Today Newspaper St. Maarten

Tuitt: No payments have been made to Taxand

St. Maarten – “No payments have been made to Taxand since I took office,” Finance Minister Roland Tuitt said yesterday at the Council of Ministers press briefing, answering questions from this newspaper about rumors that the ministry had paid 5 million guilders to the company to cover outstanding invoices.
Today reported on Monday that Taxand partner Judith Brewster submitted invoices for her company B&B consultancy to the ministry that far exceed its 17,500 guilders (close to $10,000) a month contract. One of the invoices even contained claims for a trip to a Taxand conference in Madrid days before the first Wescot-Williams cabinet fell in the Calypso-coup.
The Soab-investigation into the Taxand contract is almost complete, the minister added.
Tuitt remained non-committal on a question about a ruling in civil court on Tuesday that sentenced St. Maarten to pay $13 million to the TelEm Group of Companies. “I do not know which court case you are referring to,” the minister said. “We are involved in many court cases.”