Minister looks to lawyers over Brac paving report
(CNS): The deputy premier and the minister with responsibility for the Sister Islands has said she will not make any comment about the auditor general’s findings over the unlawful paving of private parking lots in Cayman Brac until she has spoken with lawyers. Alastair Swarbrick’s public interest audit into the paving scandal found that Juliana O’Connor-Connolly’s ministry spent more than $500,000 of public cash paving private lots during the road maintenance project in her constituency. The public auditor said the government did not have the authority to spend the money on private property as the country’s legislator had not voted for it and it was misuse of tax payers' money.
In the wake of the publication of the report, O’Connor-Connolly told Cayman27 that the ministry’s attorneys are now looking at the findings and she would not say anything until she had taken advice.
“I am going to reserve my comment because I am taking legal advice for the ministry until they can tell us what it says so I can make my comment so it won’t be at hearsay and so I have all of the information and at an appropriate time I will be addressing the country,” the deputy premier stated.
The Public Accounts Committee will be convening a meeting over the next two weeks to examine both this report as well as Swarbrick’s findings in relation to how CINICO is managing overseas health care costs.
Go to Cayman27 video
See related story and report here.
Category: Crime
Coming soon Juju will soon be paving watering place (pop-a top park) lol!
Is that JuJu's new official vehicle she's driving?
broadcasting live from watering place c-brac she paved her church yard and the district commisoner have his buisness centre also paved lmao, waht a mess!
Sounds like i need to open a church, they seem to be getting everything Free these days – including 1MILLION dollars with no strings attached
To the uninformed individual criticizing the Honorable Ms. Juliana Occonnor Conolly, you either are deaf, illiterate, or something seriously wrong with your connections as well as your attention span.
If you ever heard Ms Occonnor Conolly speak, especially when she was on radio some months ago, let me inform you that I am proud that we have a Caymanian female Attorney with an intellictual vocabulary at the high level Ms Occonnor Conolly has demonstrated and always.
You seem to be living in oblivion or is just simply an idiot that is uninformed and is stooping in attempt to bring down someone who obvivously is living and functioning at a higher intellectual level than yourself.
Sorry but this is not going to fly. "Everyone in Cayman knows that Ms Oconnor Conolly is a very highly educated woman and you are out of line to disrespect her by your unkind words and your falsifying and questioning her qualifications as a Caymanian Attorney. But ofcourse there is a group of you idiots who do nothing else in a CNS forum but try to tear down the character and credentials of Caymanian professionals especially their highly educated women.
Try and improve yourself, your own lives, and those of your children and families, and you will not find time to point a finger trying to destroy anyone else.
Did you learn anything today?
Yes — I learned that even an honourable, highly educated, female attorney is capable of the misappropriation of public funds and breaking the law. Sad, but unfortunately true. The question is: Is she honourable and highly educated enough to admit her faux pas and accept the consequences?
Yes – I learned that you are a hypoctrite and can also point fingers
You're missing the point my friend the point being whether Ms. O'Connor Connoly is educated and articulate or not she appears to have abused her position through the misuse of public funds. The paving which she personally directed being done was not authorized nor put through proper channels. For that she is being asked to personally account for her actions. After of course consulting with attorneys of which as you say she is one.
"If you ever heard Ms Occonnor Conolly speak, especially when she was on radio some months ago" …..???????? Is this your evidence that she is articulate and educated??? I propose you refer to the her quote from the article, and tell me what you think of her vocabulary and intellect.I do like the sweeping generalisation used to suggest " everyone in cayman knows that Ms. Oconnor is a very highly educated woman"; i dont!, and to be honest,you have not helped to prove it ……quite sneaky and immoral of you though.And how about your attacks and insults, i dare ask if you have actually had a point or did you just want to vent your frustration?!Did i learn anything? Nothing from you my friend, nothing at all.
$500, 000.00, this is what was taken from this fragile economy to secure votes! $500,000.00 that could have been used to provide scholarships for our youth, and provide health care equipment that the hospital so despeartley needs, just to name two. Rather we get paved private parking lots and roads, of an island that really dosnt provide much if any ,financial assitance to these islands economy. This Government cannot afford the reckless actions of a few clueless politicans any more. Sorry, but your highly educated friend, Ms. occonor, is a part of the problem!
