A lot to be done for partition

May 19, 2011 6:11 AM

The liquidation committee entrusted with the partition of all remaining assets, stocks, debts and liquid assets of the Antilles under the new countries Curaçao and St. Maarten and The Netherlands that will assume the part of the BES-Islands (Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba), held a meeting last week.

There were at least twenty items on the agenda. “There’s a lot to be done,” chairperson Faroe Metry stated before Radio Z-86. Sub-committees are being set up to assist.

As example of the many activities, Metry lists the inventory of the shares of government NV’s, verifying if the movable property is still of value and if there is still money on the bank accounts from tax revenues for example. As the committee cannot possibly do this alone, they will need cooperation from all authorities involved,” says Metry.

According to him, this requires a new committee to determine the value of the estate per October 9th 2010. One suggests appointing Alberto Romero from the Central Bank as chairperson of the committee because he has already chaired the previous liquidation committee. That committee had determined the value of the estate up to December 31st 2005.

Metry also suggested a committee for the liquidation of the general pension fund Apna. Charlene Alberto, who had already chaired such a committee, is mentioned again to chair the new committee. Each country, The Netherlands on behalf of the BES-Islands, Curaçao and St. Maarten, must appoint two members in the committee.

If was further agreed to divide certain activities amongst the members of the liquidation committee. For instance, Anty Cijntje, member for Curaçao, is entrusted with verifying the account with the former national collector. According to Metry, one is verify there is no business merger. In other words, that no funds were deposited into the old accounts of the national collector after October 10th 2010.

Apart from Metry and Cijntje, the liquidation committee consists of Jaap Maan (The Netherlands) and Jean James (St. Maarten).

The members are appointed for the duration of three years. Afterwards, one is to consider whether to extend their term or appoint new members in the committee. Considering that the liquidation after the secession of Aruba in 1986 had taken almost 25 years, one may assume that the liquidation of the Netherlands Antilles could take three years or more.

17 May 2011