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PHILIPSBURG: --- Member of Parliament Christopher Emmanuel is calling on the shareholder representative of SMHGC Minister Claret Connor to provide parliament with the both the old and new contracts between Checkmate Security and the St. Maarten Harbor Group of Companies (SMHGC). MP Emmanuel said he is giving the Minister until the end of this week to provide parliament with the documents parliament requested. He said last week when the management of the SMHGC attended a meeting in parliament and the documents were requested management of the SMHGC told parliament that they need to check with the Minister and shareholder representative for such documentation. He said when parliament contacted the Minister he informed parliament that he has to check with the management of the SMHGC. "I need to know who really the government of St. Maarten is. Because it seems as though the SMHGC is a government by itself and they run things the way they want to and the shareholder representative does not know or have any grip on how the SMHGC is running its affairs."MP Emmanuel said if the Minister cannot provide parliament with both the old contract and the new contract by the end of this week then the Minister of TEATT and shareholder representative of the SMHGC should tender his resignation along with the supervisory board. "The reason this Minister should resign is because he is unable to provide the people of St. Maarten with clear cut answers on how the SMHGC could give one company a 300% increase to run its operations. In my view the Minister does not know what transpired with this contract and by extension the supervisory board should tender their resignation because there is nowhere they could justify the increase. Checkmate Security had a bill of $936,000.00 annually, now they got an increase to S3M in two years."Asked by SMN News if the Minister does not heed his call what other measure he intend to take, MP Emmanuel said he will be sending a letter to President of Parliament, the Council of Ministers especially the Prime Minister as well as to the second chamber in the Hague where he will highlight his concerns and to show that "something" is definitely wrong with the dramatic increase between Checkmate Security and the SMHGC. Emmanuel said further to that he will be calling for a meeting with the Minister and during that meeting he will be tabling a motion of non-confidence against the Minister. Asked how he intend to get support from the ten seat majority to support a motion of non-confidence against one of their Ministers, MP Emmanuel said it is clear he does not have the numbers on his side but it is also very clear that the people of St. Maarten need the answers from both the Minister and the supervisory board of SMHGC. "I know that motion will be defeated but one thing will come out of this is that the people of St. Maarten will wake up and they will see that something is going on between the SMHGC and Checkmate Security."Emmanuel made clear that he is giving the Minister until the end of this week before he take action.
