St. Maarten Private Eye

Aqua International is sponsored by the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation and is part of the Texas Pacific Group, an investment partnership based in Fort Worth and San Francisco, which invests in environmental, airline, apparel, health, wine, technology and other companies in the United States, Latin America and Asia.

Air Fin Holding N.V. is not Air Finance/Dahmer Chrysler. Sun Resorts N.V. is not Sun Resorts International. Aqua International is also a restaurant in Curacao. These similar names being registered as N.V. in St. Maarten are confusing to those who would like to know the background of these N.V.corporations.

Don't get me wrong. It is truly refreshing to finally read some investigative reporting by someone not afraid to step on toes. I commend you for that and certainly will support you where can. I rephrase ridiculous to unfounded. I hope you get my point. And forget about HB Management. There is nothing shocking to be found in that direction. I doubt if they have a stake in Air-Fin but even if they do. So what? For your own understanding, google Herman Behr to learn more about the owner of HB. It is just a trust office with an owner that is active in many public functions. Nothing fishy.

You are certainly right with your other assumptions about Air-Fin. It is likely to be a paper company without a track record and any assets. Is it questionable they are not to be found in our registers? It certainly is. Chase the so called public tender process Roy brags about. It is his justification for contracting Air-Fin. What if there wasn't any? What is his justification then?

Contact Veolia, Suez, Thames and even Bechtel to learn if they are aware of a tender for water production on Sint Maarten in 2006. Let me give you a little inside. The battle for water contracts around the globe is so fierce, that all of the above will jump at any opportunity for additional waterworks. They have eyes and ears everywhere. Especially Veolia (Enerserve). Have you asked them why they "lost" this so called tender? Veolia is not known to be in this game for loosing. They are the true water giants of this world and they want to expand business not loose business. I would love to hear more about their plan of action cause I doubt they will roll over and play death. Look forward to part 2.

I mean its not because a story is printed in the Today it came from the new reporter. That story on Air-Fin has nothing to do with Psilos, he read it in the newspaper just like you.

Uhh.... I do!
O Psilos

I am wondering if Psilos intends to get his resume on this bolg...
I understand you badly need to set your footprint on SXM; but is here you choose to do that...Being a contributer is one thing... But what you are doing sucks.

And can you tell me what you intend to say in the big story on Internet Gambling which is legal; and having a company registered in Curacao in and SXM is not a crime....

The other newpapers Talk Shows and media houses already said AIR Fin is not the company to Give a Contract to... Can you at least let us know the basis of the story.

Wow, maybe you should take a course in reading newspapers. Antillean NV's are notoriously shady, just in case you didn't know. And yes, some of them are above board, but most of them have a bad name or the people who set them up have something to hide. Don't you think it would be nice if the government did business with companies who are at least registered here ? Air Fin claim this in the very contract they are about to sign, but when I looked into it, it turned out they are not registered at all.

O Psilos

Hey guy lots of things on SXM could be nicer if everybody follow the laws... Do you know there are commissioners that have offshore companies in Anguilla and Domincan Republic then they come to SXM turn it into an NV and go the banks on SXM and get million Dollars loan.
Air-Fin is only following a presedence set by the Government on SXM and they are learning very well from the politicians... If these people were so clean Psilos they rumors we hear about the big investigation would not have been taking place... I guess you got the scoop on that too and its going to be in the Today soon... Dying to read about it.