YES, I learnt not to take lessons from someone who is an obvious sycophant. Have you learnt anything at all?
Thank you. Please let us know when she starts paving the deputy premier's driveway.
Well, during this administration the Chief Officer in the Ministry got the road to his house paved also, so it seems like they 'had a plan' for the paving – it just wasnt based on common sense.
Over $500,000, that could have gone a long way toward flood mitigation efforts and costs. Doesnt the Government care about the flood victims in Randyke, Greenwood Park (aka Swamp) and Cumber Avenue?
Some of the $500,000 could also have gone to speed bumps on some roads where speeding is rampant, to try and slow some drivers down and prevent accidents.
Thing is, all of the above responsibilities fall under the same Ministry, so it is nota matter of "we didnt know about those things" or "its not our responsibility".
What will the Ministry officials say now when Randyke, Cumber and Greenwood flood again this year?
What will they say when you request a speed bump for your road to improve children, pedestrian and cyclist safety?
The thumbs down on this post must be from the person(s) who received the illegal paving.
And the tumbs down to this one….must be the same 4 people!
The Minister does not need to use the Legal Dept. She can if she chooses use the private secror. So, we have a Minister (salary paid by the taxpayers) paying taxpayers' funds to a private sector lawyer to defend herself against allegations from the Auditor General and his Audit Office (salaries paid by the taxpayers) that she misused taxpayers' funds on Cayman Brac. Result? The taxpayers get screwed…er, sorry…foot the bill no matter what.
Who’s paying her Legal Bills?
Why did you capitalise “Legal Bills”?
Juju paving her way for the next year election
Oh dear, what happened to her law degree? Did it expire or something? Well for what it's worth, I agree with the other poster: give Chuckie a call: he'll be very glad to help you all ….. yeah, that's what I meant…help you all win the next election. lol!
The picture on the front please confirm who is sitting on the heavy equipment, cause it sure looks like yours truly lmao
probably in breach of health and safety regs, oh silly me I forgot that this is Cayman Brac, and stuff like doesn't apply there as they are so "special"!
For whatever reason the minister felt that she needed to help her people, it was entirely up to her to help those that are in need. I only have one problem with it, and that is if she only extended her help to UDP supporters. That's corruption. I believe that every representative has to go beyond the call of duty to secure their votes for the next election. That is unfair.
Businesses and families are struggling therefore extending help to businesses and families arefar better than giving it to churches.
Ms. Julie, tell the people why you did what you did, maybe they will understand your views, and may it be that this help was extended to PPM & UDP supporters alike.
If everybody was treated equal, then I wont have a problem.
XXXX
All polititians are alike -BUT THE SAYING GOES,ONE THIEF DONT WANT TO SEE ANOTHER THIEF WITH BIGGER BASKET.
Signed: non-UDP/PPM/INDEPENDENT.
If you are a non-independent, what does that mean?
Blah, blah. Bet she gets re-elected.
Cayman politics is too fractured. A politician only has to keep a tiny handful of goofs happy and re-election is assured, regardless of performance, corruption, or incompetence.
Shut up people waste of breath una cant touch Julianna una dont see she still paving driveways heck she paved coral Isle bar yard yesterday.Una cant touch the woman !!!!!!
I was over in the Brac for the long weekend and saw this paving still going on myself. The numbers reported will increase.
The only private parking lot I did not see being paved…the one in front if Kirkconnell Market. At least we know which Brac politician was not wasting the public's money!
What would jesus do?
Wash someone's feet!
Not vote for JuJu.
I hope CNS has misquoted her, that Englishis terrible. And she is educated?
The Cayman Islands (Truman Bodden?) Law School does notteach english, and St. Leo College (at the time of her attendance) didn't teach anything.
'Hard to believe she has a law degree with that English…
I think her English is better than some of the true English that turn up on our shores.
Besides what difference does it make? Lawyers have secretaries that fix these things for them all the time. Lawyers have to make good arguments and analyze documents. They do not have to be experts in the English language.
