Ousted President was kicked out by 83 votes, DSTA Election Slated for Monday --- $27,000 found by Police concealed in DSTA safe.
POINTE BLANCHE:--- Several taxi drivers refuted the newspaper article printed in one of the dailies on Tuesday. The drivers who called an emergency meeting last Monday night at the harbor to demand that the board of the Dutch St. Maarten Taxi Association Board (DSTA) step down because of gross financial mismanagement and conflicts of interest said that Otis Hughes did not resign from the DSTA, actually he was given a vote of non-confidence by 83 members of the DSTA on Monday night when the emergency meeting was held.
Just prior to the meeting the members of the DSTA signed a petition outlining their grievances with the board which they said are:
- Conflict of Interest
- Vote of Non Confidence
- Lack of Communication on the part of the DSTA.
One of the worst things the DSTA members discovered is that the former President and Secretary for some three years formed a Tour Company called AMIGO. The chamber of commerce registration shows that the owners of AMIGO are Otis Hughes and Rigobert Gumbs. Gumbs was DSTA secretary for some three years. This they said is a huge conflict of interest and Hughes has been using the DSTA to provide his company with jobs leaving many taxi drivers out of work. They said AMIGO consists of tour buses and taxis and this company gets preference over all taxi drivers that leave their homes early in the morning to line up at the pier hoping to secure a job. The taxi drivers even said that they are forced to wear the DSTA shirt while Hughes, the former President of the DSTA has been wearing his company tee shirt to work. "Even the French Taxi Drivers were forced to wear the DSTA t-shirts while the president of the association does not comply with the association's rules; instead he was busy enriching himself through the DSTA.
SMN News further learnt that the DSTA members established an interim board that is currently headed by one Curtis Richardson while election for a new board is slated for Monday evening.
One taxi driver said that on Tuesday morning that the defunct board refused to open the office on Tuesday morning forcing one of their colleagues whose name they provided to SMN News to call the police for help and to demand that the members of the defunct board open the office and the safe inside the office. The taxi drivers said that even the police were shocked at what they discovered in the safe. They said the former president and its board had $27,000 concealed inside the safe and they could not even explain to the police officers why they had that amount of monies in an office. They said that the police gave the members of the board up to 12pm Tuesday to ensure that the monies were deposited in the association's account. "Imagine the police spent over three hours there counting the monies and made sure they deposited it. That money was not even properly secured. Furthermore, when the new board is elected on Monday they will file an official complaint on Tuesday for embezzlement."
SMN News contacted Police Spokesman Ricardo Henson for a statement on the intervention by police and the alleged discovery of monies locked in the safe as stated by some of the taxi drivers. Henson said that police was indeed called to the harbor on Tuesday morning to calm a dispute that was taking place at the location. He said that one of the main reasons police intervened was to ensure that the dispute/argument among the taxi drivers did not escalate into violence. Henson said that police advised the taxi drivers to seek legal representation since the matter between the DSTA and its membership was a civil matter and not criminal. When asked if he would confirm or deny if monies were found in a safe, Henson said that the police will refrain from commenting on that.