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PHILIPSBURG--Minister-candidates who are now ministers in the Gumbs Cabinet were screened during the tenure of now-former Prime Minister/General Affairs Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams, said Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs in response to questions posed by the same Wescot-Williams, now a Member of Parliament, about the screening and the involvement of the Dutch Secret Service in the process.
Wescot-Williams sent her questions about the screening to Gumbs on January 13 via Parliament Chairman Dr. Lloyd Richardson. Gumbs responded on January 16, according to a statement from the Press Secretariat.
The Prime Minister is responsible for St. Maarten's National Security Service. The screening of minister candidates started on November 12, 2014, and concluded on December 16, 2014.
"Therefore [it was completed – Ed.] during the tenure of the [now – Ed.] former Prime Minister Mrs. S. Wescot-Williams," Gumbs wrote in his letter. "Since taking office on December 19, 2014, I have not made any statements regarding a role for the Dutch Secret Service in the screening."
Gumbs said he was not accountable for statements credited to Dutch Minister Ronald Plasterk about the Dutch involvement in the screening.
Answering another question from Wescot-Williams, Gumbs said that since taking office he had not taken any step to formalise a role for the Dutch Secret Service in St. Maarten. "I am not cognizant of any activities of the Dutch Secret Service in St. Maarten," he said.
