Dart has say over cash
(CNS): Although government has said the money Dart Realty Cayman Ltd is donating to the public coffers as part of the ForCayman Investment Alliance was to go directly to the Treasury, the deal signed in December reveals that the developer gets to approve how government spends the cash. So far, Dart has given government $5 milllion and the premier’s office has announced two programmes that will use the funding. The first is to assist Caymanians at risk of losing their homes through mortgage arrears, and more recently his office announced a grant programme to help those unable to make important safety repairs to their homes.
According to the deal signed between Dart, the National Roads Authority and government, the cash donation forms part of the acquisition by the developer of crown land, but the agreement allows the group to have a say in how the cash will be spent and how it is promoted.
Clause 117 indicated that Dart will be entitledto a plan detailing how government intends to spend the cash it has donated in respect to education, parks and housing before the money was given to government and clause 118 states that the publicity for these projects will be coordinated between government and Dart.
North Side MLA Ezzard Miller, who received a full copy of the agreement from an unknown source last week, said that this was yet another clause in the deal that raised serious concerns over the influence Dart now had on public spending and the political process in the Cayman Islands.
“While Dart is giving government money as part of a land deal, it is also expecting to influence how those funds are spent, so it is clear that the developer is involved in the political process,” Miller said. The independent MLA pointed out that it is highly unusual for someone in the private sector to be able to influence how public money is spent.
Despite being described as a donation, the $5 million is part of what is expected to be as much as $20 million once the full ForCayman Alliance agreement has been signed between the government and Dart, which relates directly to the land that the investor will acquire as part of the overall deal.
The full agreement, once signed, will include the swap with government for the George Town landfill in exchange for land in Midland Acres, where it proposes to build the first phase of a new waste-management site, as well as the land in Barkers in the district of West Bay and the controversial strip of the West Bay Road.
According to comments made by Dart CEO Mark VanDevelde, the delay in the signing of the main agreement relates to the review by PricewaterhouseCoopers, which, he says, the group disagrees with. Speaking to The Journal, VanDevelde said Dart takes issue with the way PwC has assessed the value of the land that Dart will receive as part of the deal.
“We have a fundamental disagreement with the methodology they have taken regarding the land uplift, but even considering their approach to take the uplift, they still found it to be value for money,” VanDevelde said in the interview.
Like the NRA agreement, which was not made a public document, the PwC review has also been kept under wraps and Miller has challenged the Dart Group and government to release this to allow the people of Cayman to judge for themselves whether or not this controversial agreement will benefit all the people of Cayman and not just an elite few.
See related story and full agreement:
Category: Politics
This smacks of political interference, if you ask my humble opinion. No developer who is paying over sums in relation to a land deal, should be ALLOWED in any way, shape or form to have a say, or keep dibs on, or have any input, in how that payment is spent. The payment should first of all go into the general coffers and from there disbursed by the relevant senior civil servants, not controlled by a politician in a what could be considered very akin to vote-buying. This needs to be looked into immediately by the relevant authorities and anti-corruption agency(ies) that uphold certain standards. Thank God for that person in Government who leaked the full Dart Agreement to Mr. Ezzard Miller, and thank God Mr. Ezzard Miller cannot be bought. There is a saying, that no prophet is honoured in his own country. Maybe now Caymanians will realize who and what Mr. Miller is all about, in stark contrast to our current ruling fiasco of government.
Bwoy ! And I thought Jamaica was bad when it came to political corruption.
It is. Jamaica that is!!!
To quote: "Dart isn't giving us anything. It is part payment for what Dart is receiving from us. And that should go into general revenues so he should have no say in how it is disbursed. He is not the government."
I don't know about you, but this sounds like it could be the basis for Investigation #4, or is it 5, or 6, or 7…..I have lost count again. Governor? RCIPS? FCO? Anti-Corruption Commission? Public Stands Commission? Anyone?
Bush does not want the UK to meddle in our business but Dart well that is a different matter. they can actually instruct him.
Don't much matter if the Bush has control, Dart got the Bush under his control
This raises concerns on a number of fronts.Firstly ,if indeed this was a payment intended to be paid into the Treasury ,then for Dart to have control of Govt funds is a very serious situation and has to be illegal.Secondly,if Dart is maintaining control of these funds ,perhaps it was known or feared that this money would not be placed into the Treasury,but used by Mr Bush for his (Re- election) pet projects.
It is too bad that some people can’t read……read the Agreement again. It does NOT say that Dart directs the funding. It says that Dart has a right to know how the Government spends its money….so it doesn”t go into a slush fund! This is no different that any other company offering a “sponsorship” so long as the money is going to a good cause.
As for publicity, same thing…..most companies like to know how their name will be used when advertisting sponsorship funding.
"It is too bad that some people can't read." YOUR WORDS not mine!
