ORIENT BAY:--- The owners of Bikini Beach Elisa Cohen and Kontiki Beach Phillipe Just and their employees experienced "Black Tuesday" on Tuesday morning when the Gendarmes and two hussiers showed up to execute an eviction order of the court. The gendarmes and the two huissiers that delivered the order to the Prefecture was on the location as the eviction took place leaving the business owners and their workers outside.
It is bizarre and almost unbelievable to see that the same gendarmes that investigated the owner of SINDEXTOUR were used to assist the two huissiers with the expulsion of Bikini Beach and Kontiki Beach on Tuesday. Mathieu Doligez of the Prefecture of St. Martin said in an invited comment that the only thing the Prefecture did was give the two huissiers assistance to execute the order of the administrative court. Doligez said that there are three cases involving the business persons and the owner of SINDEXTOUR. He explained that in one of them there is a penal procedure which will be heard on September 19 and 20th and another case will be heard in the commercial court on September 11th. When asked if the expulsion done on Tuesday will hinder the other cases, Doligez said absolutely not because all of the procedures are different and in different courts.
Elisa Cohen said she got the time to remove the perishable items from the building. Cohen said the hussiers gave her one month to remove everything from the building. She said that when she does that she must remove everything at the same time. Cohen said that while all of this was happening the electricity and gas were also cut while the locks on the establishment were changed. "All of this happened in front of my 15 employees who are jobless today."
Bikini Beach has been operating on St. Martin for over 20 years and the company has a number of employees who worked for as long as 20 years for Cohen. On Tuesday those workers were left speechless because of the decision taken by the Prefecture to assist with the eviction while they are one week away from a hearing which is scheduled for September 11th, 2013. The administrative court gave a ruling once to evict these two businesses in April 2013. However, the commercial court is still to hear the case which has been contested by the two businesses.
That eviction was scheduled to take place on August 7th, 2013 but the lawyer representing the two companies met with Prefet Phillipe Chopin on August 9th, 2013 where he asked the Prefet to turn over certain pieces of documents to him in order for him to see why he (The Prefet) chose to evict the owners of the long time businesses while they are still waiting for their hearing which is scheduled for September 11th, 2013. The attorney also pleaded with the Prefet to hold off on the eviction especially knowing that his clients appealed the decision and a hearing is scheduled for September 11th, 2013 and the upcoming criminal hearing for the issuance of the AOT is scheduled for September 19th and 20th 2013.
According to information received from the two businesses, Prefect Chopin decided to hold off on the eviction on August 7th, 2013 and decided he will execute the eviction order on September 2nd, 2013 even though the eviction hearing is scheduled for September 11th. It is still not clear why the Prefet chose to walk this route and if he is intentionally hindering justice from taking its course. The eviction of the two businesses on Tuesday seems to have become a personal vendetta between the two hussiers, the vice prosecutor, and the lawyer representing Bikini Beach and Kontiki Beach.
SMN News also learnt that the Vice Prosecutor of St. Martin Flavien Noailles intervened on Monday in an effort to stop the eviction but the Prefet refused to show leniency towards the businesses and the Prosecutor that is leading the criminal investigation on the issuance of the AOT.
It should be noted that Prefet Philippe Chopin also contested the issuance of the AOT that was issued to SINDEXTOUR.
The case surrounding AW33 of Orient Beach has made headline news since the Collectivity of St. Martin decided to renew an AOT for SINDEXTOUR owned by Norbert Luftman. Several elected officials have been detained and questioned on the issuance of the AOT, Luftman had his passport taken away by the Prosecution and he also had to put up a bond of Euros 300,000.00 but the criminal court judges quickly revoked that and returned Luftman's passport while lowering the bond. The judges lowered the bond without hearing the victims and their lawyer.
The case of the AOT was called on March 19th, 2013 and the judges of the Criminal Court said that the only case that will be heard on September 19th and 20th is the issuance of the AOT to Luftman. On this date, Vice President Guillaume Arnell has to appear before the court to answer several charges as to why he issued an AOT to SINDEXTOUR while the requests submitted by Bikini Beach and Kontiki Beach were not handled.