people close to the issue, attorney and former minister in the Netherlands Antilles Gibson Sr Read more

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Lucas Berman tipped to be next deputy minister plenipotentiary

PHILIPSBURG--Attorney Lucas Berman is said to be the candidate minister for the post of deputy minister plenipotentiary in The Hague.

Providing he passes the security and integrity screening, Berman will join the minister plenipotentiary in representing the country in the Netherlands, particularly at the meeting of the Kingdom Council of Ministers. Minister plenipotentiary is expected to be Josianne Artsen, who currently serves as deputy minister plenipotentiary.

Berman, a junior partner with Lexwell Attorneys-at-Law, was born in Toulouse, France, and was raised in the Netherlands Read more

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