It's too bad "YOU" [my words] don't understand "WHAT YOU'VE READ. It says that Dart has a right to know how the Government spends its money so it doesn't go into a slush fund! If it is indeed our 'the peoples" money, then neither Mr. Dart nor any of his minions should have anything to say or do about how it is spent. That is, unless Mr. Dart has secretly been appointed by the FCO to oversee how any monies spent is in Cayman is in accordance with whatever "Mr. Dart" thinks is best for the Island. ONE NEVER KNOWS DOES ONE? If that is the case then we all might as well start getting used to addressing him as the "Most Honorable Dart Raider" savior of the Cayman Islands. Just a thought!!
Hang on a minute, who's running the country, the elected government or this "Dart" entity?
For crying out loud, Mr.Governor, when, oh, when, are you going to start getting involved in good governance?
Poor lamb: you really have no clue about the role of the Governor, do you?
Wendy, can you please publish the report of Pricewaterhouse, so the people can really see what their claim of uplift means.
If they are valueing the property as future, speculative development, then that is extremely unfair to Vandevelde, and the Darts
How would any Caymanian agree for a Real Estate company to asses a property that they want to purchse… to build their $500,000.00 home on. The realtor tells you your house value is $500,000.00 and the land value is $100,000.00 now you pay us 600,000.00 for this property.
CNS: If we had the report we would have published it.
Thank God someone that knows what they are doing maintains some level of control!
Caymanians need to remember the principals of the past and return to them. The greatest time in our history were in the 50, 60, 70 and 80s and that is when we owned it all, socially and politically. Wake up before it is too late and smell the coffee. In order to change things we must return to the God of our fathers and he is just as alive and well as he was back when we depended on him for everything. God is always with us in times of trouble and when things are good. Stop depending on politician and investors put your trust in God and do the right things
There is no investor more powerful that God and we must always remember that and do what is right. Caymanians God loves us more that Investors and Politicains.
Why is it that this party is always under some sort suspicion in no matter what it does.The simple solution of being more transparent by allowing the public to see all parts of this arrangement or deal with the Dart Group. Why is this so hard or difficult for this government. They virtual create their own problems by conducting themselves in such a manner.Which simple does not make any sense whatsoever. The public is thereby left with assumptions and conclusions of some sort of impropriety by the Government. My final questions is why does the DART group allowing this to happen? Show the public all the relevant documents in this deal. The public have a right and are the ones who have to agree or accept or object to it.
We have given up our sovereignty to a private entity.
Where in the world does any country allow a private entity to pay it funds then direct the government on how they should be spent?
This is a very poor practice that is bad for this country as it opens us up to unpcedented corruption.
What time will the fix up homes get attention as the hurricane months are here now. Those who are very few on the Brac that did not get any help after the Paloma should get the first attention. Lets hope that Ms Martinez will not take any dictation from the Hon Ju Ju in who should be helped. We understand that the applications has already been sent down to her. Any way the Public is looking very careful at it. If we are giving away thats the least we can get, and that is a fair hand out, not only to just family and supporters.
I don't want to sound like I don't appreciate all that DART has done for Cayman but really with the exception of the parks everything else to support his business. Nothing wrong with that, that is what shrewd business people do.
What is not good is when he purports to doing something for us as a gift but expects something in return. Mr. DART when people give gifts they give them humbly not expecting something in return. when you expect something in return, it is no longer a gift but it then becomes a bribe.
Wouldn't it be nice that as a corporate citizen you guys decided the Light house school free of charge and give it to the Government (as a gift). Wouldn't it be nice if you guys built a proper landfill (as a gift) and deeded to the people of these islands? Would it be nice if you gave the the airport a proper expansion and face lift (as a gift).
In the end all of these things would make you smell like a rose and make you well loved and like as a corporate citizen. in the end all of these things will indirectly benefit your investments significantly.
Hitting us when we are down and giving us $5M for a $350M piece of beach land and a strip of road that only benefits your Camana Bay operation just doesn't seem like a gift does it? do you sleep well at night? Come on we gave you Caymanian citizenship. Please treat us well or don't offer to give us anything at all.
We direly need to see those reports and relevant documentation provide to Pricewaterhouse Coopers for this review Whats the big secret? What is the government afraid of? something sure stinks and it just north of the G/Town dump. i smell a lawsuit coming???????
Don't forget the $40 million !
Before Cayman reached its debt limit a year or so ago, the interest payment each year on our debt was 40 million dollars. THAT'S PER YEAR!!!! Without proper accounts being kept by this governent we do not know the real current figure which is probably closer to $60,000,000.00 per year in interest. Imaging the good we could do with that money if we had it to spend on our country's needs.
Any and all "found money" such as Dart contributions should go toward paying off our national debt in order to reduce the enormous interest payments. Running a country this way is like renting a house instead of owning it. The renter never sees his money again while the home owner builds equity through ownership.
Mr. Dart currently owns more than 25% of the real estate in Cayman. If he were to pay his fair share in transfer fees and duties, we would probably be in better financial shape without the interest burden on our debt.
