Carty said he did not travel to Austria but met with VAMED overseas and several times locally.
PHILIPSBURG: --- In an exclusive interview with SMN News the Director of USZV Glen Carty and his adjunct director, Elton Felisie clarified a number of things that is taking place at USZV that SMN News wrote about in 2016.
Carty said that he did not travel to Austria to meet with the VAMED group, but admitted that he met with them in Miami and also met with VAMED officials several times on St. Maarten. Carty also admitted he did meet with Member of Parliament and leader of the UPP on the boardwalk, he claimed that meeting was a casual meeting and that even former Minister Cornelius de Weever was present. Carty insisted that meeting was not a business meeting but instead it was a casual so-called gathering which happened by coincidence.
Carty said he traveled to Miami with Dr. Felix Holiday, and Dr. Rombley from USZV to further discuss the construction of a new hospital on St. Maarten. He said that meeting was called to discuss the need for a new hospital on St. Maarten. He said at that time several of the stakeholders were not getting along and for that reason, they met at Westin Resort where the stakeholders all agreed that St. Maarten does need a new hospital and that a business plan is needed for VAMED to proceed. He said at that point a tripartite committee was formed with the stakeholders which are VSA, USZV and SMMC in order for them to develop a business plan since they all agreed that healthcare on St. Maarten has to be reformed. According to Carty the Inspectorate was also invited to the stakeholders meeting held at Westin but when asked to participate in the tripartite the inspectorate denied the offer.
Carty said over the years USZV has been operating as an insurance company and airline in order to execute referrals which according to him could be a nightmare for him and the USZV team. It should be noted that USZV is not an insurance company but instead they are an administrative body that has to follow the guidelines laid down by the law.
Asked if he realized that VAMED invested monies and time when they were asked to work with the intention that they would have been given the project without a bidding process. Carty explained that VAMED saw that SMMC wanted to expand the hospital and as such they contacted SMMC and after said they wanted to meet with USZV since the USZV is the main financier for SMMC. He also said that everyone including the tripartite, USZV and VAMED put time into the project and all parties spent monies. Carty said when someone wants to go fishing then they must throw a line in the water. Asked if St. Maarten provided the business plan to VAMED for them to provide the necessary financing. Carty said they did not complete the process and by then the government changed and as such the new Minister (Emil Lee) when he took office said he wanted the process stopped and he wanted a more transparent process whereby a bidding must take place. Carty said the Minister of VSA is responsible for healthcare, SMMC and USZV and he is the one that decides how the process must take place. He said in order for the bidding to take place they had to make a terms of reference. Carty said USZV did not use VAMED’s information for the terms of reference but instead gathered information from all the players involved. Asked about the photograph that was taken at the notary where the representative of INSO was present for the photo opportunity, Carty said that everyone was invited to be at the notary, however, VAMED and its representatives did not show up even though they were invited. Asked if he has anything to show that VAMED was invited there Carty said he was not the one that sent out the invitations, he did say that the other contractor BAM Philips was there. The bidders had to submit at certain time of the day and the bidders were asked to be present at the notary office when the envelopes were going to be open. Carty said everyone else was there except VAMED. Carty said in his view the bidding process was very intense, and open since all the envelopes were opened at the same time. However, VAMED told the court that they were not invited to be at the notary’s office and that they were given a time frame in which their bid had to be submitted.
Backdated Landsbesluit
The Supervisory Board of USZV approved a policy on July 4th 2016 where it clearly states that the director of USZV has to report to them of any secondary function and or conflict of interest. SMN News presented Carty with the policy and he said that the Supervisory Board was well aware that he was working for UTS and yet they recommended him for the position. Indeed the supervisory board was well aware that Carty had another full-time job, thus is the reason they approved a policy which clearly stated that Carty had to go back to them for approval and the other reason why they made him the interim director of USZV.
Carty said that there is nothing like “interim” director instead he is the director of USZV for an unlimited period of time. Carty said his LB stated that he was appointed director until a replacement is found. However, since August 2016 Carty was signing all documents as the interim director of USZV which according to the rules and regulation of the country were done illegally.
Asked if he informed the Supervisory Board based on the policy they approved in July 4th 2016. Carty said that the Minister of VSA gave him the permission to hold both positions after having a discussion with UTS. Carty further stated that the Minister and UTS agreed to have him assist USZV until June 2017 but if he is needed for a longer period then the Minister will discuss that with UTS board of directors again. However, so far no recruitment drive to find an appropriate director has not yet begun while the board of directors of UTS already indicated to Carty that he has to make a choice at some point. However, Carty said that UTS did not ask him to take any decision on his position, he said that he is a change manager and his future will be decided by the Minister of VSA St. Maarten and the board of directors of UTS.
