St. Maarten – Legal experts at the department of tourism and economic affairs are looking into the purchase by the Harbor Group of Companies of a parcel of land from Bobby’s Marina in 2013 for $4.75 million, Minister Ingrid Arrindell (Tourism, Economic Affairs, Transport and Telecommunication) said yesterday in answer to questions from this newspaper.
In November 2012, the harbor decided to buy the parcel from Bobby’s Marina. However, at that moment, the land was still government-owned lease land and Bobby’s Marina had no title to it. The marina only obtained title in early 2013. The move raised eyebrows within the Vromi-department. This appears from internal email correspondence wherein the question was posed why the government should grant title to Bobby’s Marina, while the harbor had already expressed willingness to purchase it.
“I have been briefly informed about the situation,” Minister Arrindell said yesterday. “Because the case is still pending, I did not go into the details. However, I will definitively have to look into this and find out why this has occurred and how this has to be dealt with.”
Bobby’s Marina land deal under scrutiny
