PHILIPSBURG:--- Member of Parliament William Marlin described Minister of VROMI Maurice Lake as a pathological liar at a press conference he called on Monday. Marlin said the Minister went to Parliament and unleashed a number of lies regarding the purchase of the Emilio Wilson Estate. The leader of the National Alliance said that the Minister and the UP faction told Parliament that the letter of intent was not booked in, while the Minister refused to give the griffier a copy of the letter to distribute to all Members of Parliament. Marlin gave members of the media copies of the letter which has the Prime Minister's letter head on it. He said the only reason he signed that letter was because the Prime Minister of St. Maarten Sarah Wescot Williams was off island and he was the Deputy Prime Minister and he had to sign the letter.
Marlin said that when the SWW-2 cabinet fell, there was an agreement in place to purchase the Emilio Wilson Estate and when the SWW-3 government took office they decided to change the agreement to purchase more land in order to peddle it off to Rain Forest Adventures.
Member of Parliament William Marlin further explained that ever since Minister Maurice Lake took office he has been lying constantly and plagiarizing the work he (Marlin) did while in office for one year. Marlin gave several examples of lies that he said Minister Lake told, one is about the FOGA project he stopped. He said the Minister told Parliament that because of "the former Minister Marlin" government is saddled with at least four court cases and when he was asked to name those court cases he could only name two.
Marlin further stated that Minister Lake has been accusing people of stealing and promised to do investigations and he never comes back to the people to tell them the outcome of the investigations he did. He said Minister Lake accused Leroy Lapaix of stealing sand from the landfill and dropping it off at Guana Bay. "The Minister said he would have investigated and to date he never came back to tell the people of St. Maarten that three persons were contracted to remove the sand and that Lapaix was not stealing any sand." He said the same thing happened when Minister Lake accused Lapaix of stealing milled (used) asphalt from PJIAE. "While I was in office, the head of VROMI and I agreed to give some people the used asphalt to pave their roads, those persons had to pay to transport the used asphalt." Marlin said because this decision was taken during his last days in office, the head of VROMI and him were unable to finalize the documentation for the decision they took. He said when he wrote a letter to Government explaining the situation and even questioned who gave a senior civil servant permission to take asphalt from VROMI to pave a road in French Quarter the matter went dead.
When asked if the Minister could be sanctioned for the lies he told Parliament, Marlin said that in St. Maarten any and everything is allowed. He said MPs and Ministers lie everyday on the floor of parliament and they hide behind the immunity they have on the floor of parliament.
Marlin went on to say that when he took office he said if he could he would have stopped the causeway project. He said later he came back to the people and informed them that he could not stop the causeway project because agreements were already signed and monies were paid down. Marlin said he gave his opinion on the causeway which he believes is not serving its true purpose. "Right now, the people of the French side are benefiting from the causeway and some people from Cole Bay."
Apart from setting the record straight regarding statements the current Minister of VROMI is making, Marlin in response to a question posed by SMN News regarding the financial situation at PJIAE said the NA faction requested a meeting and when it was called they did not have a quorum. He said the chairlady of parliament is not respecting the rules of order because she has to follow certain procedures to set meetings and that is not done. "The meeting should be called on Friday and one thing I can say is that the present coalition could run but they certainly cannot hide." When asked if his faction has any other recourse to take since Parliament is not functioning the way it ought to and if they intend to file a criminal complaint, Marlin said he does not want to jump the gun but he will wait on the meeting and after that he will decide what other steps he has to take.
Click here to view the Letter of Intent on the Purchase of the Emilio Wilson Estate.
