PHILIPSBURG:--- The court case filed by attorneys representing the Vorst family against the Government of St. Maarten which was scheduled for Friday morning was postponed on the request of attorneys representing the Government of St. Maarten.
SMN News has been reliably informed that attorneys representing both parties are working on a settlement for the 11.129 square meters of land that Minister of VROMI Maurice Lake purchased without the blessings of the Council of Ministers.
It should be noted that Minister Lake said he bought the land because he believes that he was saving government monies based on the draft letter of intent that former Minister of Justice Roland Duncan signed to enter into a long lease for two parcels of land totaling 18.000 square meters. The draft letter of intent of the long lease was for a period of 60 years. Had government finalized this agreement government would have had to pay the Vorst family $146,000 per year in rental payments, which would total 8.8 million over the 60 year period.
What Minister Lake did not disclose or is yet to disclose is that he is in possession of two appraisals for the property. One of the appraisal reports state that the 11.129 square meters of land has market value of 1.6 million dollars while the second appraisal report which the Prime Minister of St. Maarten asked be given to the Council Ministers prior to them taking a decision valued the land at 1.3 USD.
While parties are working on a settlement, it will interesting to see how Minister Maurice Lake will justify his decisions to Parliament on Monday afternoon for the purchase of the Vorst family property. Even more interesting is to see how the Minister will equate the money savings he talks about especially now that there are two appraisal reports to show that the Minister paid over four million USD in excess for the property he purchased on behalf of the country.
SMN News will bring you more information on this ongoing saga as the information unfolds.