Dear Editor,
I am contacting you regarding a very serious matter - a fraud committed by St. Maarten Youth Council Association, president Connie Francis Gumbs, and Ria Khudan.
Youth organizations from many EU countries took part in an Erasmus+ project, and even after 12 months, we are all still waiting to receive a travel refund from this organization that got the money from the European Commission for this project. 40 people from many NGOs across Europe are still waiting for their money, and Ms. Connie Gumbs is not answering our requests—which are over 40.000 euros!
The two projects were implemented in October and November 2023 in Rupert Maynard Community Center.
They have been reassuring us that the problem is a bank or something else, always something, and we have been waiting for a very long time. TSeveral weeks ago we found out that the bank proof of payments they have been sending to us were all fake, meaning this is a fraud, which was proved by our banks.
We contacted OLAF—European Anti-Fraud Office—and Windward Islands Bank because the fake documents had their logo. We still do not know if someone inside the bank is helping them or if they did it alone. They are already under investigation by Nationaal Agentschap Erasmus+ Jeugd (the National Agency in the Netherlands), and the European Commission has all the information on this case.
This is a very serious matter because of this NGO other NGOs on the island might lose funding from Erasmus+ and all stakeholders should be informed. We have already informed Minister Mr. Lewis about this matter.
Best regards,
Sanela Ravlić, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
President
Association for Community Development KREAKTIVA
