Licenses, extortion claims and old decisions

GREAT BAY--The TEATT Committee of Parliament, Chaired by Chairman MP Viren Kotai, sat through a long and, at times, tense meeting on the future of public transportation, the integrity of license issuance, and the fallout of two damning reports by SOAB and the Integrity Chamber. Minister of TEATT Grisha Heyliger-Marten presented her findings and a five-phase reform plan, but much of the afternoon quickly turned into a wider debate on ministerial discretion, political responsibility, and the way Parliament itself handles sensitive information.

From that point on, one MP after another weighed in, not only on the content of the reports, but also on the personal and political undertones that now surround the transport sector clean up.

MP Lacroes: frustration, self-defence

and a demand to look before 2023

MP Francisco Lacroes spoke at length and with visible frustration. He started by saying, sarcastically,he had enjoyed parts of the minister’s presentation, and even found some of it “enlightening”, but said he was not there to trade “undercover shots”. He reminded colleagues that anything he said on the floor he was prepared to repeat outside, without parliamentary immunity, and challenged anyone making accusations about him to “call my name” in public.

Lacroes said he had stayed quiet for too long while he and his family endured threats, which he linked to a narrative that he had “taken bread” from people’s mouths during his time as Chief of Staff at TEATT. For two years, he said, he and his children had received messages and pressure based on innuendo and social media attacks. The presentation, in his view, continued that pattern, with indirect jabs and creative WhatsApp screenshots, feeding a story that he had somehow engineered wrongdoing inside the ministry.

He then moved into substance. Between 2014 and 2023, Lacroes said, 201 public transportation licenses were issued. Yet the SOAB and Integrity Chamber investigations, and now the political heat, centered almost completely on the period 2023 and early 2024. If the country is serious about finding out “what went wrong”, he argued, it must look at where and when the practice started, not only at the last year of it.

He walked colleagues through the 2014 moratorium policy, noting that it already contained a prohibition on renting out plates without ministerial permission. In reality, he said, some people rented out licenses illegally for 800, 900 or 1,000 guilders a month, living entirely off that income while others did the work. That practice, he argued, had been going on for years and was “unfair” to honest operators.

Lacroes recalled that when he entered the ministry, one of the first issues he encountered was a request from a car rental company to expand. At the same time, the Receiver’s Office had barely any regular number plates in stock, but more than a thousand R-plates. He and the then minister requested a breakdown from the Receiver of all plates issued over the previous five years. In that context, he said, it was strange to read in the reports that there had been no proper consultation with the Receiver’s Office.

He also pointed to the moratorium update published on 27 September 2023, which, he said, was signed off through the normal chain: a change drafted by the department, reviewed by senior staff and the Secretary General, then sent to the minister. WhatsApp messages that he shared with MPs, he argued, show that the minister, the SG and department heads were informed, while the Chief of Staff was never part of that chain.

The policy, he reminded colleagues, included a clause that as of 1 January 2024 licenses would be automatically revoked if unused for one year, with an extra six month grace period. In his reading, that meant the “cleanup” of dormant licenses was embedded in policy, without any special action by a minister or MP, and that a proper use of the confirmation letter process could have done most of the work.

On the controversial Excel list of licenses, La Cruz said he received it via WhatsApp and simply shared it with colleagues when they asked. He stressed that he never intended to show names publicly on screen and said the responsibility for further sharing lay with each person who forwarded it.

Lacroes ended by repeating that he never took a cent from anyone for a license, that he did help many people draft letters or navigate the process, and that “these hands have never done this”, referring to under the table payments. If the accusations stop, he signaled, he has no need to call further meetings. If they continue, he promised to call as many committee meetings as necessary until his name is cleared.

MP Sarah Wescot-Williams: rules, caution

and the need for structured oversight

MP Sarah Wescot-Williams intervened early with a procedural point. She recalled her time as Chair of Parliament, when she refused to allow MPs to use visual presentations until rules could be established that applied equally to all members. Technology has advanced, she acknowledged, and Parliament will eventually have to embrace it, but it should do so with clear regulations, not on an ad hoc basis each time a politically charged presentation is prepared.