She is a politician people, not a practising lawyer! Her communication skills are VERY important."What difference does it make?", i suppose it dosnt make a difference when she can just crab talk her way to success in the brac, but in the real world, we expect someone in her capacity to be able to string together a sentence.Btw, you'll find most lawyers are well spoken and written.
'Lawyers have to make good arguments and analyze documents. They do not have to be experts in the English language'. Really, you cannot be that dumb to actually believe that statement, can you? How can someone put together a reasoned argument or analyze an official court document without an education in the English language? And by the way, following on from your example of English grammer, why do you think you're qualified to judge anyway?
Grammar.
And in other news; "Robbers strike again"….Hhmmnn
Julianna, why do you need a lawyer to waste more money? Why can't you admit you are in the WRONG! Lawyers cannot help this situation. It was simply just so wrong to paved private driveways and wastethe people money. Be accountable and move on…..Jeeez!
Now lets see how we can get you out of this mess JuJu…..here's my advice. You should hire attorney and former Tourism Minister Charles "Chuckster" Clifford to give you advice. Hell he's also a former Minister, former Permanent Secretary and former Deputy Permanent Secretary oh yeah former Chief Inspector of Police too so who better to advise you to "take a certain course of action" as they say in court :-).
Come to think of it Mac should hire the Chuckster too and hell Rollie you might as well hire the Chuckster too. You all might get a discounted hourly rate from him. I'm sure his advice would be given in the best interest of the country and I'm sure that you three Ministers would not settle for anything less than that now would you ? Now thats what I call 'walue' for money Mr. Auditor General !
Hmmmm……..come to think of it……General Elections in November 2012 sounds great to me right about now !!!
She is beginning to sound like McChavez-Jon IL, always blaming others. She said she is getting a Lawyer on behalf of the ministry, but it is not the "ministry" that made the decision to pave private parking lots & driveways. The buck stops with her, she is the minister in charge, & all decisions are either made by her or at least approved by her, but in typical UDP style she is blaming others. She needs the lawyer for herself & herself alone. When will the blame game stop? Maybe when they check into our famous 'hotel.' The cherries are dropping one by one from the tree, they must be over ripe & not "green"!
Question? Wasn't funds transferred from the NRA Grand Cayman to Cayman Brac to carry out this massive paving of private parking spaces and roads? The handouts have begun early. Even in BT they are giving the gifts early. Santa got fooled with climate change and got his sleigh packed early.
Tell us… What’s going on in Bodden Town??
You are right, just think of the millions we could save in lawyer fees with an early election.
This is really quite simple. Government processes are designed to be within the law. Follow them and you do not break the law. Now the public will have to pay for the lawyer for the minister? I doubt this is coming out of her own pocket.
Chewbacca lives on Endor .
I just wishes JuJu would take some breaths in between her rambling run-on sentences or at least find some way of inserting audible commas in her speech pattern which really exhausts me………….
I hire a lawyer i expect him to be on my side. They will twist the law find loopholes and get me out of trouble! So what you think her lawyers will say? How many starving children, how many school books and other needed things could that money have gone for!
Why look for legal advice now? She should have sought legal advice before she did it to ensure that she was doing the right thing. Geezum, couldn't she have called the Auditor General's extension (they are both in the same building) and asked him before she did it? Furthermore, don't she have a Law Degree herself, couldn't she have yanked out a law book to see if her actions were illegal or legal?
Make her pay for this! Let's start making examples out of these politicians with a free hand with our money. Let's put more stringent policies in place to stop the abuse and misuse of public funds. The UDP Govt. should be ashamed of themselves, always claiming WE BROKE, because of the last Govt., but yet who going around wasting money more than them??
Finally, let everyone whom got their property paved refund the Govt. in installments or take it from the Deputy Premier out of one of her many bank accounts and let hte people she gave the paving to repay her. That'll teach them a good lesson, and that is never use what is not yours to abuse in first place!
This country needs to be refunded. Plus anyone else that owes us money like Micheal Ryan and others, let them pay, no more FREENESS!!
I heard that some people wanted to pay for the paving as they didn't think it should be done for free and that they were told NO.
