SXMElections.com

PHILIPSBURG--The Prosecutor’s Office has started civil proceedings looking into the affairs of the St. Maarten Harbour Holding NV.

The investigation covers a range of areas, including the construction of the Simpson Bay causeway, which was financed by the harbour. In a press statement issued late last night, Minister of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunications Claret Connor said he hoped the harbour would “fully cooperate” with the inquiry.

In a letter dated July 13, the Prosecutor’s Office requested information regarding the policies and “course of affairs” from St Maarten Harbour Holding NV and from its closely linked companies.

Prosecutor Karola van Nie said in a press release on Tuesday that the investigation concerned the “corporate governance” of the port authority and addressed issues such as its compliance with the law, compliance with the statutes, transparency and some specific issues, including the course of affairs relating to the construction of the Simpson Bay causeway bridge.

Van Nie said the proceedings had been prompted by claims from the community, including the Integrity Inquiry report into the functioning of government conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2014 and the final report “Doing the right things right,” produced by Commissie Integer Openbaar Bestuur, also in 2014.

The investigation is a civil proceeding and not a criminal investigation.

Van Nie said due to public interest and based on the Civil Code of St Maarten, the Prosecutor’s Office is authorised to submit a request to the Common Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao, St. Maarten and Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba to investigate the policies and course of affairs of any legal entity in St. Maarten. Such an inquiry may extend to the policies and course of affairs of other, closely linked legal entities, she noted.

“Within this scope, the Prosecutor’s Office may obtain information regarding the policies of the legal entity and the course of its affairs. The legal entity is obliged to provide the information requested and also to grant inspection of its books, documents and other data carriers should this be required,” she said.

Minister Connor said the procedure embarked on by the Prosecutor’s Office “is part of their competence and, as such, I do HOPE that the St. Maarten Harbour Group of Companies will fully cooperate with this civil inquiry.

“The civil inquiry as stated by the Prosecutor’s Office is a result of the integrity studies that have been carried out and the Prosecutor’s Office has deemed it necessary to begin this civil investigation into the functioning of the Harbour Group of Companies and its subsidiaries to see if they are functioning according to their incorporated purposes.”