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Romain Laville Is Witness In Theo Heyliger Bribery Case

Romain Laville

PHILIPSBURG--Former Member of Parliament (MP) Romain Laville will be called by the Prosecutors Office to testify as a witness in the case of his former colleague Read more

Former Justice Minister Duncan Witness In Laville’S Appeal Case

PHILIPSBURG--The hearing in the appeal against former Member of Parliament (MP) Romain Laville has been postponed until June 8. The investigation has been referred back to the Investigative Judge to hear former Minister of Justice Roland Duncan as a witness.

Laville was convicted by the Court of First Instance on August 24, 2016, to a suspended prison sentence of one month, on two years’ probation.

He was acquitted of two charges of threat in the so-called “Zeepaard” and “Sardine” investigations Read more

Romain Laville Found Guilty Of Illegal Firearm Possession

~ Acquitted of death threats ~

PHILIPSBURG--Former Member of Parliament (MP) Romain Laville (38) was sentenced by the Court of First Instance on Wednesday to a suspended prison sentence of one month, on two years’ probation, for the illegal possession of a firearm with ammunition.

Read more

Laville Returns To Politics On Usp List For Elections

ST. PETERS--Former Member of Parliament (MP) Romain Laville was welcomed to United St. Maarten party (USP) as a full-fledged member and candidate for the September 26 elections by party leader Frans Richardson in front of party members and the board.

  A press conference introducing Laville took place at the party’s headquarters on L.B Read more

Does USP know something?

Everyone may think of United St. Maarten Party (USP) leader Frans Richardson what they want. Elected into Parliament on the slate of National Alliance (NA) in 2010, he left the party and kept his seat.

Together with the other independent parliamentarians Romain Laville and Patrick Illidge who had broken with respectively United People's (UP) party and NA, he orchestrated the so-called "Carnival coup" of 2012 to bring about a change in government that lasted one year.

Richardson then established USP, which earned two seats in its first election of September 2014 Read more

Editorial - Preferred option

How much is enough? The Dutch side alone currently has 480 taxis and 263 buses (see Friday paper). This certainly sounds like a lot for such a small territory, but readers should keep in mind that it regards a one-pillar tourism economy and tens of thousands of visitors without their own means of transportation are present at any given time.

Nevertheless, there is a reason moratoriums were placed on these types of licences. This becomes all the more evident when one takes into account that there were 321 taxis and 211 buses prior to 2012, but respectively 69 and 14 were added that year, plus another 87 and 38 in 2013.

That seems questionable at best, as the apparent oversaturation of the market must have been pretty clear by then, certainly to the local associations representing the drivers Read more

Former MP arrested for threats, firearms found

PHILIPSBURG--Former Member of Parliament Romain Laville was arrested on Thursday morning, following allegations made against him in two unrelated cases.

The first case concerns gun threats made against Isidore York, better known as steel pan musician Mighty Dow, in an argument over local artistes not having been paid the same rate as foreign artistes during an event Read more

Top 10 ship-jumpers

Dear Editor,

Top 10 ship-jumpers, since inception of Country Sint Maarten in 2010

1. Romain Laville;

2. Cornelius de Weever;

3. Sarah Wescot-Williams;

4 Read more

Mullet Bay entrance blocked

MULLET BAY--A large pile of rubble was placed to block a Mullet Bay entrance on Friday, November 7, causing a stir among the public and business owners who operate on the beach. The move by Mullet Bay management seems to be technically legal, because it still allows the public access to the beach by foot. However, it directly results in nearby business owner Leopold York not having vehicle access to his establishment, where daily offloading is needed for almost everything the business needs to operate Read more

Who has whose back?

Dear Editor,

Franklin Meyers wants the Dutch government to “pass legislation to help feed my people of St. Maarten and to alleviate my people from poverty.” Mr. Meyers has been part of the governing party of St. Maarten many times, first with DP and then with UPP, now HE'S BACK with UPP and I have a simple question to ask him Read more

Christopher Emmanuel says he was offered US $2M for his seat

~ Lloyd, de Weever deny being paid ~

PHILIPSBURG--National Alliance (NA) Member of Parliament (MP) Christopher Emmanuel said on Monday that he had been offered US $2 million for his parliamentary support as he stressed the point that St Read more

Vorst land purchase to be omitted from 2014 budget amendment

~ Roy's amendment to budget amendment passed ~

PHILIPSBURG--An amendment to remove the purchase of the Vorst Estate property from a budget amendment tabled by Finance Minister Martin Hassink was passed during a public plenary session of parliament on Monday.

