Says she's unaware of the scope of talks held
PHILIPSBURG--Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams said on Wednesday that she will "reserve" her comments on the Central Bank of Cura�ao and St. Maarten appointees, including why the name of St. Maarten's candidate to head the Bank's Supervisory Board Martin Hassink was not submitted to the Government Accountants Bureau SOAB for screening.
She said the Council received a response from SOAB on Tuesday regarding its proposed candidates. She said though, that since the Council of Ministers decision on the candidates in December 2010, "further discussions have been taking place."
She continued: "I have not yet received the total scope on these apparent discussions, so I refrain from comments at this time regarding these discussions that might or might not have taken place.
"I also do this because I am very cautious about information and speculation regulating an institution such as the Central Bank of a country or countries. This is definitely a country's institution that you don't want shrouded in any type of controversy one way or another and hence my caution."
Asked specifically why Hassink's name was not submitted she said: "Further discussion had taken place and I am not aware of the scope of those talks and I reserve further comment until I get a picture and that relates to the candidacy of Hassink."
No reason has been given by Finance Minister Hiro Shigemoto as to why Hassink's name was not submitted for screening. However, this newspaper understands that all the other nominees for the Supervisory Board, as put forward by St. Maarten and Cura�ao, have passed the screening carried out by the SOAB. St. Maarten's nominees for board members are attorney Ralph Richardson, businessman Robbie Ferron and tax consultant Marciella Illidge, while Cura�ao's candidates are university lecturer Reny Maduro and attorneys Glenn Camelia and Nelson Navarro.
The lack of explanation as to why Hassink's name was not submitted for vetting has prompted further speculation that St. Maarten has decided to back St. Maarten-based Atlantis Casino Chief Financial Officer Rudolf Baetsen as a "joint candidate" to head the Supervisory Board. Baetsen's ties to Atlantis World Group, which operates casinos in St. Maarten, Cura�ao and the Dominican Republic, have raised concerns here and in Cura�ao.
Those concerns are linked to reports during and after the recent elections in Cura�ao and St. Maarten that the casino was heavily involved in financing the election campaigns of certain political parties. Questions have also been raised about the logic behind appointing someone from the casino industry to such a high-profile and sensitive job in a key joint institution.
Mutual agreements
The Prime Minister said too that while cooperation in the area of the Central Bank is regulated in a national ordinance regarding the central bank for Curacao and St. Maarten, which went into effect on October 10, 2010, three of four mutual agreements linked to the regulation have not been signed off on.
Of the four agreements ? on (1) currency, (2) monetary policy, (3) exchange rate and (4) a bank charter - only the latter had been signed off last Thursday. The bank charter regulates the appointments of directors and board members.
Wescot-Williams said because the mutual agreements had not been signed "the entire matter of formalization of issues regarding the central bank of Curacao and St. Maarten were dormant for a while."
She stressed that the outstanding mutual agreements are "also extremely important."
She continued: "If parties are not on the same page where these other agreements are concerned such as currency and exchange rate etc, then this is another critical issue that we need to address as well and the sooner the better.
"As far as the legislation is concerned these agreements are in effect. However an agreement needs to be signed by the parties and this has not been signed, and this in itself is something that we need to take into consideration...
"The government of St. Maarten in my opinion needs to have a serious discussion regarding the issues relating to the central bank in general.
"If parties are having second or other thoughts on other issues such as currency then that needs to surface now. It can't be so that St. Maarten ends up fishing behind the net all the time."
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