Minister of Justice took seven months to respond to proposal that was submitted to his Ministry.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Indebt investigation as to really why certain politicians wants to get rid of the current Minister of Justice showed that certain politicians wanted the Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson to rent some buildings that are being constructed in St. Johns area.
SMN News learnt that the politicians that were behind the Minister of Justice to rent these buildings that presently being constructed were to house the MOT, National Archives, a Police Sub-station and the Landsrecherche.
Further research showed that the developer was supposed to construct a building on a parcel of land that belonged to Claudette Labega on L.B Scot Road which is located opposite the De Weever’s property. SMN News further learnt that this project was approved by the former Minister of Justice and management of KPSM but the project fell through when the developer and the land owner had some disagreements. According to the research conducted by SMN News the developer then found a parcel of land in St. Johns where he decided to construct several buildings, some of those buildings were to house the police substation and the National Archives, the Landsrecherche and the MOT. Even though the developer had an approved agreement with the former Minister of Justice and KPSM he submitted a new proposal to the current Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson who never responded to his request. SMN News understands that the second proposal had a lower price than the first one but the Minister of Justice never responded to the proposal that was submitted to his Ministry. It is understood that the developer met with the management of KPSM who agreed to have the police sub-station in St. Johns but they felt that the building that the developer was constructing for the police sub-station was too big and the rent was somewhat too steep. The source said that the developer then met with the Minister of Justice Dennis Richardson to further discuss the plans and to submit a new proposal to the current Minister of Justice. Documents showed that the proposal that was submitted to Minister Richardson has much lower price than the one that was signed off by the former Minister of Justice. However, even though meeting the developer in person and receiving a proposal the current Minister of Justice did not respond to the request for about seven months.
SMN News learnt that the developer held consultations with several persons and he was advised to resubmit the proposal but this time with the prices that were approved by the former Minister of Justice. SMN News were told that when the developer did that the Ministry immediately responded to the developer informing him that they are no longer interested in doing any business with him because he submitted two proposals to the Ministry with different prices.
While persons from the Ministry is saying that the Landsresearche and the MOT was not interested in changing their locations because they already have lease obligations with their current landlord, and the Ministry thinks it’s better to have police sub-station in South Reward or St. Peters where there are more students that are prone to get into problems, it is understood that management of KPSM are not in favor of having a sub-station in those locations because it might not work in their best interest in the event of any riot or protest.
Another hindrance the developer faced when was negotiating the projects is not getting a letter of intent from the former Prime Minister to say that government has committed itself in renting the properties.
While all of this prompted the removal of the current Minister of Justice from his office another sore issue for MP Frans Richardson is the fact his party joined the coalition and got the Ministry of Justice and while he is the MP over that Ministry the current Minister of Justice does not consult with him managing the Ministry of Justice.
The source said that several members of the UPP are in favor of removing Minister Richardson but they were not telling it him directly, however, since Minister Richardson signed the agreement with the Minister of Kingdom Relations Ronald Plasterk to establish an integrity chamber on St. Maarten they felt that the time is right to remove Minister Richardson.
SMN News further learnt that while all of this is going on, the current five member government are making their own plans by contemplating to resign from their position and dissolve the parliament of St. Maarten and call for new elections.
Several efforts made to contact MP Frans Richardson on Thursday evening proved futile as he seemingly prefers to lie low and do what he has to do next week after the conference with the Ministers of Justices on the island is finished.