It was the third time the meeting had been convened to handle this and other issues. The first two meetings were cancelled due to lack of quorum. The motion, which was tabled by Democratic Party (DP) Member of Parliament (MP) Roy Marlin, was passed by seven of MPs voting in favour of the amendment and six voting against it.

Supporting the motion were author Roy Marlin, National Alliance (NA) MPs William Marlin, Hyacinth Richardson, George Pantophlet and Louie Laveist and Independent MPs Frans Richardson and Romain Laville Read more

Budget amendment meet called off again due to lack of quorum

PHILIPSBURG--The public plenary session of Parliament on amendments to the 2014 budget was cancelled for the second time on Friday, as only four Members of Parliament (MPs) showed up and signed in for the meeting.

The meeting was first called off on Wednesday, due to the lack of a quorum when seven MPs were signed in, though United People's (UP) party MPs and Independent MP Dr. Lloyd Richardson had been in the building.

Present at Friday's session were National Alliance (NA) MPs Hyacinth Richardson and George Pantophlet, Democratic Party (DP) MP Roy Marlin and United People's (UP) party MP Gracita Arrindell Read more

No quorum for budget amendment meeting

~ UP, Dr. Richardson, Illidge, De Weever absent ~

PHILIPSBURG--The public plenary session of Parliament on amendments to the 2014 budget was cancelled on Wednesday due to the lack of a quorum, as only seven Members of Parliament (MPs) were signed in.

Parliament Press Secretary Roddy Heyliger said in a press release last night that the session had been rescheduled to Friday at 10:00am.

At least eight MPs are needed for the meeting to proceed Read more

Michel Hodge new chairman of airport holding company

AIRPORT--Michel Hodge's career has come full circle. He is back at SXM Airport as the chairman of the Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) Holding Company.

Hodge brings to the holding and operating companies of the airport many years of experience in the aviation and airport management field, as well as expertise from his 12-year tenure on the supervisory board of St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies where he served as vice chairman.

Hodge was nominated by independent Member of Parliament (MP) Romain Laville for the post on the holding company board Read more

MPs concerned about TelEm-Digicel accord

PHILIPSBURG--Members of Parliament (MPs) have expressed concern about the signing of a financial information sharing contract between the St. Maarten Telephone Group of Companies TelEm and regional telecom company Digicel.

Democratic Party (DP), National Alliance (NA) and Independent MPs Frans Richardson and Patrick Illidge expressed concerns during a meeting of the Central Committee of Parliament on Friday, to handle amendments to the 2014 budget.

Neither United People's (UP) party MPs nor independent MP Dr Read more

MPs close off fourth year of Parliament

PHILIPSBURG--The 2013-2014 parliamentary year closed on Monday with several Members of Parliament (MPs) taking the opportunity to give a farewell speech outlining their accomplishments, hopes for the new parliamentary year and for the incoming government.

Based on the Constitution, the parliamentary year must close before the second Tuesday in September – the official opening of the new parliamentary year. The opening will take place today, Tuesday, at Parliament House, with Governor Eugene Holiday delivering the traditional governor's speech containing government's plans for the coming year.

At Monday's session, outgoing independent MP Romain Laville said being an MP has been "one of the greatest experiences" he has had in life Read more

Editorial - Horse’s mouth

Party leader Theo Heyliger deserves credit for reacting in a mature way to UP being left out of government despite winning the election with seven seats (see Tuesday paper), as a result of the quickly-formed NA/DP/US coalition totalling eight seats Read more

Editorial -- Intriguing landscape

The voters have spoken. Compared to four years ago UP replaced NA as the largest party but fell short of a majority, while DP held steady after its setback in 2010 and newcomer US party not only got into Parliament but earned two seats, making for an intriguing new political landscape Read more

Dennis updates MPs about tackling crime

PHILIPSBURG--Justice Minister Dennis Richardson gave Members of Parliament (MPs) updates on the Police's efforts to tackle crime in the community at a Central Committee meeting of Parliament on Monday. The meeting was scheduled to take place last week, but was postponed until yesterday, due to a lack of quorum.

Richardson said the country's crime levels are at a place where other countries in the immediate surrounding will be "jealous of." The police force has been tackling preventable crimes and have been making arrests and getting breaks in large cases Read more