PHILIPSBURG:--- Prime Minister Sarah Wescot Williams confirmed during the Council of Ministers press briefing that the purchase agreement signed by the Minister of VROMI Maurice Lake did not get the blessings from the Council of Ministers as yet. Wescot Williams said the council still has some technical questions pertaining to the agreement signed by Minister of VROMI Maurice Lake. Some of the technical and most critical questions she said pertain to the pending budget amendment at the Parliament of St. Maarten and the Council of Ministers still needs to verify how far can a Minister can use his power to bind government which is a collective body. The Prime Minister said that this is very relevant. "Matters such as the authorization given to Ministers are playing in the case based on the accountability ordinance, this ordinance gave Ministers a "free hand" on their budget." Another issue is there was supposed to be a register in place with the scope of the authority to sign behalf of the Government of St. Maarten. Wescot Williams said this register was in place but it was recently updated and replaced by a new one which was published.
Wescot Williams said because of these questions the Council is yet to take a final decision on the purchase agreement. As per letter being sent to the Vorst family recently, Wescot Williams said that the Council of Ministers is aware of a letter sent on June 26th, 2014 asking the Vorst family to suspend the court case they initiated until the matter is worked out in government. "The Council of Ministers learned of an agreement that was reached between a member of the Vorst family and the Minister in question."
Two weeks ago the Prime Minister announced that the Council of Ministers had invited the Vorst family to a meeting which she said they agreed to, however on Wednesday she said that on the day of the meeting the legal representative is the only person showed up for the meeting and informed government that he did not have the mandate to negotiate on behalf of Vorst family whom he is representing. "The meeting was very short because the legal representative of the Vorst family informed government that there is a signed purchase agreement in place."
SMN News obtained the settlement agreement the attorneys representing boths parties agreed to on June 27th, 2014. The agreement states that the Minister will be making the payments for the purchase of the Vorst Estate based on the purchase agreement he signed on behalf of government. According to the agreement, the payments will be placed into a trust account.
Click here to view the settlement agreement both parties agreed to on June 27, 2014.
