PHILIPSBURG--A woman and a man both stood trial on charges of facilitating illegal employment during two separate court cases on Wednesday. They will learn their fates on February 24 and March 17, respectively.
S.M.V.H. (59), who was tried in absentia as she had been expelled to Venezuela, is facing 39 months in prison and a dispossession claim of US $131,180, or 437 days in case of non-payment. The woman did not have a lawyer present to plead on her behalf.
The Prosecutor’s Office called for a $40,000 fine, $20,000 of which to be suspended, on three years’ probation, for suspect D.S. (35). He is the owner of Durbi Construction BV, a subcontractor for principal Amazon during the reconstruction of Sonesta Maho Beach Resort and Casino.
‘Travel agency’
The investigation into the case was launched in April 2018, following a report from the French police stating that large numbers of residents from Venezuela were travelling to French St. Martin via Guadeloupe. They suspected that a “travel agency” provided these Venezuelans with the documents and information required to be allowed entry.
Intelligence led the French police to H. who allegedly was involved in this agency that arranged trips and other necessities. This woman had allegedly also stated there would be more than enough work in St. Maarten, particularly in construction, and that it would cost approximately $1,500 to travel from Venezuela to Dutch St. Maarten.
Based on this information the Prosecutor’s Office launched a criminal investigation dubbed “Duif” with H. as the prime suspect. She was arrested October 2, 2018.
It is not forbidden to arrange documents, tickets, hotel reservations and airline tickets for Venezuelans who want to go on vacation in St. Maarten, but it is a different story when these people come here for illegal employment. Therefore, H. was charged with smuggling some 45 persons into St. Maarten for profit. She did this by organising their trips to St. Maarten, giving information and instructions pertaining to their travels and admission, booking flights and hotel rooms and organising airport pick-up and transport to their worksites.
H. is also charged with running an unlicensed money-transfer office to make payments to Venezuela and the United States, and with laundering $638,402 in total to bank accounts in the US, Panama, Colombia, Curaçao and Ecuador. Also, money transfers were sent to the US, Trinidad, Brazil, Panama and Ecuador. For the money transfer she asked 20-per-cent commission.
Investigations
H. was followed by the police between April and July 2018. They noticed that she picked up people in the morning hours and dropped them off at the Maho building site. At 7:35am on July 12, 2018, the police checked the vehicle in which she was driving together with four men who could not provide identification. These men were questioned by detectives and said they were working for Durbi Construction.
On September 11, 2018, authorities investigated three construction companies operating at Sonesta Maho Resort as part of the investigations by the Human Trafficking Department of the St. Maarten Police Force. One of these companies was Durbi Construction, which employed 91 illegal workers.
Company director S. denied the allegations, stating that these workers were employed by Amazon, and that he only provided payroll support to this company. However, searches at his company, his home and his bookkeeper Brison Tax and Accounting provided contracts, documents of Social and Health Insurances SZV and copies of passports and identification documents of some 90 workers who were not known to the Immigration and Border Protection Service (IBP).
Therefore, the prosecutor considered illegal employment between June 2015 and September 2018 proven.
Lawyer Cor Merx disagreed and called for his client’s full acquittal or dismissal of all prosecution. According to Merx, the list with 90 persons was incorrect and there was no evidence of illegal employment, as Durbi did not have any relationship with Amazon in the field of labour, except for the payment of workers against a fee of 3.5 per cent.
‘Under the radar’
According to the prosecutor, illegal immigrants are primarily employed in the construction and tourism sectors.
“This disrupts the local labour market, because they often work for a lower hourly wage. No tax is paid for them and no premiums paid for health insurance and the like. Should an accident happen, there will be no accident insurance that pays for any damage. That is, therefore, not an advantage for employees, but especially for employers. They have considerably lower wage cost and thus ruin the labour market.
“Competitors who do everything properly according to the rules are thus completely eliminated from the market. They will often be considered too expensive, will no longer be hired and will have to stop or even go bankrupt, with all the financial consequences that entails,” the prosecutor stated in her closing speech in H.’s case.
The prosecutor said it was “disturbing” that Sonesta Maho Resort made “large-scale” use of subcontractors who largely worked with illegal immigrants. “You can expect such a company to comply with the rules and to ensure that the companies they work with do so. This is their social responsibility, but at this company too, the wallet has proven to be more important than working according to the legal rules with respect for the rights of employees,” the prosecutor stated.
H. made large amounts of money by smuggling many Venezuelans across the St. Maarten border and aiding them in finding employment here “under the radar.” This put them at risk of, for instance, being robbed. In recent years, nationals of Venezuela were picked out as victims due to their vulnerable and illegal situation. As they could not open a bank account, they kept their money at home and due to their illegal status were afraid to go to the police and file a report, according to the prosecutor.
