Unbiased look at the Sint Maarten Elections
PHILIPSBURG--Democratic Party ((DP)) leader Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot-Williams has called for the examination of the annual accounts of all government-owned companies in a meeting of Parliament's Permanent Committee for Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication.
This urgent meeting request has been communicated to committee chairman MP Frans Richardson (United St. Maarten Party).
Wescot-Williams said in a (DP) press conference at Parliament House Tuesday, the annual accounts are with Parliament. The reports were sent "not to fill the drawers with reports." As such government should come to Parliament to give explanations about the companies, as information is not forthcoming from the companies.
Her request for this meeting stems from the "tight-lippedness" of government-owned St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies about its adjusted contract with private company Checkmate Security.
Additionally, Wescot-Williams said there are serious concerns stemming from talk in the community that Checkmate is "heavily in debt", and the contract with the Harbour Group is a means to bolster the company.
"Why is the Harbour including an amount for training for a company that is not in good financial standing? What happens to the training if this company goes belly up?" she questioned in light of reports that the adjusted contract has allocations for the company to train security guards from St. Maarten.
Wescot-Williams has sent a letter to government with a number of questions about the security contract. This follows a Parliament meeting last week with the Harbour Group. In that meeting, Harbour Chief Executive Officer Mark Mingo said details of the contract could not be given, based on confidentiality.
(DP) faction advisor hotelier Emil Lee, who was also at the press conference, said it has been said that Checkmate owes a significant amount of money to Social and Health Insurance Fund SZV, and it is not clear if this is an outstanding debt. "When a company has that much money outstanding, it makes it vulnerable to become agents for smuggling ... or not pay attention to what you are putting in the containers, or what's going on the cruise ships" to "make more money" to help pay off debts. It makes it a potential weak link in the security chain of our port."
There are also questions about who's the owner of Checkmate Security, said Lee. "Imagine if it turned out that Checkmate was owned by Al-Qaeda or ISIS representatives, that would obviously not be a very good thing."
