PHILIPSBURG–Member of Parliament (MP) Franklin Meyers has effective immediately withdrawn as formateur for the incoming interim government and as the candidate for prime minister.
His withdrawal comes after he was informed via Governor Eugene Holiday that several issues had arose with his candidacy, chief among them his business connections with his brother Etienne “Tochie” Meyers.
“I can’t divorce myself from my brother. He is blood and that cannot change,” said Meyers on Wednesday afternoon.
His elder brother is before the Court of First Instance on several charges related to his business El Capitan.
Another stumbling block for Meyers, who is deputy leader of the United People’s (UP) party, is his business connections with the extradited businessman Francesco Corallo. Meyers holds a casino licence which Corallo manages.
The National Security Service VDSM has also indicated that Meyers had several “unusual” money transactions and that an unnamed person had made a report against Meyers in 2009 for threatening him/her.
“I will not stand in the way of progress of this already devastated country. My goal in public service has always been to serve this country. It is unfortunate that issue that did not even affect me in 2016 have now surfaced. Let’s see what happens now,” Meyers said.
The Governor now has to appoint a new formateur to continue the government formation process.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/72059-meyers-withdraws-as-formateur-pm-candidate
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