Airport:--- According to well-placed sources the supervisory board of the Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIAE) will meet soon to further discuss the issues and letter sent to the chairman of the board regarding the Airport’s managing director Regina Labega. Earlier this week the Prime Minister of St. Maarten dispatched a letter to the board informing them that they have to dismiss Labega because she failed the screening process. However, Deputy Prime Minister Dennis Richardson clarified to SMN News that Labega has the rights to appeal the results of the screening.
SMN News further understands that while Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs sent a letter to the Supervisory Board to take action, that board cannot sanction or dismiss Labega, instead such decisions have to be taken by the Holding of PJIAE who would have a hard time firing or dismissing Regina Labega based on the five-year contract she signed.
According information provided to SMN News the contract Regina Labega signed with PJIAE did not state she is obliged to take any screening for the job she now holds. However, the contract did state that if at any time Labega is convicted of any crime while holding such senior position at PJIAE she must vacate her position immediately. The five year contract will expire in the next eight months and if PJIAE chose not to renew Labega’s contract when it is expired she can then return to her job at the Tourist Office because she did not quit her job there instead she took a leave of absence from the Tourist Office to take up the position at PJIAE.
What is a known fact is that the prosecutor’s office has announced almost five years ago that they are investigating the former Director of the Tourist Office who is currently on leave of absence from her previous position but to date the Prosecutor’s Office has not taken Labega’s case to court. Her colleague Edward Dest already appeared in court and he was cleared of the charges that were brought against him. One of the disadvantages several persons in the community are facing when their names are submitted for screening is the fact that they will fail if someone files a complaint against them even if the Prosecutor’s Office chose to take a decade to investigate the case.
Several persons in the community told SMN News that just recently one person passed the screening to become a Minister and that Minister has been appointed and is now part of the Council of Ministers. Speaking to several persons in the community who spoke to SMN News on the conditions of anonymity said that if that person passed the screening anyone else could pass because the Minister in question was involved in huge scandal at the Receivers Office in the 1990’s, the Minister was also acting in conflict of interest with his government jobs because while being a senior civil servant he was affiliated with at least two companies that were in direct conflict with his government job. Most of all they said that the current Minister even admitted to the Obudsman that the position he held at a government owned company was also a conflict of interest with the two positions he held while working for government.
The persons most of whom are well educated civil servants said that while they are not picking up or supporting anyone they believe that the screening process has huge flaws especially since there are no set criteria for the screening and it appears as though some persons that has connection will pass the screening even though they have elephants in their closets while others that are simply under investigation are blacklisted without given the chance to defend themselves.
SMN News will be monitoring the outcome of the Labega saga and will bring you more information as this unfolds. Regina Labega is represented by Attorney at Law Cor Merx wo told SMN News that he is not at all nervous about the Labega case and therefore, he sees no reason for his client to be nervous.
