Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
~ Buncamper filed an appeal, but will be suspended from Parliament~
PHILIPSBURG:--- Independent Member of Parliament Claudius Buncamper has been convicted in the Ruby case that was filed by the Prosecutors Office.The court convicted the longtime civil servant to 32 months imprisonment and has banned him for a period of 7 years as a civil servant, while his wife Maria Buncamper Molanus has been sentenced to 10 months imprisonment. In the meantime, the court also sentenced Leroy la Paix and Roberto Flanders to 12 months conditional with 210 hours of community service. In the meantime, the Independent Member of Parliament confirmed in an invited comment to SMN News that he has filed an appeal against the convictions rendered against him and his wife on Thursday.Based on the ruling rendered on Thursday the Independent Member of Parliament will be suspended from the Parliament of St. Maarten even though the conviction is not irrevocable. Even though Buncamper has declared himself an independent Member of Parliament the seat will now return to the USP for them to appoint a deputy.Article 50 paragraph 2-b states when a Member of Parliament is convicted for bribery and was sentenced to more than one-year imprisonment, they are automatically suspended from parliament and be replaced by a deputy even though the sentence is not irrevocable. Based on this the next person in line to deputize for the Independent Member Parliament will be Chanel Brownbill who was convicted for tax fraud. However, Tax Fraud is not on the list for mandatory suspension. Brownbill was sentenced to 8 months irrevocable prison sentence which was confirmed by the Supreme Court. The only thing that will stop Brownbill's appointment to the Parliament of St. Maarten is if he is picked up by the Prosecutor's Office to serve his time in prison.While on suspension MP Buncamper will receive his remuneration until the end of the parliamentary term ends.
