THE HAGUE–A significant number of St. Maarten government entities are late in submitting their annual reports and the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT has once again reminded them of their duty.
CFT Chairman Raymond Gradus sent a letter to St. Maarten Finance Minister Richard Gibson on August 11 in which he requested the Minister’s cooperation to have the government entities send in their 2016 annual report and in some cases the one of the year before that.
The St. Maarten Corporate Governance Code prescribes that the annual reports of the government entities have to be drafted no later than five months after the financial year has been closed. In line with the financial supervision law of Curaçao and St. Maarten, these reports have to be sent to the CFT.
The letter to the Minister included a list of government entities that have not complied as yet. The 2016 annual report still has to be received from the following government owned companies: the Princess Juliana International Airport Holding Company, the St. Maarten Harbour Holding Company, C-Post International, the St. Maarten Telecommunication Holding Company, Development Bank Netherlands Antilles OBNA, Dutch Caribbean Air Navigation Service Provider and United Telecommunications Services (UTS).
The Airport Security Financing Company still has to deliver annual reports since 2010, while St. Maarten Economic Development Corporation has to submit four subsequent annual reports, from 2013 to 2016. St. Maarten Postal Services and St. Maarten Laboratory Services (SLS) are two years behind and still have to submit their 2015 and 2016 annual reports.
Only Windward Islands Airways International (Winair), the Saba Bank Resources and the Philipsburg Jubilee Library have delivered their 2016 annual account on time.
Many government foundations are late. Still to be received are the 2016 annual reports from: the Government Buildings Foundation, the Small Business Development Foundation (SBDF), the Foundation Upkeep Sports Facilities, the Mental Health Foundation (MHF), the White and Yellow Cross Foundation (WYC), the St. Maarten National Heritage Foundation and Museum, the St. Maarten Development Fund Foundation, the St. Maarten Voluntary Corps VKS and the Turning Point Foundation.
Still receivable are the annual reports from the St. Maarten Medical Centre (SMMC) for the years 2014, 2015 and 2016, as well as those of the Windward Islands Justice Institutions Foundation. The St. Maarten Nature Foundation and St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (SMHDF) have to submit their 2015 and 2016 annual reports.
The Foundation for Academic and Vocational Education, the Foundation St. Maarten Support Services and the Sports Development Foundation are four years behind and still have to send in their annual reports of 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016.
Institutions that still have to submit their 2016 annual report are the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten (CBCS), the executing entity of the Social and Sickness Insurance SZV and the General Pension Fund St. Maarten (APS). Bureau Telecommunication and Post (BTP) is three years behind schedule and still has to deliver 2014 to 2016.
The CFT noted that St. Maarten has made progress in the past years in delivering of annual reports of its government entities. “This does not take away the fact that the CFT still expects a number of annual reports from previous years,” stated Gradus.
The CFT urged the government to make an effort to have these annual reports submitted considering the possible risks that the financial situation of these entities can pose to the budget of the Country St. Maarten. The CFT sent a similar reminder to the Finance Minister in September last year, at which time also many government entities were late on submitting their annual report.
The CFT further reminded the Minister of the importance of having a structural dividend policy in place for the government entities, based on which dividend can provide a structural and sustainable contribution to the government’s coffers.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/69210-st-maarten-govt-entities-behind-with-annual-report
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