Louis-Constant Fleming
PHILIPSBURG--The Governor of St. Maarten has rightly refused Dutch citizenship for former President of the Collectivité Louis-Constant Fleming, it appears from a ruling by the Court of First Instance of March 11, 2019, which was published on Dutch website Rechtspraak.nl on Tuesday.
Fleming has been living in Dutch St. Maarten since 1999. Three years later, in October 2002, he received a residence permit. In November 2017, he applied for Dutch citizenship, which request was denied by the Governor of Dutch St. Maarten in March 2018.
Fleming’s request was turned down because the Prosecutor’s Office in French St. Martin had imposed a conditional fine of 10,000 euros on Fleming as part of a settlement which included that he was to plead guilty to the charges.
The fine was imposed in connection with a case that dates back to 2009 and was brought before the French Court in October 2010, concerning an investigation into the acquisition of a piece of land by social-housing organisation SEMSAMAR.
Fleming, who was SEMSAMAR’s administrator at the time, was involved in the acquisition of the piece of land in Spring, which was owned by his mother. The property had a value of several millions of euros.
According to website Soauligapost.com, the transaction was prohibited and the case considered an illegal “acquisition of interest.”
Fleming appealed the governor’s decision because he claimed he had not committed the crime. As president of the Collectivité he had only taken responsibility for decisions taken by the Collectivité, he claimed. Furthermore, he did not want to confront his ageing mother with a judicial procedure and the media attention that would have come with it.
As he “in reality” had not committed any crime it was arranged that the fine would not be mentioned in Fleming’s criminal record, Fleming’s lawyer Brenda Brooks said during the appeal hearing against the governor’s decision, which took place in February 2019.
Fleming’s defence further stated that the governor should have taken into account that Fleming was born in Dutch St. Maarten; that he has been involved in major business operations on the Dutch side since the 1970s; that he has not posed a danger to public order for many years; and that many years have passed since the alleged crime was committed.
In its decision of March 2019, the Court stated that the governor had been in the right when he declined Fleming’s request for Dutch citizenship, as the decision was based on “the danger to public order.”
Based on the National Ordinance Administrative Law (Landsverordening Administratieve Rechtspraak) Fleming had six weeks to appeal the verdict.
