Former TEATT Minister and Cabinet circumvent laws, controls in issuing taxi & bus licenses, probe reveals

GREAT BAY--An investigation by the Integrity Chamber of St. Maarten has uncovered evidence of administrative misconduct, interference, and systemic integrity failures inside the Ministry of Tourism, Economic Affairs, Traffic & Telecommunication (TEATT) surrounding the issuance of public transportation (PT- bus and taxi) licenses in 2023.

The report paints a picture of a licensing process corrupted by arbitrary decision-making, circumvention of laws, and direct interference by former Minister Arthur Lambriex and his cabinet, all occurring just months before Parliamentary elections in January 2024. The Chamber reports that the aforementioned “circumvented the standard process” and “directly involved themselves” in issuing licenses.

While the investigation stops short of confirming criminal acts such as bribery or vote-buying, the Chamber explicitly warns that “the lack of checks-and-balances and administrative controls makes it likely that these misconducts, and others, occurred.”

The current Minister of TEATT Grisha Heyliger-Marten received the report to review earlier this year. On February 26, 2025 in her reply to the Chamber after reviewing the report, she noted that the report, from the Ministry's perspective, "puts insufficient emphasis on the fact that the Minister (Lambriex) blatantly ignored/bypassed management on all levels."

According to the report, cabinet members:

• Submitted license applications on behalf of applicants, undermining standard procedure.

• Instructed front-desk staff to accept late applications beyond the announced deadline.

• Promised to deliver licenses to individuals personally, bypassing official distribution channels.

• Held private meetings with the Senior License Advisor, the sole person tasked with reviewing and advising on all license requests.

This Senior Advisor, already overwhelmed by simultaneously holding the role of Acting Department Head, reported directly to the Minister instead of the department head, eliminating any meaningful internal oversight. The same Advisor was also found helping out at the front desk during peak periods, a move which, according to the report, dismantled any effective separation of duties.

In one of the most egregious breaches, licenses were granted while the 2014 moratorium on public transportation licenses was still in effect. This blanket ban was only officially lifted on September 29, 2023, yet the Chamber found that licenses were already being processed and issued prior to that date, without legal justification.

“The moratorium policy of 2014 was not adhered to,” the Chamber stated flatly. “Assistant taxi and bus drivers were allowed to request and were granted individual licenses while the moratorium suspending the issuance of licenses was still in place.”

The Chamber further revealed that Ministry staff, including key department heads, were not even aware that public announcements had been made allowing amendments and applications on specific dates. “They were surprised when a line of applicants appeared at the Government building,” the report says.

𝐀‘𝐂𝐚𝐩’ 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐍𝐨 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐈𝐭 𝐔𝐩

The Chamber also takes direct aim at the “cap” system introduced in 2023, intended to replace the moratorium with a controlled ceiling on the number of licenses issued. The cap was supposedly based on the number of unclaimed license plates at the Receiver’s Office. But as the Chamber discovered, this data was arbitrary, unverifiable, and disconnected from the number of licenses actually issued.

“There is no complete database or overview of issued PT licenses,” the report concludes. “The process to clean-up the database was not executed. Every stakeholder in this process utilizes their own registration system. None of these databases are complete or properly connected.”

In other words: there was no reliable record of who held licenses, how many were active, or how many new ones could responsibly be issued. Even more further, some license holders received documents without license numbers or issue dates.

Meanwhile, public statements promising to revoke unused licenses and clean up the registry were never acted upon. “No evidence was found that this activity was carried out, nor that licenses were automatically invalidated,” the Chamber found.

𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐅𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐖𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐈𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞, 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝, 𝐨𝐫 𝐌𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠

The report delivers a scathing assessment of the administrative condition of the Department of Economic Licenses (DEL). Of the files reviewed, most were incomplete or riddled with inconsistencies. Key documents, such as tax declarations, application forms, or health certificates, were frequently missing, mismatched, or substituted with unofficial alternatives.

The Chamber also found:

• Licenses issued to applicants with incomplete files.

• Assistant drivers granted licenses without revoking their previous ones.

• No documented advice justifying the Minister’s decisions.

• Applications approved before the public was informed that requests could even be submitted.

• “Pending” status used as a passive denial, with no official rejection letters issued.

In one particularly example, the Chamber states: “Several amendments and new applications were requested prior to the public being informed that it was possible to submit requests.”

𝐋𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐚𝐟𝐞𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐖𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐁𝐲𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐝

The legislative framework for public transportation licenses clearly requires the involvement of a Public Transportation Committee to advise on new licenses and revoke dormant ones. This committee, however, has not functioned since at least 2009, and the legal amendment to replace or reinstate it was never completed.

Without the committee, there was no one to assess the qualifications, suitability, or ethics of applicants. Nor was there a system to investigate whether applicants were already in possession of a license, operated vehicles actively, or complied with basic public safety standards.

The result: no one was really checking.

Even when the Ministry’s Policy Department warned the Minister in writing on September 11, 2023, that the moratorium was still in effect and that licenses should not yet be issued, this warning was ignored.

Likewise, the Chamber found that senior Ministry officials disagreed with the Minister’s decisions but failed to act. “There was a lack of documented correspondence, meetings, or advice from management which expressed their concerns or countered potential misconduct.”

The Chamber concluded that this passive silence allowed a climate of political interference and mismanagement to flourish.

𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐭

The investigation notes that the moratorium was lifted, and licenses began flowing just months ahead of the January 2024 election. In a country where taxi licenses are considered lucrative economic assets, the Integrity Chamber suggests that the Minister’s actions “led to questions regarding the motive… and speculation of vote-buying.”

Even without direct evidence of electoral corruption, the report is clear: “The manner in which the decision was made by the Minister harmed the public’s trust in the Ministry and Government.”

The Chamber describes a Ministry in disarray, where staff are poorly trained on ethics, where processes are undocumented, where departments barely communicate, and where one overburdened Advisor became the single point of failure in a critical system.

“There are no occurring integrity trainings/workshops within the Ministry of TEATT,” the report states. “There is no database or proper system in place… The administrative recording of historical data is also limited.”

The Chamber’s central conclusion is unequivocal: “There was insufficient compliance by the Minister and the Ministry of TEATT to the laws and regulations governing the process.”

Despite the gravity of the findings, the Chamber was careful not to assign criminal blame or name individuals for potential prosecution. The Chamber concludes that the conditions created by the Minister’s actions “led to an environment that facilitated the occurrence of misconduct.”

“While the investigation did not provide sufficient evidence of deliberate occurrences of misconducts such as, fraud, favoritism, bribery, or vote-buying, the lack of checks-and-balances and administrative controls makes it likely that these misconducts, and others, occurred.”

𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳, 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘹𝘪 𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘛𝘌𝘈𝘛𝘛. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦 26 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘖𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘶𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘶𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘶𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘹𝘪 𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘯 2023. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 2023.

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