Archive for February 9th, 2011
Appeal goes out for searchers
(CNS): As the search for Anna Evans, the 37-year-old landfill worker who has now been missing for 14 days, continues, the president of the Cayman Islands Civil Service Association is calling on every member of the public sector to join in a coordinated mass search effort this weekend. The family and friends Anna are organising a search party, which will be leaving from the Old By-Rite’s Building off Walker’s Road in front of the Texaco station. The search party will commence the manhunt at 7;00 on Saturday morning 12 February. Yesterday police distributed a poster of the missing mother in the hope of triggering recollections. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)
“I invite as many of you as is humanly possible to render your assistance in the search for our colleague and our friend, Mrs Anna Ebanks-Evans,” said James Watler. “I urge you to join the search as we are deeply saddened to know that our colleague and friend is still unaccounted for. CICSA wish the family God’s blessings throughout this very difficult and trying time.”
Anyone wishing to participate is asked to be there for a prompt start, prepared with proper walking shoes, hat, gloves and long sleeves as well as long pants as the terrain may be a bit rough.
Anna was last seen at the George Town landfill site around noon on Thursday, 27 January, and despite an extensive manhunt there has been no sign of the mother five. Police said Wednesday that officers will be approaching staff in gas stations, supermarkets, schools, government buildings and commercial premises to encourage them to display the posters in prominent positions.
“We are extremely grateful for the support and the help provided by the public so far in the search for Anna,” said Acting Superintendent Richard Barrow. “Since Anna disappeared the community spirit demonstrated by people throughout the Island has been absolutely outstanding. We need that support to continue as we try to find answers for Anna’s family and establish what led to her disappearance on 27 January."
Barrow explained that the poster may trigger some recollections from the wider public. “That’s why this poster campaign is so important. We hope that by having Anna’s picture prominently displayed in public places throughout Grand Cayman it may jog someone’s memory, or encourage someone who has information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, to call the enquiry hotline.”
Police have also asked the community to search land and out buildings on private property to help the RCIPS cover as much ground as possible. Officers confirmed that the search of the landfill has been completed and despite the assistance of specialist canine handles who have now left the jurisdiction there is still no sign of the missing mother of five.
Anyone with information that could assist the investigation should call the dedicated enquiry hotline 526-0911
Regional telecom firms make new acquisitions
(CNS): Both Cable & Wireless (CWC) and Digicel have acquired stakes in communication companies recently the firms have announced. Cable& Wireless has signed an agreements with The Bahamas government to acquire a 51% interest in the Bahamas Telecommunications Company Limited (BTC) while Digicel has taken a controlling stake in Netxar Technologies, a systems integrator in the Caribbean region. CWC said that BTC will form a key plank of LIME’s business and Digicel says its involvement with Netxar will see customers optimising their ICT infrastructure and save money.
CWC said its deal with BTC was subject to a number of conditions including parliamentary and regulatory approvals but it expected to close the transaction by the end of March. The firm stated that it has worked with the Bahamian Government to develop a business and restructuring plan for BTC to improve and expand its services and increase its customer focus. The 51% share has cost CWC US$210 million and it has been given three years before the liberalisation process of the mobile sector starts in the country.
Tony Rice, CWC’s Chief Executive, said that BTC is a business with strong prospects, well positioned in one of the region’s largest economies. “It will form a key part of our LIME business, benefitting from our regional platform and scale, while maintaining its Bahamian character,” he said. “Our immediate focus will be on preparing the business for competition. We intend to improve its networks, introduce new services and move it to a cost base able to sustain the business in a competitive environment.
Meanwhile Digicel said it will be working immediately to achieve even greater business success and market share as the region’s newest Information and Communications Technology (ICT) powerhouse. It said Netxar had built “a fantastic track record.”
President and CEO of Netxar, Frank Santiago, said that for years, corporate and public sector customers have been searching for a business partner who can deliver both world class telecommunication services and ICT solutions. “Now, customers will benefit from technology solutions that leverage their IT framework as a competitive advantage while reducing operational costs and increasing productivity,” he said. “The support and involvement of Digicel which, in ten short years, has had such a positive impact on the Caribbean communications space will see us delivering even better solutions to an even broader range of corporate customers.”
