Philipsburg: --- The head of the Census office Leona Marlin is furious about an article, which appeared in one of the daily newspapers on Wednesday. In the article Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards has been quoted as saying that the Civil Registry (census office) does not have the mandate to shred passports that were not picked up on time or out of circulation. Marlin in an interview with SMN News said she is in possession of the St. Maarten Safety Plan "Beveilingsplan Reisdocumenten" which gives the civil registry the authority to shred these passports based on article 77.Marlin refered SMN News to the "Beveilingsplan Reisdocumentn" under article 33, which gave the Civil Registry authority to shred these passports. Copies which we managed to obtain to verify the facts.
Marlin said shredding of these passports are customary both on St. Maarten and the Dutch municipalities where she was trained. However, someone she said gave a reporter some information on the administrative procedures on the shredding of these passports. Marlin said the information published was erroneous and ever since then the matter is being discussed. Marlin said some days ago she had a meeting with the Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards who informed her that the Governor General of the Netherlands Antilles never gave St. Maarten the mandate to shred passports, however, the census office got their mandate from the Lt. Governor of St. Maarten.
"I am not going to jail for anyone and I will do what is necessary to make sure my name is cleared. If the Lt. Governor did not get the mandate from the Governor General he should say that, and explain the people why he gave Civil Registry the mandate to shred passports instead of turning them over to the governor general." Marlin said she gave an interview to another reporter but she did not have the documents at the time in her possession to prove her point. "This is unfair and I refused to take any blame for anyone. I already contacted the office of the governor general and copies of the "Beveilingsplan Reisdocumenten" including the newspaper article that was published on Wednesday was sent to him." Marlin said.
Marlin said the Census Office was audited more than once and if they were not mandated Holland would have taken the necessary steps against them. Marlin said the shredder is at the Census Office
SMN News managed to secure a copy of the "Beveilingsplan Reisdocumenten" for 2007, which was also renewed in 2008. Both documents were signed by Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards.
Quizzed on how the department was shredding passports prior to 2008 Marlin said there was some sort of mandate in place but she would have to search the records for it. She said when she took the helm of the department she had to reorganize and get several things in order since that department was in total chaos. Marlin said that is how the Safety Plan St. Maarten came about and is being renewed. She said the Census Office is the place that issuance and shredding of passports are done and not at the Governor's Office.
Marlin said with the governor's statements it would appear as if she is committing a crime and that is far from the truth. Marlin said she don't know if the Lt. Governor forgot about this plan but she is calling on him to apologize as well as to conduct an investigation to see who leaked the information to the media and what was their intention.
For the sake of clarity, we have decided to publish the "Beveilingsplan Reisdocumenten" for 2007/ 2008 as well article 77.
Efforts made to contact Lt. Governor Franklyn Richards for a reaction on these developments proved futile on Wednesday.
