Philipsburg:--- Members of Parliament Patrick Illidge and Roy Marlin set the record straight with members of the media on Monday morning at a press conference regarding their visit to the Kadaster office almost two weeks ago, where they were accused of lacing obscene language at the Director of the Kadaster Office Clement Roos.Member of Parliament Patrick Illidge said that when he was the Minister of Traffic and Telecommunications in the former Netherlands Antilles he realized that the POSTPARBANK had too much money and as such decided to use some of that money to benefit St. Maarten and its people. Illidge said at the time which is almost two years ago, he contacted his cousin Roberto Richardson, a certified architect to start a housing project that would be affordable for the people of St. Maarten. MP Illidge said the same day the POSTPARBANK St. Maarten was launched they also launched a housing project that will be financed by the POSTPARBANK. This housing project is going to be in a gated community which would be zero percent down payment with 5% for a period of 30 years. Illidge explained that he did this because he realized how the real estate business was skyrocketing and since the opportunity was there he took advantage of it so that locals could own their own homes.
MP Illidge said that when he realized that the administrative work within the government of St. Maarten was taking too long to complete. He made several phone calls to get assistance; the first person he said he called was the head of New Projects Kurt Ruan and the head of Domain Affairs Maria van Zaddlehof. "Both of these civil servants did what they needed to do and the head of domain affairs notified me that the paper work was sent over to the Kadaster Office so that the Meetbrief could be issued." MP Illidge said that Roberto Richardson tried on numerous occassions to obtain the Meetbrief but he was not getting anywhere with the Director Mr. Roos. He said Richardson had a massive stroke and is now recovering and last time he went to the Kadaster office he still could not obtain the document and that is how he decided to accompany Richardson to the Kadaster Office to see exactly what was holding up the process. Illidge admitted that the conversation got heated because they showed Roos all the documents, even the payments that were made to the Kadaster Office and he (Roos) admitted that Richardson had paid too much money for the document. MP Illidge said from the time he entered Roos' office he (Roos) was upset because Richardson took two MPs with him that day. MP Illidge said when Roos expressed his concerns, he immediately informed him that he was not there in the capacity of a MP but instead as a citizen and former Minister who initiated the project for the people.
"As an elected official, I want to make very clear that when its election time I knock on the doors of the St. Maarten people and ask them to vote for me, and when these people knock on my door for help I will help, I will answer and if it means that I have to revisit the Kadaster Office again so be it, even if I am labeled as the passionate guy. I have spoken out on the floor of Parliament about the lack of services from Government departments. I spoke to the former Minister that was responsible for the issuance of business licenses and I also spoke out against GEBE. While I am grateful for the work the immigrants did on St. Maarten, I will not tolerate abuse from anyone. Whether its locals or foreigners I will not condone the taking advantage of each other. I also agree that some of my people (locals) will have to get their acts together."
The MP said right now the entire staff of the Kadaster office is being antagonized by the Director of the Kadaster Office. "This kind of behavior will not be tolerated. Just to let you know that we visited the Kadaster's Office on Wednesday and by Friday midday the Meetbrief was issued by the Kadaster Office. Why was Roos giving Richardson a hard time and why he did not issue the document before because everything had gone through the process legally?"
Member of Parliament Roy Marlin told members of the media at the press conference they called on Monday that he has enormous knowledge on how the Kadaster Office is supposed to function. Marlin said he was the commissioner in charge of the Kadaster office for some ten years and he is the one who did everything to make sure the building and registration system was implemented. "Marlin said the article he read in one of the newspapers does not reflect the truth and the only person who could have given the reporter the details of the meeting was the person that was also part of the meeting. However, that person did not tell the truth, what he did was give his version of the story." MP Marlin said he was not born on St. Maarten and when he first came to the island he too had to go through the process of being accepted. "I was born on Aruba and I came to St. Maarten in 1983. I had a difficult time trying to gain acceptance even though I had heritage here. So I will never tell anyone they are not from here because I know what it is to be accepted."
Marlin further explained that while he met with the Director of the Kadaster Office he could not get any clear explanations as to why the Meetbrief was held up. Marlin said that the Kadaster office became a foundation in 1998 and in 1999 he was appointed the commissioner in charge of the Kadaster Office to 2009. MP Marlin said that since the incident and the publication of the article, he received a number of phone calls from people in the community that are having problems with the director of the Kadaster Office. One such complaint is the hike in the fees that was implemented by the Director Clement Roos without consulting government. Marlin said there are loop holes in the law that governs the Kadaster Office and the Director of the government foundation is using these loopholes to his benefit instead of following corporate governance that he referred to in the article that appeared in the newspaper.
He said he is one person that is in favor of Corporate Governance and he also introduced this measure at several government owned companies including at the Kadaster Office. He said while government placed certain companies in foundations and at arm's length he is of the opinion that these companies/supervisory boards must follow the rules that are laid down for them. He said it is not because government placed these institutions at arm's length that they cannot pull them back in. "Right now as I listen to the complaints and the tariff hikes that have been implemented I am wondering if it is not the time for government to pull back the Kadaster Office under their wing and take their responsibilities."
Marlin said that based on the report issued by the Ombudsman, something needs to be done. He said while he is not in a position to take direct action the Minister that is now responsible for the Kadaster Office will have to intervene and if it is necessary for the supervisory board to report to Parliament then that would have to be done.
When questioned by the media if he Marlin will seek to remove Roos as Director of the Kadaster, Marlin said that the statements he made still stands.