Kevin White, COO of Digicel Group added that since the firm had started focusing on delivering ICT solutions to Caribbean corporate customers in 2007, it had made big inroads and in Jamaica Digicel serves over 70% of the corporate market.
The accusation he said will: “See us increasing our ICT presence across the Caribbean and Central America and offering customers a broader and deeper product portfolio backed by Digicel’s award-winning customer service. Our customers are set to benefit from being with the region’s newest ICT powerhouse,” he added.
Premier goes fact finding in Jersey
(CNS): Following his visit to the UK’s FCO to meet with the overseas territories minister, the premier has moved on to Jersey, where he is expected to meet with the island’s lieutenant-governor, other government officials and people from the jurisdiction’s financial sector. According to sources close to the visit, McKeeva Bush and the Cayman delegation will be looking at Jersey’s Public Finance Law, accounting procedures and budgeting process to determine whether it could help inform changes planned for Cayman’s Public Management and Finance Law. Meanwhile, officials from Jersey are hoping to not only strengthen relations but learn how Cayman is defending its 0% tax rate against hostility from other countries, as well as the sustainability of its public finances.
Although a release was circulated by the premier’s office regarding Bush’s trip to the UK to meet with the overseas territories minister, Henry Bellingham, there was no mention of the three day visit to the UK crown dependency of Jersey, located in the English channel and also famed for its financial services industry.
The premier is being accompanied by MLAs Cline Glidden, Ellio Solomon, Financial Secretary Kenneth Jefferson, his political advisor Richard Parchment, and Richard Smith, the director of Civil Aviation Authority, who is expected to attend meetings with Jersey’s aviation officials.
The premier and his party will be departing Jersey on Thursday evening. It is not known if he will be returning directly to Cayman or if there are further meetings planned at other overseas destinations.
Education Minister Rolston Anglin currently remains acting premier. Despite requests, no details have been supplied to the media on the whereabouts of Deputy Premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly.
Lawyer “hangs” with judges in Grand Court
(CNS): Senior attorney Ramon Alberga, QC is the first ever attorney to find himself hanging alongside the legal heavyweights of Cayman’s judicial history. Alberga’s portrait joinsa photo gallery that features past judges of the country’s Grand Court as a tribute to the lawyer’s many years service at the Cayman Islands bar. During a brief ceremony on Friday Alberga described the honour as being one of his most significant. He said it was in keeping with the tribute accorded him – also by the Chief Justice – at the formal opening of the Grand Court’s 2011 session, to commemorate his six decades of service.
Alberga said that since 1964, he had cherished his appearances before the court and deeply valued the Cayman court’s respect for fairness, integrity and independence. Chief Justice Anthony Smellie together with Justices Charles Quin, Angus Foster, and Sir Peter Cresswell, welcomed Alberga and family members to witness the portrait’s placement on the east wall of the Grand Court foyer.
The Chief Justice said the prime reason for honouring Alberga was simple.
“To us, you epitomise what a lawyer should be; you have provided the public of these Islands with legal services at the highest level across the broadest spectrum of cases for more than 35 years” the country’s top judge said. “But not only that, more to the point of this humble recognition that the judges now offer to you – you have always recognised and fulfilled your duty as an officer of the Court and the elder statesman of the bar to uphold the administration of justice by your unstinting support of the judiciary over the years in circumstances too numerous to mention,” adding that despite his decision to retire, Alberga would still be called upon occasionally for advice.
No bill hikes says CUC boss
(CNS): The combination of the recent explosion at the power plant on Grand Cayman along with a major failure of a generator at the weekend will not result in any kind of new surcharges to customers, the president of CUC has said. Although the company has, and will be, investing in replacement equipment and significant repairs up front, affecting the company’s cash flows, Richard Hew says CUC is insured and will eventually be paid for the losses, so it will not be introducing a surcharge to cover any costs associated with the mechanical issues. Hew has also defended the company’s safety record, saying that despite the very risky business of generating electricity, in 45 years the explosion was the first serious incident at the firm.
Twenty-six-year-old Kurt Scott, one of the two men injured in last month’s explosion, remains in critical condition in hospital in Miami, CUC’s president and CEO told the media on Tuesday, while his colleague, 53-year-old Arney Ebanks, is out of hospital and on the road to a full recovery. Hews said Ebanks was expected to be back at work within the next couple of weeks.
