Lawyer wants ExCo to answer
questions about casino licence
~ Says Commissioners acting against the general interest ~
PHILIPSBURG--The Executive Council should give concrete answers why GN Entertainment still hasn’t received its casino licence, says Marius Römer, lawyer of Kildare Properties, developer of Caravanserai Beach Resort in Beacon Hill.
The commissioners, Römer told The Daily Herald Thursday, have been dead silent on the matter.
He said a public meeting of the Island Council should be convened during which the Commissioners should explain to the people of St. Maarten why a 30-million-dollar project is being jeopardised.
He said he would be compelled to appeal to the highest constitutional entities in the Netherlands Antilles tasked with supervising and guaranteeing good governance, if government could not provide clarity in the matter.
By not giving information, Römer said, the Executive Council hasn’t been adhering to the principles of good governance. In a democratic country government has to be transparent about its decisions and explain why decisions have been taken, he said.
Römer wants the Commissioners to state why the casino licence has not been granted. “Are there other interests that are not so transparent that the Executive Council has been protecting?” he queried.
If the situation at Caravanserai becomes really critical, Römer said, he will have to resort to alternative legal actions against the members of the Executive Council in the interest of the people of St. Maarten.
He said the Executive Council still hadn’t complied with a July 13 court verdict ordering government to take a decision on issuing a licence to his client Kildare Properties for the casino at Caravanserai Beach Hotel.
The lawyer believes the Executive Council has been acting against the general interest of St. Maarten. “If there is a valid reason for not issuing the licence they should say so,” he said.
Kildare Properties, based on an October 2, 2006, Island Council resolution, submitted a second request for a casino licence for GN Entertainment this year on February 22.
A motion was approved during the same meeting mandating the Executive Council to grant the licence once Kildare Properties “satisfactorily showed” that financing for the expansion was in place and the construction would not exceed 24 months from the date the building permit was issued.
But, despite the October 2, 2006, motion the Island Council had approved, the Executive Council decided on January 16 to suspend all decision-taking on the granting of the casino licence for an indefinite period, until the required 200 rooms were built.
Based on the promise of the Executive Council that GN Entertainment would receive the casino licence if it built 200 rooms, Kildare Properties took a loan at Scotiabank for US $12.7 million.
As a result of the delay, financing for the construction of the rooms has suffered, because the rent the casino would pay the hotel, US $50,000 per month, formed an essential part of the monthly payment of the US $12.7 million loan.
This situation caused Scotiabank not to approve the loan unless it received a guarantee that the casino licence would be issued.
Römer said Kildare Properties and Scotiabank thought they had received this guarantee when the Island Council on October 2, 2006, approved a resolution instructing the Executive Council to issue the casino licence.
“However, we have managed to keep things running thus far and the construction has been progressing. Everybody can see that,” Römer stated, adding that he did not know how much longer his client would be able to continue like this.
Römer filed a request on behalf of Kildare Properties Ltd. on August 21 for a standard proceeding at the Court of First Instance asking the court to order four of the current five Commissioners of the Executive Council to each pay his client US $12.7 million plus interest.
“It’s still strange to me why all the Commissioners have gone silent on the matter and hide behind formalities instead of telling the people the truth,” he said.
