Judge Throws Out Case against Richards ---Alex Richards a Political Victim—Status of Tourist Office Unknown.

Richards said the case was thrown out since last July but because those that took him court had at least six months in which they could appeal he did not say anything to the media. He said the judge finds the accusations to be unfounded and unjustified.

Richards said Fleming was notified that the case was thrown out before him and he felt it was necessary for him to wait and see what would be their next move. But no one has appealed the decision of the judge which paved the way for him to make known to the public that his name was cleared from all wrong doings.
Richards said he was accused of forgery for presenting the plan of Nieve to the municipal council; he was accused of mismanagement, and misappropriation of funds all of which could not be proven in a court of law.

Speaking out on the case for the first time Richards said he never presented the Nieve plan to the municipal council instead he made a number of recommendations and suggestions regarding a strategic plan which would outline the direction in which St. Martin would go regarding tourism. He said in those suggestions he made clear that tourism has to be primarily in favor of the country as well as its people and in this case St. Martin. He said when he made that suggestion to the former management of the Tourist Office it created some level of resistance from the board since these members were not in favor of him promoting tourism in favor of the country and its people. He said what annoyed management is that he took those from the private sector and creates an added value to the destination.

"This caused a rift since I was not promoting the hotels and restaurants and quickly after I was asked to leave." Richards said he believed those in management was looking for something to get rid of him and when he used the plan of Nieve as an example they capitalized on it. He said he never presented that plan as St. Martin's plan instead he needed to show the board members several strategic plans and they are the ones who chose than particular plan. He made clear he never presented any strategic plan to anyone, instead he presented orientations. However, he felt its all political.
"The idea was to show what St. Martin can do for our product." He said on December 12 during the budget orientations he presented something that was inspired by the one selected by the board from among the examples.

Asked if there were other grievances with him and management Richards said they said he was not competent, and did have sufficient qualification to manage the tourist office and as such he allegedly created a disaster with the Association finances. He said the former management even accused him of squandering and that he wasted monies "All of this they fabricated against me, but those who followed the procedures they would have known that they lied to get rid of me since I am victim of politics. Richards said the tourist office got their budget some nine months after he left and he would often wonder where they were getting monies from to run the daily affairs; second to that he said he was the one who managed to secure 872,000 Euros from the European funding, something that never happened before.
Richards further explained that when he was directing the tourist office he would normally meet with the board every Monday where he had to give accountability on the weekly expenditures. He said everything that he needed to do had to be approved by the board and that was exactly how he managed.

Despite the humiliation Richards said he does not plan to seek revenge from anyone. He said he already placed all of the troubles behind him even though embarrassed which also caused him to loose his mother who was ailing at the time. He said his intention is to continue contributing towards his country to the best of his ability.