PHILIPSBURG:--- In responding to questions posed by media personnel on the developments surrounding the head of VDSM James Richardson, Prime Minister Sarah Wescot Williams said that the individual is still suspended and the last information she got was that he was moving to court to challenge the decision of government.
Wescot Williams also confirmed at the beginning of the year that she submitted the report of the investigation conducted by SOAB to the Prosecutor's Office in December 2013. When asked if she got any information from the Prosecutor's Office since she handed over the report, the Prime Minister said she did not hear from the Prosecutor's Office as yet and it's that office that has to take a decision as to how they will move forward.
Just last week Members of Parliament in the Hague said they were thinking on sending Prosecutors from the Netherlands to see why several cases on St. Maarten are being shelved for years and not being prosecuted. Some of those cases include a case involving former Minister of Health and Labor Maria Buncamper Molanus, the case of alleged vote buying that involves Member of Parliament Theodore Heyliger, and the case surrounding Regina Labega which are among a stack of cases that are to be investigated and prosecuted since St. Maarten became a country.
SMN News asked the Prime Minister of St. Maarten Sarah Wescot Williams what are her views on the talks in The Hague regarding St. Maarten's Prosecutor's Office. Wescot Williams said the MPs in the Netherlands are free to express whatever they feel like expressing. She said what happens on St. Maarten concerns the Parliament, Government, and people of St. Maarten. She further stated that the Prosecutor's Office on St. Maarten knows its capabilities and its strength. Wescot Williams further stated that the Prosecutor's Office on St. Maarten knows what they need to do if there is a deficiency in manpower. "If they need assistance it will be up to us to ask for that assistance, that directive should not come from the Parliament of the Netherlands. So if we see that assistance is needed we know what steps have to be taken."
