Philipsburg:--- The acting director of the Tourist Office of St. Maarten May-Ling Chun has refused the offer the NA/DP/IND Government offered her since her second three month contract expired on June 30th 2012. According to information provided to SMN News, the UP/DP Government issued two three month contracts to Chun which were never sent to the Governor's office for approval. A source within the government apparatus said that the current Minister of Finance refused to sign off on another contract for Chun since the amount of monies she was already paid has surpassed the amount a Minister is allowed to pay out without the Governor's approval. Ministers are allowed to pay out as much as Naf.50, 000.00 without the Governor's approval while Chun was paid Naf. 96,000.00 within a six month period.SMN News learnt from reliable sources that Chun was paid Naf. 16,000.00 per month and her salary was paid to ICM, a registered company on St. Maarten. It should be noted that Chun was taking home more monies that the current Prime Minister of St. Maarten per month, all the other directors of Government owned companies, and even the Members of Parliament.
The contract that Chun was given also included that she would automatically become the Director of the Tourism Authority when it is installed. The source said the current Minister of Tourism offered Chun a contract which would give her a scale 13 position, equal to what the former director of the Tourist Office Regina Labega had and they also removed the automatic transfer to the Tourism Authority but Chun never responded to the offer that was made to her.
In the meantime, the Minister of Tourism and Economic Affair Romeo Pantophlet has decided to appoint Gus Priest as the Interim Director until a new Director for the Tourist Office is selected and appointed.