WILLEMSTAD--International investigators will look into the actions of Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten (CBCS) president-director Emsley Tromp, the Supervisory Board decided during its meeting in Willemstad, on Saturday.
These investigators will also determine if Tromp should go on paid vacation while they conduct the probe. Unconfirmed reports state that a Belgian entity is being eyed for the job.
As reported, no final approval was given for the minutes of earlier CBCS management meetings, in which the contested bond loan with a repurchase facility of US $150 million for the St. Maarten Harbour Corporation was mentioned. Further study is needed of said bond loan, as well as of an earlier NAf. 300-million bond loan for Curaçao's utility company Aqualectra, to see if they violate the Central Bank's investment policy.
The three Curaçao board members are not happy with the role of the court-appointed, seventh member Robert Pietersz, because they believe he is leaning towards the three board members of St. Maarten, even though he was born in Curaçao and worked there most of his life before moving to Aruba.
Curaçao coalition party "Pueblo Soberano" (PS) staged a protest at the Central Bank, during the meeting against the St. Maarten bond issue and demanded that the repurchase facility be reversed. The entrance to the complex was blocked at a certain moment, but cleared at the insistence of PS leader Helmin Wiels and the police.
The PS leader didn't have a good word to say about what he called tax money from Curaçao being used on behalf of St. Maarten. "The people on St. Maarten don't pay import tax. If we want to import a car on Curaçao, we pay 26 per cent import duties plus 6 per cent sales tax. So, if the car costs 30,000 you have to pay 40,000, because you lose 10,000 in taxes."
"Furthermore, people on St. Maarten don't pay excise on alcohol; that's why they have so many alcoholics. They don't pay land tax. On Curaçao, we even have to pay tax to use the lavatory."
Asked after the meeting about the fact that no decision was taken to halt the bond issue for St. Maarten, Wiels said this did not mean the battle was over. "We will continue to fight and apply pressure until this deal is off the table," he warned
Ireland bailout Dennis Bergkamg Enjoy England TwiTrips Rugby union Simon Barker Insects
No comments:
Post a Comment