Governments meet again this Saturday – No clarity yet on Tromp probe at Central Bank
POSTED: 08/15/12 11:53 AM
St. Maarten – Prime Minister Sarah Wescot-Williams and Finance Minister Roland Tuitt will likely attend a meeting about the Central Bank with the government of Curacao in Willemstad this Saturday, following yesterday’s video-conference.
The video conference focuses on the investigation into the behavior of Central Bank President dr. Emsley Tromp, and the appointment of a seventh board member. Curacao wants to suspend Tromp.
Prime Minister Gerrit Schotte and Finance Minister George Jamaloodin said that the investigation into Tromp had not yet started. “We were not consulted on the terms of reference for the investigation and we could therefore not approve them,” Wescot-Williams said.
The initiative to suspend Tromp comes from the outgoing government in Curacao, not from St. Maarten’s government. Wescot-Williams said that the Schotte-government claims it has left the choice of the company that will do the investigation up to the Central Bank’s supervisory board.
The prime minister pushed during the video conference again for the approval of the Central Bank’s budget and for the execution of measures relevant for the bank’s branch in Philipsburg.
The video conference lasted about an hour. At the end, Schotte agreed to send the terms of reference for perusal to St. Maarten. “We will both prepare our position and meet again, also with the supervisory board and the Central Bank’s management. This meeting has been tentatively set for Saturday and will most likely take place in Curacao,” Wescot-Williams said.
The video conference was in St. Maarten attended by Hensley Plantain, the legal advisor to the prime minister and Xavier Blackman, the policy advisor to Finance Minister Tuitt.
