~ Says he will not heed the advice given by SZV Supervisory Board since it's all about votes ~
PHILIPSBURG:--- Interim Minister of VSA Emil Lee is hell-bent on fooling the populace of St. Maarten in order to garner enough votes on Monday for his re-election. Lee plans to hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the New General Hospital on Friday despite not having the finances in place.
According to information provided to SMN News and the advice given by the Supervisory board of SZV to the Minister in 2017. It clearly states that SZV cannot withhold the finances for the Minister’s pet project. Lee wants SZV to shoulder 50% of the construction cost while he will get ING-Fatum and Videnova to finance the other 50%.
SMN News has learned that Lee got the Curacao-based companies to commit to financing the New General Hospital by committing SZV to 50% of the cost.
SMN News understands that the Supervisory Board of SZV dispatched a letter to Lee two weeks ago informing him that he cannot commit SZV for the financing of the New General Hospital since the medical insurance company simply cannot withhold such an expense post Irma. Based on the contents of the letter the Supervisory Board informed Lee that SZV had over USD23M in consultant fees since he took office and began the hospital project. SVZ Supervisory board also informed the Minister that he already jacked up $10M in consultation fees for the year 2018 while SZV has lost 70% of its income.
While the war continues with the Minister and the Supervisory Board members, the war is also brewing within the United Democrats especially the candidates coming from the Democratic Party.
Based on that letter Lee chose to say that he will not follow the advice given by the Supervisory Board especially Sharine Daniel since he believes that she placed a hold on the project to assist the opposition namely the National Alliance.
SMN News learned that the leader of the Democratic Party had a discussion with Emil Lee about his emotional outburst towards Sharine Daniel and his response was that it is all about votes at this crucial time and not what the Supervisory Board of SZV advised.
It is clear that the Minister of VSA has been using his clout to maneuver the Supervisory Board of SZV since Daniel is closely aligned with the Democratic Party and also since the son in law of the DP leader is also on SZV Supervisory Board.
The members of the board are Sharine Daniel, Dwight Williams, Bryan Deher, Alexander Gumbs and Cindy Marcia.
