Four of the five factions in Parliament have asked for a meeting on the financial state of government-owned companies (see related story). Apart from coalition party UP joining the opposition in this initiative, what makes it intriguing is that they want the supervisory boards and managements to be present, not just the ministers under whom they fall.
In principle, the latter are the only ones politically responsible who must give account to the legislature. Statutory directors and the board can be invited but not forced to show up.
Having said that, several of the entities involved were lacking in their reporting and behind on submitting annual accounts as they are legally obligated to, sometimes for years. This has been a concern for particularly the Committee for Financial Supervision CFT.
In addition, it makes effective control of the board and by extension the shareholder’s representative difficult. After all, ministers can only discuss and act on what they know about.
The current coronavirus-related crisis is seen as reason to pay key attention to the companies involved. That is even more evident because of austerity measures they needed to implement as conditions for COVID-19 liquidity loans on behalf of St. Maarten from the Netherlands and – in certain cases – to qualify for payroll support.
Both at TelEm and Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) that proved a challenge and led to conflicts with the labour unions representing workers. It is thus not clear whether they and others are fully compliant with the Dutch requirements yet at this point either, also regarding a cap on top salaries.
Although handling all in one session may take several days or even longer, the public indeed has a right to know – within reasonable limits – what is going on at its companies. Then again, they operate as business enterprises under rules of corporate governance and that too is something to be mindful of.