Her concern was simple: if MPs start using visual tools without rules, where does it stop, and in which meetings is it permitted. She urged the Chair to avoid creating a precedent that later becomes unmanageable when other members request similar tools to “show up persons” in public sittings.

On content, Wescot-Williams reminded the room that, as an MP, the current minister had already asked written questions about public transportation in May 2023. The reply from then minister Arthur Lambriex, she said, is in Parliament’s archives and clearly stated that the moratorium was not being “lifted” but “re-evaluated” and that a cap system would follow within the context of the country package reforms. She quoted passages where the previous minister said the moratorium would not be replaced, but that actual use of plates would be monitored to set caps, similar to how caps had been set for casinos and adult entertainment.

Given that background, she asked the current minister to specify under which theme of the country package the transport clean up is being handled, and what exactly the World Bank’s TWO is expected to finance or support. She noted that in the latest discussions with the State Secretary, government was told to prioritize projects, which makes it important to know where this reform sits in that prioritization.

Looking ahead, Wescot-Williams stressed that many license holders may have had no idea what was taking place “above their heads”, yet may now find themselves swept into a clean up based on reports and policies they were never part of. The reform, in her view, must be handled with caution, fairness and transparency, and Parliament should not treat license holders as if they were co-conspirators by default.

She asked the minister to design a reporting structure to Parliament, based on the five-phase plan presented, with regular written updates on what has been done, which licenses are affected, and what the expected impact is. She also repeated her call for a letter from the TEATT Committee to the Minister of Public Health on the gap in medical coverage for taxi and bus drivers and other sole proprietors, and called for urgent work on a modern economic zoning policy, noting that courts are still referencing a policy from 2009.

MP Ottley: tone of debate

and the reality for drivers

MP Omar Ottley focused on the tone in the chamber and the practical concerns of drivers. In his first intervention he said that while MPs have different opinions and emotions, no one should dictate how another feels. However, he warned that the meeting was drifting away from the people’s business into something too personal, with animations and images used in a way that did not exist in earlier sessions.

Later, he returned to the floor after MP York’s reference to a list of license holders. Ottley said that what he had seen in the minister’s presentation looked more like administrative problems than clear criminal acts. He warned against treating AI-style images and unverified WhatsApp messages as if they are formal evidence, saying that in any court such material would first have to be proven authentic. Until a court rules, he said, those being accused remain innocent.

Ottley reminded colleagues that while they argued over lists and screenshots, taxi and bus drivers were sitting in the Tribune for hours, hoping to hear how their livelihood will be protected in the coming season. Those drivers, he said, are not there for “Melly”, they are there to hear how government will help them earn, protect them from gypsies and illegal transport, and give them a good high season to feed their families.

He confirmed that, as Minister of VSA in the previous term, he had already moved to include taxi and bus drivers and other sole proprietors in the national health insurance scheme. The amendment had gone to the Council of Advice in November 2023 and advice had been returned. In his telling, the only remaining steps were a “nota van toelichting” and handling in Parliament. He said he had offered to work with the current minister on “low hanging fruit” such as this, and expressed disappointment that the process had stalled.

Ottley also asked about the taxi app pilot, the position of the taxi associations on that app, plans to modernize taxi advertising, and measures to protect drivers from gypsy operations. He floated the question of better coordination with the French side, noting that French taxis can pick up on the Dutch side but not the other way around, a situation he felt should be examined.

MP Franklin Meyers: historical

context and personal record

Former TEATT minister Franklin Meyers took the floor to urge restraint when referring to persons who are not present to defend themselves. He said he found it unfortunate that a picture of former MP Tamara Leonard had been projected in the chamber and reminded colleagues that, while ministers and MPs in office can be questioned, private citizens and former members should be treated with care when they have no seat in the room.

On the substance of the reports, Meyers noted that the minister’s presentation relied on investigations by SOAB and the Integrity Chamber, both of which were triggered by complaints and questions from citizens and taxi drivers who felt their market share was threatened by new licenses. Those reports, he said, would circulate in the public domain whether or not the minister presented them.

He asked the minister to read into the record the letter that TEATT’s department had sent to the then minister outlining proper procedures for license issuance, along with the date of that letter, so that Parliament can see what advice was given and whether it was followed. He also wanted to know what, concretely, prompted SOAB and the Integrity Chamber to launch their investigations now, and not during earlier administrations, given that the problems clearly did not begin in 2023.