CUC is continuing the investigation into the incident, along with the manufacturers and insurers. Hew revealed that once finished, the results of the investigation would be given to the relevant regulators and authorities but only a summary would be made public.
At this stage CUC is aware, he said, that the explosion occurred in the exhaust system when the engine was going through the start up process but he had no other details about the possible cause. He noted that there were numerous reasons why a generator might fail and cause an explosion and pointed out the dangers of the business.
“The electricity business has numerous risks with respect to health and safety,” Hews noted. “Electrocution, explosions, falls from height are all possible and CUC has always focused very heavily on minimising the risks and reducing the severity and frequency of accidents.”
The power boss said that it was in the company’s interests to do a thorough investigation in regard to the explosion and that nothing would be swept under the carpet as the company had to learn from this incident to improve methods and procedures.
Warning that there may be some power outages over the next two or three days as a result of the various maintenance issues, the president said no customers would be without power for more than an hour as any need to cut capacity will be rotated across the districts.
He said that at present the country’s peak demand was running at around 85 mega watts, but with several units out of commission, CUC currently only had a capacity of 95 mega watts and it needed to increase the gap between the two. Two units undergoing routine maintenance at present are expected to be back in action in a couple of days, taking capacity to over 100 mega watts, but the firm has decide to rent a temporary generator to increase the cushion of capacity.
“As an island we can’t just borrow from somewhere if we get a surge in demand so we need a significant cushion between the peak demand levels and our peak generating capacity,” Hews explained.
With three generators now out of use for what is expected to be a long period, Hew explained that the firm is likelyto incur significant costs as it works to repair the unit which exploded last month, the unit which failed at the weekend after a piston came through the engine, and another generator that failed in September and is still under repair. He explained that CUC is covered by its insurance for these machines but in the first instance the company would be paying for parts and work before the insurance firms paid out. However, this did not mean customers would see an increase in their bills.
Hew said the situation was not the same as what the firm experienced in the wake of Hurricane Ivan in September 2004, when significant uninsured assets were lost. The president explained that it is not possible to insure equipment which is more than a thousand yards from either the main plant or a substation on any insurance market and this was the same for many power providers. In this case the generators affected are all within the CUC plant on Sparky Drive in George Town.
With further increases in fuel costs, however, there are no guarantees that bills won’t be increasing in the future, but the CUC CEO said that the company was hedging against major price increases as fears grow that crude oil could reach $100 a barrel, which he said would keep the fuel surcharge down.
Travers departs job as Cayman’s defender
(CNS):Updated 12:30pm –After two years of rebutting public criticisms of the Cayman Islands as a tax haven and secrecy jurisdiction, Anthony Travers is stepping down from the chairmanship of Cayman Finance. In a short announcement circulated by the London public relations firm Media House there were no details about why Travers is stepping down or who will replace him as cheerleader for the financial services sector. Later on Wednesday morning Cayman Finance issued a separate statement thanking Travers. Over the last two years Travers has been outspoken and controversial in his responses to the critics of the Cayman Islands and was the first representative of the sector to persistently and directly take on the international media, challenging the overseas image of Cayman as a centre for financial skulduggery.
Travers states that he was asked to take up the chairmanship of the financial sector’s industry body when public relations were at a low ebb.
“At the time the UK and US Governments were extremely hostile to the Cayman Islands and our financial system and the Cayman Islands were on the OECD Grey List, we were threatened by hostile US legislation and were subject to unjustified criticism from the UK and the EU,” Travers says.
“I have been pleased to lead the organisation and feel we have done a great deal over the last two years to counter our many critics and establish the truth about the Cayman Islands and the value it brings to international financial transactions and the global economy. Needless to say I wish Cayman Finance and the new chairman well in its continuing endeavours.”
In his more recent attacks on the critics of the offshore financial services industry Travers has referred to charities, NGOs and those on the left as the “Tax Taliban”. In his last blog on the Cayman Finance website Travers criticised the Financial Times for its suggestions that Ireland was taking fund business away from Cayman. The chair defended the sector and said the idea there was a fund exodus from Cayman to Ireland was a “load of blarney”.
