PHILIPSBURG:--- Prime Minister of St. Maarten Sarah Wescot Williams told reporters on Wednesday at Council of Ministers' weekly press briefing that the Council of State sent an advice to the Minister of Plenipotentiary of St. Maarten Mathias Voges who requested information on the legality of the Kingdom Decree sent to the Governor of St. Maarten to conduct an investigation on the integrity of the Government of St. Maarten. Wescot Williams said the government including herself is very disappointed with the response the Council of State gave St. Maarten. While she was not very explicit on the details of the advice, the Prime Minister said that the Council of State basically informed St. Maarten that there is no law in the charter which would allow them to intervene or mediate when there is a difference of opinion between two countries. Wescot Williams said that it was decided to have this law in place based on article 12-a of the Kingdom Charter to ensure such a law is in place but that law was never worked on even though a commission was established since 2011 to formulate the law.
The Prime Minister of St. Maarten said that St. Maarten will still go ahead with its planned investigation since they formed a committee to conduct an integrity investigation. She said on the Ministerial Decree St. Maarten inserted that they were willing to work with the Governor to conduct the integrity investigation but the Governor of St. Maarten did not yet indicate whether or not he will work with St. Maarten to conduct the investigation he was ordered to conduct via a Kingdom decree. Wescot Williams said that the Governor of St. Maarten did not have to wait on the information they requested from the Council of State, she said he could have moved forward with his investigation but so far she did not receive any resolution to inform her that the Integrity investigation that will be conducted by the Governor already started or when it will begin.
Furthermore, the Prime Minister made clear that the Government of St. Maarten already has a signed agreement with Transparency International (TI) who will also conduct a systemic integrity investigation. When asked when Transparency International will begin their work, the Prime Minister said that TI is busy with the preparatory work and she is expected to know when they will begin their work in the near future.
APS Still to Give Government Proposal on Financing the Completion of Government Building.
Wescot Williams also confirmed on Wednesday that the Government of St. Maarten is fully aware of the decision rendered by the court regarding the Government Administration Building and RGM. She said that the Government of St. Maarten has an agreement with APS (Pension Fund) who has agreed to finance the completion of the building so that government could occupy the building as ordered by the court.
Wescot Williams further explained that she is expecting to get a full proposal from APS by December 2013. The Prime Minister explained when asked by reporters if there is a specific amount of monies the Government of St. Maarten asked APS to invest in the completion of the building that while there is an agreement and APS is working very hard on the investment project they have not reached that far to discuss figures.
She also clarified that APS and other insurances have a right to make investments with the monies they collected to use in the future. "The APS is not taking monies they have to pay out now for this investment project. Besides that, the law states that APS could invest in their country meaning that they have all right to invest in projects on St. Maarten."
In giving more information on the "White Elephant", the Prime Minister said that RGM was supposed to deliver that building since 2008 and the Government of St. Maarten were not going to be owners of the building instead they were going to be tenants that have to pay Naf. 481,000.00 per month as rent. The Prime Minister said that some of the things that happened between 2008 to now is that RGM and government had to decide who was going to be responsible for the insurance and maintenance of building. She said that since parties could not agree a court case was initiated and the court ruled in favor of St. Maarten but RGM appeal that verdict. The appeal case has not gone through yet. Wescot Williams said these are some of the things that hindered the finalization of the new Government Administration Building.
Corporate Governance Council given Six Months Life.
In responding to a question posed by SMN News regarding the Corporate Governance Council whose mandate ended on November 16th, 2013, Prime Minister Wescot Williams said that she asked the members of the Corporate Governance Council to stay put for the next six months until the necessary paperwork is finalized. She said the members of the council agreed to stay on board and their mandate will be up in February 2014.
