FOGA, St. Maarten – The construction of a new sewerage pumping station at Foga with a pressure line to the A. Th. Illidge Road wastewater treatment plant is progressing with infrastructural working started at the site. Prior to this, fabrication of elements required for the project took place at the worksite of construction company Windward Roads Infrastructure N.V.
The new pumping station, next to the Melford Hazel Sport Complex, will move sewerage from Sucker Garden neighborhood to the wastewater treatment plant.
This project is one of three major projects through which the people of St. Maarten are directly benefiting from the US $2 million fine levied against the construction company Windward Roads by the Prosecutor’s Office OM SXM.
The fine is a form of restitution to compensate St. Maarten for the company’s role, via its former director and chief financial officer (CFO), in the “Larimar” case conducted by the Anti-corruption Taskforce TBO of the Attorney-General’s Office of Curacao, St. Maarten, Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba. This case uncovered a major bribery, money laundering, and forgery scheme that saw the sentencing of a prominent politician, the WWR former director and CFO, and three others.
WWR has accepted responsibility for its part in the scheme, via the actions of its former director, and has agreed to revamp its work procedures and compliance to prevent similar occurrences in the future. This means for the Foga project, and the two others to come, WWR will provide all labor, materials and other project-related items at no financial cost to the Government of St. Maarten.
OM SXM was instrumental in getting the US $2 million fine from WWR for the country. Instead of pursuing court proceedings against WWR that would take time and expend more taxpayers’ dollars, OM SXM tagged an amount considered suitable as a fine for the criminal behavior of WWR and the repayment of the losses faced by the country. That amount is now deliverable in the three projects.