Cayman Finance revealed in its own release that during "this transitional time," the board members will share directional responsibilities," and that an announcement regarding an interim Chairman was expected shorty.
The official explanation for Travers’ sudden departure was that the former chair wanted to "spend more time attending to his other business ventures and to spend time with his family," the release said.
Wishing him the best of luck in his future endeavours,Cayman Finance said it was grateful for his contributions to the country’s financial services industry.
"Cayman Finance board wishes to acknowledge the tremendous achievements made by Travers in the past two years as leader of the organisation. Through this time, there have been critical international pressures placed on Cayman’s reputation and Travers has explained and defended Cayman’s position admirably," Cayman Finance stated adding that the organisation remained a strong, healthy and well-funded with the board directors from the jurisdictions leading financial companies staying put.
Student reveals Cayman ordeal on web
(CNS): A young student who was stabbed in the stomach while he was visiting the Cayman Islands on a study abroad programme has revealed his ordeal to his college’s publication and website. In the wake of the stabbing last month, the police commissioner had criticised the local media’s reporting of the incident, saying it had been sensationalised as a robbery when there was no evidence to suggest it was. Speaking to The Pendulum (Elon University’s student newspaper), Brian Andrews said he believed the motive was robbery but because he was able to sprint away quickly the robber didn’t get anything. At a recent public presentation David Baines suggested that the incident was nothing more than a fight. (Photo Dennie Warren jr)
At the Chamber’s ‘Be informed’ series last month the commissioner accused the local press of reporting the incident incorrectly. “There was an incident last week where it was reported …’Tourist robbed and stabbed on Seven Mile Beach’ when we had not confirmed that account,” Baines said. “The other version that says intoxicated man attending nightclub at midnight, where there was a fall out with boys over girls … doesn’t make headlines … and doesn’t start with the word tourist.”
However, not one single local media outlet across the island had used the word “tourist” or “robbed” in relation to the report. The reports mostly referred to a visitor being assaulted and that police were investigating the incident as per the release circulated by the RCIPS press office.
Condemning the media over the non-existent reports, Baines wondered how many times we needed to “shoot ourselves in the foot” but then denied it was about covering anything up.
“It’s about giving facts, then people can make the right decision,” he told the Chamber. The commissioner said that when people put in the words ‘tourist’ and ‘Cayman’ into search engines it would come up with “tourist robbed” because the incident had not been reported factually by the local media, even though this was not the case.
The story has now been reported on the web by the victim, who spent two nights in hospital here and clearly believes he was the victim of an attempted robbery.
“I assume (robbery) was the motive," Andrews told his local paper. "Right when he lunged, a lot of adrenaline took over. I was able to spin away quickly and spring away. Luckily nothing was taken from me." He mentioned nothing about a dispute occurring at Calico Jacks, which is where the incident occurred, but said he had gone outside the bar to call his girlfriend when the men approached him.
Andrews was in the Cayman Islands on a programme where he and another 21 students were spending their winter term studying at the University College of the Cayman Islands (UCCI), a programme the local university is pushing as “educational tourism” and it was the first time that Elon had offered the overseas study.
In a release from UCCI, Dr Art Cassill, Chair of the Department of Accounting and Finance at Elon, said that the idea originated from one of the parents whose children are attending the university and who regularly visits the island on business.
“The Winter Term Study Abroad programme at Elon University is designed to provide our students with knowledge of the global environment from business to culture and society. While some of the Study Abroad courses reflect objectives on general studies, ours is designed specifically for accounting, finance, management and other majors related to business disciplines,” said Dr Cassill. “The more we looked at it, the more it made sense for our students to be exposed to a truly international financial services centre in this part of the world.”
UCCI President Roy Bodden also noted it provided the opportunity for local students to meet college students from outside the Cayman Islands.
“Elon’s visit to UCCI was an opportunity for them to learn from UCCI faculty and students about Caymanian history, society and economy. UCCI students, for their part were able to broaden their understanding of the United States. The visit was mutually beneficial and plans are in place for next year when it is hoped that UCCI students can visit North Carolina on an exchange programme,” he added.
See local media reports on the incident here and here and university report