PHILIPSBURG--GEBE Shareholding Foundation Chairman Ralph Richardson said on Monday that the company's Supervisory Board Chairman Julius Lambert has withdrawn his resignation letter and will remain in his position until otherwise instructed.
Richardson's disclosure confirmed rampant speculation on the matter that has not been publicly addressed by Lambert or government to date even though his resignation was addressed in a very public manner.
Richardson explained that had Lambert gone through with his resignation as per July 8, 2012, when his four-year term ended, it would have left the board with just two members, one from Saba and one from Statia. This is not a legal make-up under the company's articles of incorporation.
Richardson further explained that Lambert had withdrawn his letter of resignation after the NA/DP/I3 government was sworn in on May 21, 2012, and after the said government withdrew the nominees for the GEBE board as had been put forward by the former UP/DP government.
The former United People's (UP) party/DP government had submitted the names of Mark Mingo, Veronica Webster-Jansen and Rene Richardson to the Corporate Governance Council for vetting as candidates to serve on the GEBE board. Those three, had they been accepted, would have replaced Lambert, Joseph Dollison and Gregory Richardson. The latter two have already resigned.
Lambert issued his resignation letter to Ralph Richardson in mid-March, after the UP/DP Council of Ministers (COM) had dispatched a letter to Richardson requesting that the shareholding foundation seek the immediate resignation of GEBE's Supervisory Board members. The letter was dated March 12 and signed by the Prime Minister on behalf of the COM. The COM framed its request in terms of the reorganisation of GEBE in light of the new policy for government utility companies.
Richardson said on Monday that the Shareholding Foundation could not just appoint members as it chose, but had to wait on recommendations from government. Thus far, he added, the foundation has not received any notification that new nominees for the board have been identified.
He said he hopes a new board could be put in place as early as next month.
Regarding Lambert's position, Richardson said that while the articles of incorporation allowed for a second four-year term, this was not the case in this regard. Lambert will remain in place until a new board is identified and discussions can commence on the way forward.
As for the division of shares of the company, Richardson said he understood that the current government had accepted the MOU signed by St. Maarten, Saba and Statia for the division of shares. The MOU was spearheaded by former Minister of Energy Affairs Theo Heyliger.
Richardson said the governments of the three islands now must instruct the Shareholding Foundation to transfer the shares and as of what date they would like to see this done.
Heyliger, Saba's Commissioner of Energy Chris Johnson and Statia's Commissioner of Energy Koos Sneek signed the MOU in April 2012. With an action plan and with the shares transfer agreement of October 2011 incorporated into the MOU, the three islands entered an 18-month transition phase that will culminate in the division of shares and in Saba and Statia establishing their own electricity companies by January 1, 2014.
GEBE St. Maarten will buy out Saba's 3.1 per cent and Statia's 4.5 per cent shares in GEBE to the tune of approximately US $15.2 million combined, so that St. Maarten becomes the 100 per cent owner of the company.
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