Lawmaker Slams St Maarten Government’s ‘Shabby’ Financial Accounts

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

01 July 2005

According to the leader of the People’s Progressive Alliance (PPA) Councilwoman Gracita Arrindell, the accounts of the government of St Maarten were found to be "shabby and incomplete," leading auditors to decline comment as to their reliability.

“It is unacceptable that the records and documentation of the Island Government of St. Maarten were and are today in such a state of disorder and shambles that an independent audit chamber could not and did not express an opinion as to whether any of the statements made about revenue and expenditures or assets and liabilities by this DP Government were accurate or true,” Arindell noted in a statement.

The auditors' report, entitled somewhat long-windedly: “Report Containing the Concerns and Remarks of the General Audit Chamber Netherlands Antilles as a Result of the Control of the Accounts of the Island Territory Sint Maarten over the Fiscal Years 1997 up to and including 2001” was recently made available to members of the Island Council in the budget debate.

According to Arindell, auditors have raised the following concerns relating to the island territory's financial affairs:

the state of the administration, including internal controls; budgets which have not been prepared in accordance with established procedures; the Island Ordinance concerning budget amendments' never having been adopted, making it illegal; the Island Territory’s Balance Sheet which did not include parcels of real estate and property; uncertainty as to the true statement of the equity position of the Island Government; several expenditures, including personal contributions, sickness cost and advances that have been placed illegally as receivables instead of expenditures; and the Island Territory's illegal borrowing.

“The Audit Chamber has placed the onus squarely back on the plate of the Executive and Island Councils to get their act together and clean up this mess. We support this call wholeheartedly," Arindell remarked.

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