Meyers took the opportunity to speak about his own time as TEATT minister from 2010 to 2012. He confirmed that he issued taxi and bus licenses in collaboration with the taxi associations at the airport, at the harbour and with Genesis Taxi, dividing available licenses between the ministry and the associations. However, he insisted that no one “under God’s sun” could say he ever asked for money or votes in return for a license. Some recipients, he recalled, told him he had helped them feed their families, but he never approached anyone asking for political support as a condition for their license.

He also pointed out that, historically, government sometimes used taxi licenses as a safety net for older citizens with low pensions. While not every decision of the past would pass today’s standards, he said, some were guided by concern for people who “could not possibly live” on their old age pension and needed a way to earn an income.

MP Raeyhon Peterson: apology to

the public and call for professionalism

MP Raeyhon Peterson spoke bluntly about his discomfort with how the meeting felt. He said he did not like “what is going on here today” and believed that many in the room felt the same.

He has long been vocal, he said, about not mentioning people on the floor of Parliament who cannot defend themselves. Today, he saw something different, with political opponents using visuals and rhetoric that seemed crafted to provoke one another. He singled out the projection of a former MP’s photograph as “not the right thing to do” in a parliamentary debate.

At the same time, he said he needed to be honest about tone on all sides. Presentations should be brought forward in a way that does not antagonize MPs and does not turn Parliament into a stage for personal vendettas. From his perspective, the minister’s presentation could have been done without certain images, and MPs could have framed their responses differently as well.

Peterson went so far as to apologize to the people of St. Maarten for what they were seeing, saying residents had been “subjected” to a type of personal conflict that does not reflect the level of professionalism Parliament should display.

On substance, he requested a list or data set from the ministry that identifies taxi licenses currently being rented out, so that he can cross-check information and support more targeted policy questions in the future.

MP Lewis: warnings about

hypocrisy and sensitivity

MP Lyndon Lewis described the debate as “very hypocritical”, arguing that if the Chair had concerns about visuals, that concern should have been raised as soon as the presentation appeared, not later when tensions had already risen. He said the meeting could even have been held behind closed doors, given the potential reputational impact on individuals.

He reminded colleagues that everyone knew, from the moment the minister and MP La Cruz clashed publicly and on social media, that this committee meeting would be charged. Once the presentation came with certain pictures, he said, it was clear which direction events would go.

Lewis also questioned the scope of the minister’s apology. He noted that she had apologized to everyone who suffered from extortion and irregularities in the transport system, and asked whether that apology also extended to the “alleged” millions linked in public discussion to her husband. Parliament, he said, must treat all sides of such matters seriously, not selectively.

For him, the lesson was that Parliament and ministers need to be consistent about what is allowed on the floor, and must anticipate the political consequences before projecting images or making allegations.

MP Irion: structural poverty and the

legal basis for company-owned licenses

MP Ardwell Irion centered his interventions on structural issues rather than personalities. He recalled that, in a previous term, he had already asked government about the legal basis for companies holding taxi or bus licenses. At that time, he said, Parliament was told that it was not legal for a business entity, such as a BV, to own such licenses, yet the practice appears to have continued.

He asked the minister to provide the legal basis, if any, for businesses owning multiple bus and taxi permits, and to clarify who, by law, is entitled to hold a public transportation license. Without that clarity, he argued, it is impossible to judge whether the current situation, where some companies hold many licenses, reflects the law or a tolerated deviation.

Irion shared conversations he had had in the past with drivers who told him that before they could earn a cent for themselves, they had to reach a weekly target, sometimes 1,000 guilders, to pay the license owner. In one case, he said, an entity with ten licenses collected that amount per vehicle, making 4,000 guilders a month simply from renting licenses. For drivers, this created a form of economic dependence that he compared to “almost slavery”.

In his view, this practice did not begin in 2023. He referenced licenses issued as far back as 2004, including one to a 14-year-old, which he had seen on the Excel list shared among MPs. The problem, he said, spans decades and multiple governments, and any honest clean up has to go back to that core, not just recent years.

Irion also questioned the use of “expert assistance” from the TWO as mentioned by the minister. He asked what expertise is being sought that cannot be sourced locally, and what the financial implications are.

