PHILIPSBURG:--- Prime Minister of St. Maarten Sarah Wescot Williams confirmed on Wednesday during the Council of Ministers' weekly press briefing that the letter of intent signed by former Deputy Prime Minister William Marlin was booked in at the Department of General Affairs. Wescot Williams also confirmed that the Council of Ministers did take a decision on the purchase of the Emilio Wilson estate prior to the letter of intent being signed.
Minister of VROMI Maurice Lake will soon be facing a motion of no confidence whenever the chairlady of parliament reconvenes the continuation of the meeting called by the National Alliance. That meeting was tentatively set for Thursday but so far the chairlady of parliament has not convoked the Members of Parliament on the continuation of the meeting.
Minister Lake told Members of Parliament that the "letter of intent" was not booked in when he first met with parliament to discuss the purchase of the estate. While Minister Lake had the letter of intent with the DIV number and was waving it in parliament to show he is transparent, he did not submit the letter he was waiving when he realized that the letter had on its booking number. Minister Lake even went as far as saying he found documents in an envelope that were left behind by the former Minister to be burnt.
In such cases one would expect Minister Lake to call in the public prosecutor to conduct an investigation but none of that was done. It should be noted that Minister Lake only came out with the story of him finding an envelope with documents left behind to be burnt when the court of first instance rendered a decision in favor of Henri Brookson and forced government to live up to the letter of intent they signed on the purchase of Emilio Wilson Estate.
Former SER Member Takes Government to Court citing Age Discrimination --- To be Appointed to GEBE Board.
The former chairman of the SER board who had to resign because he reached the age limit has filed a court case against government citing age discrimination. Prime Minister Sarah Wescot Williams confirmed this on Wednesday when she was asked about the matter by SMN News. Wescot Williams said it will be interesting to see how that case will go because the law governing the SER has an age limit which has to be respected.
Furthermore, SMN News asked the Prime Minister if she was aware that the Minister of VROMI nominated two persons, both of whom are pensioners to be placed on the Supervisory Board of GEBE. Wescot Williams confirmed that two names were presented to the Council of Ministers and they have to be sent to the Governor for signing off. When asked how it is possible for government to appoint members to boards of government owned companies when the Corporate Governance Council is now defunct and cannot advise government on these matters, Wescot Williams said it is a concern for government, but they are working on having the Corporate Governance Council in place.
PM and Minister of VROMI to meet to Finalize Joint Projects to Obtain EU funding.
Prime Minister Sarah Wescot Williams announced on Wednesday that she will be meeting with the Minister of VROMI on Wednesday afternoon to finalize the joint projects that they need to submit to the French authorities in order to obtain EU funding.
Wescot Williams said the Dutch and French government met and they agreed to submit three projects which will be funded by the EU, those projects she said are a sewage plant, a study and subsequent clean-up of Simpson Bay Lagoon and a radar. Wescot Williams further explained that she has to discuss the Simpson Bay Lagoon project with Minister Lake in order for the Dutch to submit the projects they want to work on jointly with the French side by April 28th, 2014.