The residents of Berry Drive have been asking for their street to be paved. The developer stopped them at the beginning, but now the streed has been gazetted and the developer can do nothing about it, but daily our street gets worse and worse. The first section is not really too bad, XXXX, but from the second left turn to the end of the residences, the road is like driving on a washboard, Why can't she investigate that senario? Some of her people own property there and I am sure she would like to help the Caymn Brackers who live on Berry Drive also. Hurry JUJU, before they shut you down.
Boy that box of squid is looking temptin ya now.
BOX OF SQUID FOR 2013!!!
AND IF YOU GET TIRED OF IT….. FEED IT TO DI SHAAKS!!
You're right about that. They spend our money and get in trouble, and then they spend more of our money to try to get themselves out of trouble.
everybody lawyered up!
JuJu put on your seatbelt, your in for a ride!
Ms. Julie, as a lawyer you should know that it is not the Ministry that needs legal advice but instead the individuals involved in the decision to pave private parking lots and driveways. "The Ministry" will not have committed an offence. In other words, you should be funding your own individual legal advice.
Yes your right i always wondered who pays for these legal teams? Is it us that pays for them?
Dont worry she is learning from the best you know!! 🙂
…AND she IS a lawyer! Hind sight is always 20/20 they say.
The Ministry's attorneys?????
Isn't the Attorney General the Government's attorney?
Please do not waste any more time or money on this. The law is very vague on this one and the politicians took full advantage of that. Sorry we have those in place to abuse their power. As we used to say, 1st time time shame on you, 2nd time shame on me. Today, no one cares any more.
The Anti Corruption Law is not all that vague.
I care! The money could have been spent on a lot of other things that are needed and that Govt. SHOULD pay for, not to be used to make sure she get re-elected!
CNS – please follow up and find out who the Ministry's lawyers are. Are they private sector or are they from the legal department. The latter fall under the Attorney General. This is important as remember the Auditor General has referred the matter to the Attorney General in the first instance. This means there could be a conflict here.
I recall that a recent FOI request revealed that Mr Steve McField is being paid to provide advice to the Government.
CNS: The FOI actually revealed that Steve McField was contracted by the premier’s ministry as a legal consultant, not "government".
He is on retainer, paid for by us.
zzzzz…..what a joke this place is….
direct rule please!
You don't know what you're in for if you go down dat road.
The problem with Cayman is its full of ….criminals.
And they're paving the streets with someone else's gold.
sounds like she's paving the way for may 2013 votes lol
Gotta hand it to her, at least she is addressing it and saying why she will not comment. Mac should have at least done the same.
Come on now JuJu just stop it u have waste enough of the countries money going babagrain crazy and now about lawyer.
"I am taking legal advice for the ministry" Sounds to me like she is now spending our money again to get personal legal advice?
Any lawyers need a new driveway out there?
As a lawyer herself, and if she did not do anything wrong, why woud she need a lawyer to tell her what the report says?
Sounds like the lights were turned on and the roaches are scrambling.
Colford gonna need a lawyer too I suppose.
Exactly. The ministry's lawyers should be acting for the ministry not the individuals who, on the face of it, have been mispproriating our funds.
A trend that is far too common with the current administration. They circumvent proper processes to get what they want at public expense, then when the shit hits the fan, they seek legal advice, again at public expense. Yet if they just did things according to the proper procedures and protocols, they would never end up in this mess, or cost the public so much money in the first place. Yet more money down the drain.
At the end of this UDP term, I might well make a FOI request just out of curiosity to try and establish exactlyhow much public money has been illegaly squandered on all these projects, and exactly how much of our money has been spent either defending or trying to correct the mistakes that our "leaders" have made.
Don't wait,do it now!
Isn’t the Deputy Premier a qualified lawyer?
The word lawyer here is like the word pastor or captain – if you have the hat, you can use it.
To be a good lawyer you have to get good practice. Ju Ju was a P E teacher and did very little practice at law before joining the money making race {politics].
My gosh. I don't know which is more incredible: that she's a lawyer or was a PE teacher. Nothing in her present behavior indicates she has any interest in or knowledge of Physical Education, or the Law….
Apparently that doesn't necessarily mean she should know the difference between right and wrong.