Finally, he expressed concern about government’s habit of announcing plans that never materialize. He pointed to the promised digital link between TEATT’s inspectorate, the Receiver and the Chamber of Commerce and requested a concrete timeline. He also asked for an update on broader public transport policy, especially how it will be used to reduce traffic and provide real alternatives to private car use.

MP LaBega: routes, accessibility and

encouraging locals to use public transport

MP Dimar LaBega thanked the minister for the detailed presentation and said he wanted to “get back on topic”, focusing on solutions rather than personal issues.

He noted that while the minister’s data shows hundreds of bus and taxi licenses, residents still report that they cannot always find a taxi or bus, especially in certain districts. He described seeing people walking long distances in areas like Saunders just to reach a main road, and questioned whether current routes and schedules serve the real needs of communities.

LaBega asked how government currently determines the number of taxi and bus licenses needed. Is the sector truly oversaturated, he wanted to know, or does the problem lie in how and when operators choose to work. He cited reports that drivers sometimes refuse small groups because they prefer to wait until they have a full load, creating service gaps for individuals or pairs.

He also pressed for a plan that encourages locals, especially young people, to use buses and taxis more. There is a stigma, he said, among youth who “do not want to take a bus”, even when parking is scarce and traffic heavy. If he could park his car and take a bus to Simpson Bay on a weekend, he would, but the system does not make that practical.

LaBega asked how the ministry intends to introduce route control, so that bus operators cannot simply choose the most profitable areas and times. He wanted to understand how the new policies and digital systems would prevent the administrative gaps highlighted in the audits, ensure that compliance is not treated as optional, and create visible short term improvements for people who have been waiting months or years for decisions.

In a later intervention, he returned to the demographic issue. The average age of license holders is around 60, he noted, with many operators in their sixties and seventies in the coming years. He asked how the system will handle succession, help drivers who can no longer work, and avoid a situation where large numbers of licenses sit with elderly holders who must rely on help chauffeurs or rentals to survive.

MP Veronica Jansen Webster: road tax, automatic

revocation and late night service

MP Veronica Jansen-Webster focused on the financial and practical signals hidden in the minister’s slides. She noted that road tax payments for public transport plates in 2024 appeared much lower than in 2023 and 2025. As a private driver, she had once gone a year without paying, then had to pay for two years at once. She asked why taxi and bus operators who resumed paying in 2025 did not also pay for 2024, and whether this meant government had lost expected revenue.

She also dug into the question of how many taxi licenses St. Maarten really has. The minister spoke of 600 registered licenses, but the policy states that licenses unused for one year are automatically revoked. If that clause is being applied, Webster reasoned, then the real number of valid licenses should be closer to the roughly 450 operators who completed confirmation and paid road tax. She asked the minister to clarify whether licenses have actually been revoked under that automatic clause, and, if so, how many and when.

Jansen-Webster asked for an update on the July announcement that the ministry would revoke non-compliant licenses, engage stakeholders, digitize processes and introduce mandatory training. He wanted to know which of these four pillars had already been implemented.

Finally, she returned to a concern raised in earlier transport meetings: a shortage of late night taxis between midnight and 6 a.m. She asked whether the ministry has data on how many taxis are available in that time slot and whether the gap has been formally acknowledged, since it affects both residents and visitors trying to move safely at night.

MP Roseburg: anchoring questions in

the SOAB and Integrity Chamber reports

MP Sjamira Roseburg was clear that her input was grounded in the two independent reports. She stated that both SOAB and the Integrity Chamber concluded that many basic procedures, controls and safeguards were not in place in 2023, and that this could not be brushed off as a simple lack of policy. Even in the absence of detailed internal procedures, she said, every civil servant and office holder has a responsibility to act within the law and with integrity.

Because the reports limited their focus to 2023, she asked the minister if government knows why that year was chosen and whether the institutions gave reasons for not going further back. She also asked the minister to explain how the ministry cooperated with the investigations. Did the ministry pro-actively send files or only respond to requests, and who supplied which information.

Roseburg asked for clarity on what is legally allowed during a moratorium. Can new licenses be issued at any time. Can existing licenses be amended in the event of death or administrative error. Is it permitted to convert or transfer licenses while a moratorium is in force. She wanted to know whether such actions occurred in 2023 and in earlier years like 2021 and 2022.

