The overview the CFT has supplied to St. Maarten Finance Minister Richard Gibson showed that only three of the 40 entities had met the terms concerning the legal obligation to supply an approved 2015 annual report.

 

The three companies that complied were the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten, Social and Health Insurances SZV, and Saba Bank Resources NV. The Corporate Governance Code states that annual reports of Government entities must be drafted within five months after the closure of the financial year.

 

The CFT list showed that the CFT had yet to receive 37 annual reports. The majority of Government-owned companies, institutions and foundations were one or two years behind, but there were also a few from which the CFT has not received an annual report since 2009.

 

Ten Government entities have their 2014 annual reports at the CFT: Princess Juliana Airport Holding Company, utilities company GEBE, Cpost International, St. Maarten Telecommunication Holding Company, Windward Island Airways Winair, Development Bank Netherlands Antilles OBNA, Government Buildings Foundation, Mental Health Foundation, St. Maarten Development Fund and the General Pension Fund St. Maarten APS.

 

The list said 2013 was the last year annual reports had been received from St. Maarten Harbour Holding Company, United Telecommunication Services, St. Maarten Laboratory Services, Small Business Development Foundation, Foundation Upkeep Sports Facilities, St. Maarten Medical Center, White and Yellow Cross, Nature Foundation, No Kidding with our Kids Foundation, Philipsburg Jubilee Library, National Heritage Foundation and Bureau Telecommunication and Post.

 

Three Government entities on the CFT list were three years behind with the 2012 annual reports the last ones to have been received. These were the St. Maarten Economic Development Corporation, St. Maarten Postal Services and the St. Maarten Voluntary Corps VKS.

 

Eight Government-owned companies and foundations were five years or more late as far as the CFT records showed: St. Maarten Housing NV (2009), the airport safety financing company “Luchthaven Veiligheid Financiering Maatschappij” (2009), SMH Care Company NV (2008), St. Maarten Development and Mortgage Bank NV (2009), Turning Point (2010), St. Maarten Housing Development Foundation (2009), St. Maarten Housing Finance Foundation (2009) and Safe Haven (2009).

 

The CFT had no information on the annual reports of three Government entities: St. Maarten International Telecommunication Services Smitcoms, Comadeco NV and the Bureau Intellectueel Eigendom. One company, Marven NV, was listed as inactive.

 

CFT Chairman Age Bakker, in a letter dated September 22, 2016, and released by the CFT this week, requested Minister Gibson to submit the 2015 annual reports of the Government-owned companies, institutions and organisations/foundations that had received subsidy, a loan or a guarantee from Government.

 

Bakker pointed out that this was not the first time the CFT had requested the annual reports. “Also in previous years a similar request was made,” he said. The Kingdom Financial Supervision Law states that the annual reports have to be sent to the CFT.

 

“It has struck the CFT that not all annual reports of 2013 and/or 2014 seem to have been drafted or sent to the CFT. Of a majority of the entities on the list the CFT still does not have the 2014 annual report, despite earlier requests,” Bakker stated.

 

According to Bakker, it is important to receive the annual reports in a timely fashion so the CFT can signal “possible risks” for the budget. “The timely presence of annual reports of the Government entities provides Government the opportunity to determine whether these entities have a healthy financial position,” he said.

 

He explained that possible risks to the budget and the financial position of the St. Maarten Government could be recognised earlier in this manner and better mitigated. Also, the timely approval of the annual reports would ensure that there was sufficient accountability and, where relevant, dividends could be paid to Government.