Philipsburg:--- Director of the Postal Services of St. Maarten (PSS) Denicio Richardson confirmed to SMN News on Thursday that he has tendered his resignation which will take effect as of February 1st, 2013. Richardson said he submitted his resignation on December 27th, 2012 to the shareholder representative Prime Minister Sarah Wescot Williams who already confirmed receipt of his letter. Richardson said between now and February 1st he will be working with the shareholder representative to transfer his duties to his successor who has not yet been nominated. In short statement to the media after the interview, Richardson said he will be seeking to resolve and settle outstanding matters prior to his last day at PSS bringing his relationship to a proper closure.
The PSS Director explained that he was placed between a rock and hard place because he was not getting any cooperation from the Supervisory Board of Directors. He explained that it was extremely hard for him to work and develop the Postal Services on St. Maarten when he was not given the tools and resources to perform his duties and there comes a time when that happens when a decision has to be taken in the interest of the company. Richardson said during his tenure at PSS, NPNA took away their assets and there was nothing he could have done to prevent it from happening. Richardson said he was suspended illegally by the board because he wrote out a cheque to pay for computers for PSS. "The purchasing of the computers was discussed and the Supervisory Board knew about this but the chairman did not show up to sign the cheque even though he knew NPNA would have taken their computers and that would have shut down the frontline operations of PSS."
He stressed that the decision he took to resign is not only in his own interest but also the interest of the workers of PSS. He lamented that he was suspended illegally even though the chairman of the Supervisory Board knew that PSS had to purchase the computers he did not sign the cheque to pay for the computers. "After the suspension was lifted, I returned to work and did the best I could but I could not perform my duties simply because the supervisory board would not give me the cooperation I needed."
Richardson also made clear that he will try to have a round table discussion with the three parties (shareholder representative, supervisory board, and management team) to get what is legally due to him based on the articles of incorporation.
It should be noted that while Richardson has been in his position over two years now, to date he has not been receiving a fixed salary and other benefits as it is stipulated in the articles of incorporation of PSS.
Richardson said that there have been several ongoing issues that have not been resolved and while PSS is not yet on its feet, the Government of St. Maarten did not see it fit to include a subsidy in its budget for PSS. Therefore, the Managing Director was unable to sign and make agreements with other companies if there is not enough finances to operate PSS. His lawyer Wim Van Sambeek in a telephone interview said that Richardson could be held liable for the agreements he signed on behalf of PSS. Sambeek further explained that the government of St. Maarten did not follow procedures when they appointed Richardson as the statutory director of PSS. "The law clearly stipulates that the government must seek an advice from the Corporate Governance Council when appointing statutory directors for government owned companies and they also have to seek advice from the same council about the salaries the person will be paid and his or her benefits." Van Sambeek said Richardson has been living on advances instead of his full salary and benefits.
In an invited comment, Chairman of the Corporate Governance Council Louis Duzanzon confirmed that the council has no records on the Postal Services of St. Maarten and its statutory director. In short, Duzanzon confirmed that neither the shareholder representative nor the Supervisory Board contacted the council for an advice prior to appointing Denicio Richardson as the statutory director of the government owned company.