She then turned to the Integrity Chamber’s concerns about the timing of the cap system and publications in August and September 2023, just months before elections. The Chamber had warned that this created a risk of political influence or perceived vote buying. She asked the minister to confirm which minister and which staff members were responsible for those decisions, and whether any internal warnings had been given at the time.

On the operational side, she wanted a clear description of how applications were processed in 2023, especially in the absence of an advisory committee. Was there a checklist, who verified documents, and how were incomplete files allowed to move forward. The reports, she noted, mention missing payments, missing documents and inconsistent follow up. She requested copies of key letters or emails mentioned in the minister’s presentation, including any correspondence from the department head warning about the moratorium or the process.

In a short follow up later, she returned to a smaller technical point: whether the presence of an official stamp is a legal requirement for license validity or simply an administrative convention. She also encouraged the minister to present the five-phase way forward clearly to the public, since it offers a roadmap that operators and citizens need to understand.

MP Christopher Wever: prosecution,

ideal numbers and curbing congestion

MP Chris Wever kept his contribution concise but pointed. He asked whether, given the seriousness of the allegations in the SOAB and Integrity Chamber reports, the Prosecutor’s Office has contacted the minister or her cabinet for further information. That answer would show whether the matter might move from administrative to criminal territory.

He also asked the minister to state what she considers the ideal number of taxi and bus licenses for St. Maarten, based on visitor numbers, population and economic realities. He referred to the minister’s regional comparisons but wanted to know what target government is working toward in practice.

Wever then linked public transportation to traffic congestion. He asked what measures the ministry is considering to get buses and taxis to use official bus stops and avoid random stops that block traffic. And looking ahead, he mentioned ideas used in other countries, such as limits on the number of vehicles per household or tighter controls on vehicle imports. He referenced a recent article that mentioned over a thousand vehicles being imported and asked whether government is studying such tools for the future.

MP York: beyond one episode, towards

closing the “discretion” loophole

MP Darryl York framed the issue in broader terms. He said that what is happening in public transportation is “bigger than any MP, bigger than any single minister” and is tied to a long-standing problem: the amount of power left to “minister’s discretion” across multiple sectors.

He explained that in a previous committee meeting, on another topic, he had already questioned how much could be left to discretion rather than black and white rules. At that time the conclusion was that not everything can be legislated. Today, he said, Parliament is seeing the practical consequences of that gap.

York said he had gone through a printout listing licenses issued since 2000. In that review, he said he saw cases where a former minister allegedly granted a dozen licenses to a close family member during a moratorium period. He said he also saw a member of the Council of Ministers whose child, aged 12 at the time, appeared with a license in their name. He spoke of a politician with eight licenses and another with more than 20.

He did not name those individuals in the meeting, but used the examples to argue that Parliament has often focused on the “small man” who finally got a license, while ignoring patterns in which politicians and those close to them accumulated multiple licenses and enriched themselves.

York thanked the minister for her presentation, which he said was eye-opening, but called for much more. In his view, the loopholes that allow broad ministerial discretion must be closed, whether in transportation, casinos, condos or lotteries, so that the country is not sitting here again, ten years from now, with a different minister and a different list of questionable licenses.

Final exchanges and closure

As the meeting drew on, MPs also clashed over whether an Excel list of license holders, shared by MP Lacroes in a private Parliament chat, should have been circulated at all. MP Wescot-Williams strongly objected to a list containing names, addresses and dates of birth entering parliamentary channels in a way that might later make it into the public domain. York reiterated that this was why he had declined to share his own printed list earlier and urged that any formal work on historical licenses be done by SOAB or the ministry, with findings presented in a controlled way.

In her final intervention, the minister acknowledged that the meeting had “gone south” compared with what she intended. Her goal, she said, was to discuss processes and facts, not families and personalities. She proposed to answer the long list of detailed questions in writing, so MPs could study them carefully. The committee accepted that proposal.

The Chair closed the meeting by thanking the minister and her staff and reminding colleagues that the core issue remains the same, that the public transportation system is over-saturated and riddled with gaps in control, and that Parliament is expected to help fix it, not only to replay old fights.

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