First of all..... I am not OPsilos,
I would like to make it clear that the so called secret investigation was already published in the TODAY newspaper. I do not work for the paper but I do read both dailies every day and I must say I am reading the TODAY now more than before.
This so-called investigation as was first mentioned by PJD2 and then the TODAY followed suit, seems to be secret, meaning that people seem to know about it but no-one is speaking or are under oath not to speak. I have spoken to persons who seem to know about it first hand, they mention that Commissioners were questioned, a computer was either taken away or checked, these persons are not allowed to say anyhting public as they are in a civil servant position. As long as the RST continues their investigation it will remain secret.
No investigative body will go public with information now, it would kill the investigation. It not only keeps us the public in the dark, it will keep the ones who are being investigated in the dark as well. Remember it took something like a year for investigators to put handcuffs on Godett and his crooked party members. I just hope when all is said and done, we will not have a Carnival of idiots crying foul that our politicians have been investigated and it is oh so sad for democracy.
The people have been saying for years that things are not done in a transparant manner, this investigation hopefully will confirm that Commissioners are involved in vote buying or influencing the people to sell their vote for king size beds, house rents, household appliances, laptops, cash, 2 night weekend stay at Pelican resort. Water contracts have to be looked into, Developers paying off Commissioners for permits, Commissioners campaign funds from Casino's, must I say more?
Did anyone read the casino story written by OPsilos? he questions the absence of casino controllers. He questions why they are not doing their job, he questions why Casinos pay the casino controller fees to government if they are not doing their job. His story uncovers that Casinos in Philipsburg pay the casino controllers salaries, we all know that Casino's allow the Casino Controllers to leave and go home.
This has been going on for years, where in the world except in SXM are Casinos in charge of the Government Casino Controller. And why has this been allowed? Because the casino bosses rule our Executive Council. Our Exco would do anything for Saro, Corallo, Sudie. When you really look at it, our EXCO are no better than the girls from Platinum, Golden Eyes and Bada Bing, they dance around the pole and they come begging for the dollar with their pants down. Now I know why some of the EXCO are always in these clubs, learning from the girls of course.

Who owned the two Texaco Gas Station, one in Cul de Sac and the other one on the way to Simpsonbay---- Billboard said who the owner was.. Roy of course
What work was he doing prior to be elected commissioner??? None I know of...
Whose wife own two stores in Philipsburg...Roy of course...
Who has the million dollars house... Roy of course

Who has the Anguilla Offshore company and turned it into an NV.. Well I guess you know now its ROY.

Who is Commissioner of Housing and who is responsible for the building permits that are given to Developers ... Well you know it gotta to be Roy...
Who is responsible for Intaquin, Westin and now the AIR FIN... We have allowed this man to swim with his long fins..

how many companies do business HERE and collect abroad ? A lot, too many!!
a lot of them say they are registered here but they are not, lots of people pays invoices of companies that do not even EXIST never mind Not registered.
and I can also say that at least one notary that I know , to accomodate a client ,mention companies that DO NOT EXIST in the contracts. (People who sign deeds and contracts must ask for proof of RECENT Chamber of Commmerce registration of any Company mentioned in it.)
That is the reason this Island is called PARADISE. Paradise of the con artists.
Fiscal Paradise that is!

There is clear difference between a messageboard and this site. Most people who take time to write here try to back up what they write with links to other sites. Whenever matters are exposed that others try to hide, it is done through the sharing of pictures and documents that nobody else shares with you.
In doing so PE is trying to accomplish what the largest newspaper on Sint Maarten is reluctant to do or rather refuses to do: To be critical and to tell it how it is by exposing the truth.

Although it can be a learning experience to share thoughts on certain matters, it would be yet another improvement if posts like the one I mentioned in this heading are backed up with facts. Give us names of these companies and tell us which wicked notary does such a thing. Eleborate on commissioners with off-shore companies. Where are they, what are the names and what loans they take. Tell us where the evidence is or publish it yourself and others can work with and proof it right or wrong. Want an example? Check the post on the water contract. All backed up with documents that other media did not seem to have or were afraid to use. Or go to the Transparency and Belvedere blog post and scroll to the end, check the pictures and you see what I mean. DP brainwashees getting Belvedere land from Roy is now no longer a rumour. It is a fact.

I dont want to discourage anybody. On the contrary, write as much as you can but make it interesting for others by sharing the good stuff.

Rackham

is not easy as it should be to expose the person/persons responsible for illegal activities. We ,the regular people, trust the institutions, but I have learned that in fact we should not ,because the very person who should represent the law and receive a substantial fee to protect his clients from fraudolent deeds or contracts , deceive us, for money of course.
When a big client do all his business at one place ( notary office) has the notary in his pocket, he will write anyhting his big client wants, looking the other way ,when fraud is committed against unaware buyers.
The notary in question has been reported to the competent authorities , may be something will happen... may be not ....we wait...

I will be posting them soon, but one of them will be that all commenters are required to be civil to each other, to discuss issues and facts, but no personal attacks or plain old name calling. Psilos is very welcome here and I have noted an improvement in the Today these past couple months or so.
Why should anyone 'badly' need to set a footprint? And what would be wrong with doing it here if that was what he wanted to do anyway. What is he doing exactly that sucks, please elaborate.

Flipper

O Psilos did. He writes it's "my" article. What else are we supposed to understand?

