Philipsburg:--- Since the scandal broke by the Today Newspaper about Minister Maria Buncamper Molanus who sold the economic rights of a parcel of land she obtained by long lease several persons commenting on SMN News have challenged us to look for the other politicians that also received leased land and sold it to make a huge profit or those that sold the economic rights of these lands.
SMN News published the documents to show that Minister Maria Buncamper Molanus and her husband senior civil servant Claudius Buncamper sold the economic rights of the plot of land to Eco Green as published in the Today Newspaper after she denied having sold any lands or the economic rights of the land to anyone. We also obtained documents which we published to show that the leader of the Democratic Party and now Prime Minister of St. Maarten Sarah Wescot Williams also obtained leased land and within two weeks she sold it for big bucks. Many persons commenting on SMN News suggested that other politicians have done the same and they are not being exposed. The scandal of the Buncampers caused an outrage among the people of St. Maarten, for the past three weeks the people of St. Maarten and the media focused only on what the Buncampers did simply because this was not the first time the Buncampers were caught in an awkward position where they exploited their offices for their own interest. On each occasion it involved monies to the benefit of the Buncampers.
However, it seems that other persons and politicians who sought government lease land exploited the purpose of the lease by breaking the conditions of the lease for their own self interest. Making more money seems to be the main objective in many cases while several civil servants and residents of St. Maarten also requested government lease land for decades to construct their homes and to date they are not able to obtain a piece of land.
SMN News managed to recover some documents from the Kadaster’s office even though we are getting a hard time getting these documents which is supposed to be at the disposal of the general public. Ever since we published the document that the Kadaster director Clemens Roos doctored on December 15th 2010 we are forced to ask other residents of the island to request the deeds we need to further investigate the wrong doings of certain politicians. Not to mention the minute reporters request information on politicians those persons are immediately informed by the Kadaster’s office.
Patrick George Illidge Lease Land Deal:-
The documents SMN News managed to obtain show that now Member of Parliament Patrick George Illidge obtained a parcel of land measuring 749M2 in the district of A.T Illidge Road Phobe Pond described in certificate of admeasurements 379/1991. The Member of Parliament obtained the parcel of land on June16th 1992 in long lease until June 16th 2052.
On the 21 May 1996 Patrick George Illidge sold the long lease to Standford Emanuel Solomon a businessman and managing director of King Solomon Enterprises Limited located at number 48 Robb Street Lacytown, Georgetown Guyana for the sum of $65,000.00. The deed of this sale was registered at the Kadaster’s office on May 29th 1996.
The prescriptive rights of the said property have been transferred to King Solomon Enterprises. While this sale might be legal because there was a building on the parcel of land when it was sold it is not clear if Illidge sought the consent of the executive council to transfer the rights of the long lease to King Solomon Enterprises as we were unable to obtain a copy of the executive council decision that granted Illidge the permission to transfer the rights of the long lease.
Hanky Panky Sale of Economic Rights
SMN News also obtained documents that showed that Patrick George Illidge appeared before notary Francis Edgar Gijsbertha on December 23 2008 acting in his capacity as an attorney on behalf of King Solomon Enterprises Limited where he sold the Economic Rights of the same property to Henry Egbert Charles Lynch a businessman and managing director of JAHENECO REALITY N.V. for the sum of $60,000.00. As usual the documents on both sales can be viewed below. SMN News contacted Henry Lynch for a comment and he has promised to meet with us but he did not get back to us by press time.
SMN News is now calling on Member of Parliament Patrick George Illidge to tell us more about the sale of this long lease he obtained from the island government in 1992 and the sale of the economic rights of the same property to two different persons since both were done by him. We are also inviting the Member of Parliament to tell us about the parcel of land in Simpson Bay that he obtained in 1994 and how is it possible for him to receive two parcels of land from government while there is hundreds of St. Maarteners waiting for a piece of land to build their dream home.
Kadaster’s Office
The deed of sale of the economic rights transaction was registered at the Kadaster’s office on December 29th 2008 bearing the signature of the Kadaster director Clemens A. Roos. Up until December 31 2010 when we checked the records at the Kadaster’s office to see if this particular sale is still registered since Clemens Roos claimed that his office does not recognise the sale of economic rights the records remain unchanged. We are sure the Kadaster director has a good explanation that he will give to the two newspapers and the Prosecutor’s office who obviously believes his stories.
It must be noted that the Kadaster’s director Clemens Roos, the gate keeper of lands registration for St Maarten arrived on the island in 2008 and he too requested long lease land for himself. SMN News will bring you more information on Roos’s request for long lease land in a separate article.Patrick Illidge deed with King Solomon Enterprise Limited
The Sale of the Economic Rights by Patrick Illidge to Henry Lynch
