Member of Parliament George Pantophlet is curious to know what answers he will get from government on the questions submitted in his February 28, 2011 letter. It is not his intention to confuse the populace but he needs clarity. First of all 182 million guilders was deposited on an account of the Central Bank to pay off debts of the Netherlands Antilles related to St. Maarten.
Of said amount 65 million guilders was allocated to the St. Maarten General pension Fund. Also from that amount (182 million guilders) 40 million guilders is awaiting approval from the Dutch government to be paid to creditors. This leaves a balance of 77 million guilders that cannot be touched. We have or had presently an amount of 60 million guilders placed on some account of the Central Bank of Curacao and St. Maarten to pay off debts owed to creditors of the former Netherlands Antilles. The Member of Parliament wants to know how much is left from this amount since he is quite sure that Curacao has paid some if not all its creditors of the former Netherlands Antilles. And what will this mean when St. Maarten has to pay its creditors? How much is owed to creditors who worked on St. Maarten for the former Netherlands Antilles is apparently not yet known. During the press briefing on March 9, 2011 the Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams stated that government is thinking about requesting an advance in the amount 20 million guilders from St. Maarten’s share of the assets of the former Netherlands Antilles. The Prime Minister stated that there is some hard cash but could not confirm what the amount was. The Member of Parliament thinks that the very fact that St. Maarten does not know how much is serious. The payout committee (vereffenings) to deal with payments to the former Netherlands Antilles islands appears to be having a problem with the chairman who was apparently appointed by the Dutch as a representative of the BES islands. The Member of Parliament wants to know what was the agreement where this was concerned as to who would be chairman? The Member of Parliament strongly urges the members to solve this problem of the Chairman of the payout committee as soon as possible. It is clear that there are sufficient finances available to deal with the budget problem. The Member of Parliament states that it would be irresponsible of him not to make the following observation and or remarks; Government has decided to grant Simpson Bay Resort exemption from paying the transfer tax of 1.2 million dollars with all the consequences thereof. He strongly urges government that in order to be fair that taxes owed by all prior to 2006 be written off.