So when was the bidding held for this new water contract? I heard Lloyd Richardson ask this question to George Pantophlet and he did not know.
I missed Lloyd show on Sunday-did he ask the Commissioner if there was a public bidding? I would believe that such a bidding would be advertised in our local media.
Seems that Roy is showing he cannot control the new man at gebe as he wants to control him. what Roy was looking to recruit for gebe is a puppet who will dance to his tune.
The new man Brooks is doing what is best for gebe and not what is best for Roys personal interest.

be turning into a real paper?
I like what I'm seeing lately. pg 3 has an interesting article about Air Fin Holding and Willem Barendsen. Remember that name?
Mr. Enerserve is back only now with Air-Fin and Roy instead of Enerserve and Theo.
This guy could have written the book on how to get things done in Sweet SXM.

The Today is making noticeable progress indeed. The article referred to is however only interesting in terms of portraying a lack of understanding what trust offices do. Anybody with a little more than basic knowledge of the business environment in the Dutch Antilles knows that trust offices make money by acting as directors for all kinds of companies. It is not uncommon for a company like Air-fin Holding to be represented by a trust office. There are tons of legitimate reasons to do so. The HB Management office mentioned in the Today article is such a trust office. It acts as director for hundreds of companies. It could very well be that internet gambling houses are amongst those they represent. To suggest that Air-Fin is thus connected with Internet gambling is ridiculous. A blunder.

There are many other aspects of Air-Fin that could have been researched and exposed. But you need to know what to look for and for that you need reporters with more than a basic knowledge of this society. That is still lacking with the Today and the TDH. The article about Air-Fin is a good example. It pretends to be the discovery of a large conspiracy. In reality it is dust.

Don't be discouraged by this blunder but learn from it. We all make mistakes. Instead the paper could and should focus on a track-record of the Air-Fin companies. Did they operate water plants? Do they have a track-record and if so how was their performance? If not, why would the Island engage them? Also the year the Sint Maarten Air-Fin Company was formed is interesting to know. It could very well be that the Sint Maarten company was formed just for the purpose of acquiring this contract against a nice fee for ... yes right. Who else.

It was suggested on this site that there has never been a public tender. The Today could have researched this too. They still can. Ask questions to RM and Barendsen but also current supplier Enerserve. Tell us about this tender. Who subscribed to it and why was Air-Fin chosen. What criteria were used?

And then the mysterious return of Barendsen. He retired some 7 years ago when he sold Enerserve to Veolia (formerly Vivendi) the world largest water company. He moved to Europe but why does he come back to Sint Maarten at age 70 to run another waterplant? Set up the plant maybe and sell again to one of the large water giants of the world like Veolia, Suez or Thames Water who are all scrambling to take over water systems around the planet.

All circumstances considered, the choice for Air-Fin deal does not make sense at all. Except of course if it is another Sint Maarten money making thing for the happy few. But with a little investigative reporting it must be easy to expose more abnormalities and torpedo this deal to the far depths of our surrounding waters.

For more information on how big water is influencing governments worldwide, please pick up a copy of Vanity Fair green issue May 2007. This great and informative article is written by Charles C Mann.

I've tried to figure out who Air-Fin really are. But aside from articles on SXM PE, TDE, and Caribseek, I cannot find an actual website for them. Any reputable business these days has a website, with at least an office address or something there! I can safely say that I've never heard of them. I have heard of Veolia, Suez, Thames Water etc, and they are reputable operations, and they do provide good legitimate services, usually Design, Build, Own, Operate, Transfer (DBOOT) sort of operations.
In reading the contract, it sounds there are a million ways for the SXM gov't to get out of it anyways... take the lengthy Article 8 for instance, and either point 6 or 7 where it says that gov't, for whatever reason, can cancel the contract with 180 days notice. Why bother with a contract at all?
The path that the gov't is on right now does not seem to be in the interest of turning over the ownership/operations to GEBE any time soon. What a shame that is.

Here'e the article.

Possible Air-Fin internet gambling link - 15th May 2007

It seems to me that the big story in the article is having a link to internet gambling, seemingly to make the Air-Fin look bad somehow, as far as I know, internet gambling is not a crime, except in the US. Lets not let an interesting but irrelevant story like this distract us from the real points why the deal is a BAD deal, it's a RM 'special'.

Roy claims he was misquoted - 15th May 2007

Yeeeeah, right Roy, I believe ya!

Hady