Great Bay, September 8, 2009.
On Tuesday, September 8th, 2009, Drs. Linda A. Richardson, former Director of S4, met with the Executive Council of St. Maarten with as objective:
1) To give an overview of the developments regarding her housing situation in the Netherlands leading up to the present moment. Drs. Linda Richardson had requested a meeting with this topic in a letter that she had sent to the Executive Council of St. Maarten since the beginning of July 2009.
2) To clarify a number of matters related to the slanderous allegations in the media regarding the housing allowance, including erroneous figures recently provided by S4 treasurer to the media which far exceeded the figures he gave to the Government of St. Maarten on July 7th 2009.
3) In the meeting with the Executive Council, Drs. Linda A. Richardson elaborated on the fact that an administrative error was made that she was totally unaware of, but that once this error was brought to her attention, she immediately informed the Government of St. Maarten verbally and by email.
Several supporting documents were submitted to members of the Executive Council.
In the meeting it was also agreed that a number of matters related to the expatriation decree (detacheringsbesluit) and to the extension of her contract will be reviewed and clarified as soon as possible in order to finalize the discussions regarding the balancing off of the monies received in excess and the monies she is yet to receive.
In view of the seriousness of the allegations in the media, at the end of the meeting, Drs. Linda A. Richardson requested the Executive Council of St. Maarten, for a statement, indicating that:
a) There was an administrative error,
b) When Mrs. Richardson became aware of this administrative error, she pointed this out to St. Maarten verbally and in an email message dated December 5, 2007 and proposed to have the funds received in excess balanced off with those yet to be received;
c) Since her arrival on the island in mid-July, Drs. Linda A. Richardson and the Finance Department had been in discussions on this matter.