Based on article 5 of the national ordinance of USZV it states that the management and staff of USZV are obliged to provide the SBOD with any information that they requested in order to execute their task within a given timeframe. The director must consult with the SBOD on the establishment of rules and regulation for the management board of directors and the labor conditions for USZV staff that has to be in a labor regulation for USZV. The SBOD supervises the general operations of USZV while they have to monitor how the management board is managing the funds and other properties of USZV, while they are also tasked with providing advice to the CEO and Minister in matters relating to the operations of USZV and are also accountable to the Minister of VSA.
Asked why the governor backdated his LB while he was not screened for the position when he was appointed the interim director. Carty said that the backdating on his LB was done in order to protect him and USZV for decisions he took prior to his appointment. Clearly, the interim made some questionable decisions especially when he chose to use the AVO funds for investment purposes which are clearly laid down in the AOV law.
Carty also made clear that he does not have to report to the Supervisory Board of Directors of USZV because the Minister of VSA is his boss and what he does have to do is inform the SBOD. He said if the SBOD does not agree with the decisions he took then they have the rights to submit their grievances by letter to the Minister of VSA. Carty also said that the SBOD is an advisory body and he does not always have to take their advice. However, the SBOD is a statutory body that can be held responsible for any wrongdoing under their watch.
Carty said that everyone wants to know how he could manage two large organizations, for him that is a simple task because he is a leader and he does have a management team in each of the organizations.
Investing AOV Funds --- the law is not clear
Asked by SMN News if USZV used the AOV funds to invest in real estate, both Carty and Felisie said that SVB has been investing from the AOV funds since 1960 because the law did not state that they could not use the funds for investments. He also said that USZV has an investment committee in place who also gave them an advice on investments. Felisie said that the former supervisory board which he was part of put that policy in place and they also conducted an ALM study. Asked if there are any reserves in the AOV funds in the event of calamities. Both the director and adjunct director said the investments they made overseas are liquid and they could ask for their monies anytime and they will get it immediately. While the two main managers of USZV claims that the AVO funds can be invested the law clearly forbids it. Article 25 of the AOV national ordinance states that there needs to be a national decree containing general measures, with regulations regarding investments with monies from the AOV funds.
Referral committee will be established at SMMC and agreement signed with French Side.
Without divulging much information Carty said that they recently signed an agreement with the French side whereby SMMC can use specialists on the French side in cases of emergencies. He also said that they are busy with SMMC to establish a referral committee that will have medical professionals on board. However, this also seems to be a myth since SMMC does not have the staff and financing in place for such.
Consultants working for USZV
The director’s said that USZV has four consultants working for them and that KPMG will not be consulting for USZV for the year 2017. They said that all expenses incurred by KPMG for the new hospital have to be paid by SMMC. Asked how SMMC could pay KMPG when they are bankrupt and did not even pay their taxes. Carty said that USZV pays SMMC often and when they are paid they have to pay KPMG. Adjunct director Felisie said that they inherited a number of legacies when they got on the management team. Asked if they the members of the current management team have members that were part of the former supervisory board. They are Glen Carty, Elton Felisie and Jeroen Veen (legal advisor) and if they were put in place to clean up the mess at USZV that occurred under their noses. Both directors said that when they were on the Supervisory Board they were not getting the kind of information from the former management of USZV. While USZV managers said that SMMC has to pay KPMG it leaves an open question as to whether KPMG was ever paid or if SMMC has to reimburse USZV.
ATS --- BAP contracts.
While USZV claim that ATS is doing an excellent job by collecting monies owed to USZV SMN News asked Carty and Felisie who really has the contract for the collection of outstanding debts since the BAP also have a contract with USZV. Carty said that BAP does have a contract with USZV to train the ATS workers. He said ATS is a foundation created by USZV since the intention is to employ locals. Asked why ATS workers are being housed at USZV and why are they using USZV vehicles, Carty and Felisie said that ATS is a foundation by USZV and that house them in order to cut cost.
Besides that, the USZV managers said that the only thing that will solve some of the problems the country is facing in healthcare is to be able to put the National Health Insurance (NHI) in place. They said St. Maarten will not re-invent the wheel but they are in consultation with Aruba to have this develop the legislations before the NHI can be put into action.
It should be noted that the two-hour interview with USZV director Glen Carty and Elton Felisie was recorded but USZV director Glen Carty requested that the audio of the interview remain unpublished which SMN News chose to respect.