Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
St. Maarten – Did the government pay $185,000 to the Keaton Corporation for the boxing match between Roy Jones and Danny Santiago that never took place? MP Sarah Wescot-Williams has posed pointed questions about this issue to Finance Minister Martin Hassink and Tourism and Economic Affairs Minister Claret Connor in a letter dated September 2.
Connor has in the meantime moved to the Ministry of Vromi so his successor Ernest Sams will have to deal with the matter.
Wescot-Williams notes in a brief press release that the government “quietly†announced that the fight was postponed, due to hurricane Danny (actually, it was due to Tropical Storm Erika – ed.) and that it had “contributed†to the fight.
“What government did not say is that it entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the foreign Keaton Corporation to organize this event to the tune of $185,000,†the MP wrote, adding that she had taken note of media reports about Jones’ legal troubles.
Wescot-Williams has asked the ministers for a copy of their agreement with Keaton. Afterwards, she will put more questions about the government’s role in bringing the fight to St. Maarten. “Government needs to explain whether the $185,000 was paid out and if this money was taken from the tourism promotion budget.â€
According to a report by Kurt Wolfheimer of the MAK Boxing management company, the Government of St. Maarten signed a three-year deal with the promotor of the fight, Archie Keaton of Miami-based Keaton Entertainment.
The Jones-Santiago fight was scheduled to take place in St. Maarten on August 29, but it was ‘postponed’ reportedly due to the arrival of Tropical Storm Erika that was scheduled to hit the island two days before the fight.
Later it turned out, as this newspaper reported, that Jones had a contract to fight Tony Moran in Liverpool two weeks after the bout in St. Maarten. He did not honor that contract either.
