Says Government knows who the owners of companies are that are doing business with Government Owned Companies.
PHILIPSBURG:--- Leader of the Democratic Party and Member of Parliament Sarah Wescot Williams and the party advisor Emil Lee expressed concerns on the attitude displayed by some Government Owned Companies. Wescot Williams said that recently the management and Supervisory Board of some of the Government Owned Companies refuses to answer questions posed by Members of Parliament and even refused to turn over relevant documentation. " I am quite disturbed by the attitude displayed by these government own companies towards the Parliament of St. Maarten, also I think that Government is the shareholder representative and Parliament has to seek all they need from these Government owned companies from the Government "the Minister" responsible for each of them. "Today we have to deal with a situation where everything seems clouded or it's confidential or secrecy." Wescot Williams said there is a difference between government and parliament and as long as matters are raised in parliament it then becomes a public matter. She did say that some matters can be dealt with behind closed doors but that can only be done if it's requested.
Wescot Williams told reporters on Tuesday at a press conference that she is particularly peeved at the St. Maarten Harbor Group of Companies (SMHGC) who blatantly refused to give Parliament the contracts they have with Checkmate Security. Wescot Williams said even the Minister claim not to know who the owners of the company are and in her view Government has to have this information. The DP Member of Parliament said that it behooves everyone to know that the Harbor is injecting monies in a Security Company that is having financial problems. "Here you see the Harbor is budgeting monies for training for the staff of this private security company even though they are in financial straits. What I need to know is what will happen to the monies this government owned company invested for training if the company Checkmate Security goes belly up." Wescot Williams said that since the SMHGC is withholding information she requested the chairman of the TEATT committee that handles matters pertaining to SMHGC to call a meeting where they will discuss the annual accounts of SMHGC. She said she explained to MP Frans Richardson her reasons for requesting such a meeting which she said will allow government to give Parliament accountability on the annual accounts that was sent to Parliament. "The secrecy and tight lipped attitude by the companies create a situation where people are making allegations and are speculating because both government and the management of these government owned companies are not being open and transparent." Emil Lee called on the media on St. Maarten to keep the issue alive because that is the only way people will get to know what is happening in their country and the companies owned by government.
Advisor to the Democratic Party Emil Lee said that these Government owned companies must have information on the companies they are doing business with. Lee said what if it turned out that one of these companies is owned by Al-Qaeda then that in itself will threaten the country's economy.
Lee said that the ISPS code clearly define that the ports of entry be fully compliant. He said that the security company owed SZV some NAF2.3M. "That alone could cause this company that is providing security for the port to get involved in illegal activities to gain more monies to pay off their debts." Lee said should that happen then the country's tourism business will be placed at risk. He said after reading the reaction from the former owner of Checkmate Security it raises a number of questions. "The former owner said that Checkmate Security has a contract that is valid until December 2015, so SMHGC now has to say why they re-negotiated the contract and why they did not place it on a bid knowing the amount of monies they have decided to inject in the company.
Wescot Williams they faced the same situation with GEBE when they asked GEBE to disclose with whom they signed an MOU with. "Even though GEBE agreed to send the information in writing to Parliament they are yet to receive it."
Wescot Williams also shed light on the meetings she held with representatives of the Timeshare Industry and the Minister at TEATT.
Wescot Williams said Parliament has to also discuss its budget for 2015 since they did not get the amount of monies they requested. "This means Parliament will not have enough monies to hire people with legal background to assist the various factions. Asked if she thinks that Parliament should cut back on its travelling Wescot Williams said that has to be discussed because the budget given to Parliament was calculated based on the amounts of travelling and it is clear that several Members of Parliament will have to travel less.
Click here to view letter sent by DP Faction on ISPS Code
