Gumbs: SMHDF suspensions legal, but documents still not available

April 08, 2015 9:49 AM
PHILIPSBURG--Prime Minister Marcel Gumbs, acting in his capacity as Minister of Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure VROMI, addressed much-anticipated questions posed by Members of Parliament (MPs) concerning St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF) on Tuesday.
 
However, answers to some of the questions posed in late December already have been reported in the media, while other questions remain unanswered because Gumbs was unable to collect all relevant information in time for the meeting.
 
He has had to resort to having lawyers research whether a court injunction could be used to retrieve documents. The plenary meeting had been postponed twice in order to facilitate this¬¬ – the first time after he only just had been inaugurated in his current ministerial role. Another time, the meeting was cancelled due to lack of quorum.
 
Gumbs said he actually had requested another postponement recently, but it had been agreed that the meeting should go forward.
 
The meeting centred on the forensic investigation carried out by Government Accountants Bureau SOAB into the operations of SMHDF, the decision of the SMHDF board to suspend three members of the management team late last year, and then-VROMI Minister Maurice Lake's request to SOAB to withdraw the investigation.
 
Gumbs said on Tuesday that he had been promised the documents and had made a fair effort through phone and e-mail correspondence to collect information. The findings of the two prior audits of SMHDF carried out by consulting firms KPMG and BDO had been requested a number of times, as well as multiple financial statements.
 
When asked how this could be, he explained that things previously had been set up in a way that Government was kept at arm's length from government-owned companies and that this was part of that reality.
Gumbs added that there had been a technical error with e-mails and that the board had said it was indeed willing to meet him.
 
In response to the most pertinent questions posed by MPs, Gumbs said the SMHDF suspension was legal, because even having fewer than five members the board still was in a legal position to do so. The board is also within its rights to fire a managing director.
 
Managing Director Henry Lynch saw his service agreement end with SMHDF February 4, based on a host of instances of financial mismanagement.
 
Gumbs said SOAB itself had made the decision to suspend the audit.
 
'Advice, not order'
Gumbs said Lake had given "advice" to stop forensic investigations, but had not "ordered" them stopped. Lake brought along copies of e-mail correspondence between himself and SOAB management, parts of which he read aloud during the meeting.
 
"The Council of Ministers made a decision to let the incoming ministers appoint the new board members of St. Maarten Housing Foundation. I don't understand how Mr. [tenants representative Elston – Ed.] Fos made such a decision without the approval of a full board. ...
 
"I would like to know how Mr. Fos by himself could put in such a request by allegedly misleading the other board member Ms. Roxanne Powel who is not feeling well. ... In closing, I would advise you to stop this request with immediate effect because proper procedure was not followed."
 
In response, A SOAB representative said, "After discussing the recent developments internally, it was decide not to commence our assignment at SMHDF this Tuesday [December 16, 2014 – Ed.]. We will await instructions based on the outcome of the consultation between you and the SMHDF board."
 
MP Sarah Wescot-Williams took issue with Lake's last two e-mails to SOAB that cited "misinformation by the opposition to the public that I stopped the investigation" and "games being played" by opposition.
 
She made a motion that the document be withdrawn, as it had been submitted as an official document of Parliament. President of Parliament Dr. Lloyd Richardson concluded after waiting a few seconds that no one had seconded the motion, although both William Marlin and Christophe Emmanuel made it clear directly afterwards that they had seconded it.
 
Normally, Dr. Richardson asks MPs whether they second a motion, but it is not mandatory procedure. Emmanuel said later that he had seconded it, but that his microphone must have been off, and he said immediately thereafter, "It should be seconded," which was audible, but not admissible.
 
Marlin, one of the initiators of the plenary meeting, said he was happy that at least the point of the board being legal had come out, that having been a main point of interest.
 
Emmanuel, Wescot-Williams and Frans Richardson were the other initiators.
 
Other concerns
In response to Emmanuel, Gumbs said Government had no authority to dissolve the board, but would have authority to suspend a possible three members appointed by Government.
 
He said Government had put forward three candidates for the board¬ – Elmiro Janssen, Jason Peterson and Antonio Brown – as the Minister has the authority to appoint three of five board members. However they would have had to be vetted by the Good Corporate Governance Council, which requested more information rather than vetting them.
 
MP Leona Marlin-Romeo asked whether the two remaining suspended members of the management team still were receiving pay, a question which Gumbs was not able to verify. The board's attorney Jairo Bloem had notified in December that all three management members had been placed "on non-active duty, with pay, until further notice."
 
Wescot-Williams said Lynch had presented a list of concerns to Parliament, but this should have been directed to government instead. Gumbs confirmed that no such list had been presented, but said there had been limited formal communication.
 
Marlin-Romeo, Lake and Cornelius de Weever in particular pointed out that they did not appreciate the saga playing out in the media, hoping instead to hear the results of the upcoming court case.
 
Gumbs was accompanied by VROMI Secretary-General Louis Brown, legal advisor Marieke van Zadelhoff and policy advisor Mark Williams.
 
MPs present were Theo Heyliger, Lake, Wescot-Williams, Marlin-Romeo, De Weever, Silveria Jacobs and Emmanuel. George Pantophlet, Tamara Leonard and Silvio Matser also were present, although they arrived after the quorum had been established. Frans Richardson, Franklin Meyers and Johan Leonard were not present.
 
As Gumbs started with answers to questions previously posed, only MPs who had posed questions in December were allowed to seek clarification in the first round.
 
The Daily Herald
 

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