VOTE YES ON WEDNESDAY to stop this insanity.
Bush is so far out of his depth not even the glimmer of a Baywatch girl possibly beyond the horizen suggests hope. All he seems to be currently capable of doing is to reinforce what an inept blundering smudge he is within Govt.- honourable ? – not remotely . . . He's like an under done custard tart that no-one wants leaving a huge mess everywhere.
Now who really thought Mr. Deep pockets would entrust 5 million dollars solely in the hands of our Honorable McKeewa Bush to do as he pleased? He is after all the subject of several investigations regarding "the dough".
I am satisfiee that these people who are haveing so much negative things to say, is only because they are jealous of the poor people of cayman having an opportunity to grow grass in their yard or put windows in their homes. Can never be that these are Caymanians being so mean spirited. Hell out there Caymanians This is your Island. Look out for your neighbour and the best happening to each other. Stop being Mean spirited, remember you have children too.
"Pay no attention to the man behind the iron curtain." "Mac is just a puppet, watch the puppetmaster." For a while, I saw these types of comments being made and would wonder who was being referred to. I guessed who it was, but was not sure. I wonder no more. The events transpiring recently, have removed all doubt from my mind as to who really "run tings here." Cayman, time to cut those puppet strings and take back your country.
Make the review public plane and simple, give us a government that doesn't do deals behind closed doors, if there is nothing to hide let us see it, is that too much to ask for?
Cayman will always get the "short end" of the deal when wheeling and dealing with Dart. He is the best at what he does.
You dont have to be the best when the guy you need help from is a corrupt uneducated doormat
To All Caymanians, this is another reason why you all should go out and Vote Yes to One Man, One Vote. I have listen to Elio this morning trying to convince you the Caymanians to Vote No on Wednesday. When you the people ask them to unite and have Mac removed or have him step down as the Premier, they all ignore the wishes of you the Caymanians who elected them to serve. And now they are asking you the Caymanians to say no to the One Man, One Vote, and using the people's money in advertisements, which is completely wrong in my honest opinion. The UDP should have funded their own campaign and ads, been that it was them that took over the people referendum and making it a Government referendum, in which I have never heard, or seen this happen in any other Country before, this should never had been. Now Dart is in control of how the funds should be spent that he had given the Government. That again my Caymaniansfriends, is not right!!! How could this be?
People of Cayman I urge you all to excercise your democratic rights and Vote Yes for One Man, One Vote, even if you don't fully understand it, just to show this Government that the Power is your hands, and you all are coming to take these Islands back. Under this Government I watch these Islands going down in 2001 to 2005, and was rescued by PPM, yeah they have their faults too, but nothing amounts to the damage UDP has cause since 2009 and until now, sometimes it seems they had a plan to finish what they started in 2001. Time for you the Caymanians to put a stop to this.
Thanks,
Your Sincerely: Live Free….
We read you loud and clear but once again there is no name to your article. CNS is losing credibility because most bloggers refuse to pencil their name in on their articles. You guys deserve what you get.
You bitch and complain but will not be countered. Do something positive in your lives for once.
Dear Chris,
It's called fear of repercussions. I have children to feed as does many others. I can't support my family without a job and if my name is put here, I'm sure that I will be looking a new job tomorrow.
So……Dart supposedly gives money the the Cayman Government and then Lord Dart decides how/when/to whom it will go.I may be a little slow but it seems to me that Dart is "BUYING" the Cyaman Islands with little resistance from our Premier or should he be reffered to as "Dart Puppet".
Ask yourself this, what is wrong with DART having some control over the money he is giving us?
Are you telling me you would rather allow our Dishonorable Minister of Finance to be in charge of it?
What is wrong with it is that Dart has no business running the Government – but I can understand why he does not want The Premier to have full sway!!
Dart isn't giving us anything. It is part payment for what Dart is receiving from us. And that should go into general revenues so he should have no say in how it is disbursed. He is not the government.
I would prefer neither of them being responsible for it because if either of them is they will use it to their advantage NOT for the betterment of Cayman !
I would like to tell the Dartianians that not all the residents on this Island are drinking MaCaid or Dartaid, some just drink rum, whisky or plain milk, and we can see the BS when they double speak about "uplift" and all the other forked tongue speak. We smell the coffee.
I'm drinking milk and eating carrots, just like the rest of the donkey-face people.
It is nice to know that Dart in the deal now has a say in how government spends its money. Clearly this has been structured so that Mac could "buy votes" with the money.
UK Where are you???
I have said it before and I will say it again. UK, tHE Governor, The Premier is not ever going to fix what needs fixing in this Country. Please go out on Wednesday and Vote yes to OMOV. It won't solved everything but it sure will send a message to the UDP that Caymanians are fed up and we are changing things around here. It certainly will put them on notice that we are not going to take it any longer. Go out to the poles on Wednesday, VOTE YES , AND COME BACK NEXT YEAR AND FINISH THE JOB BY VOTING THEM ALL OUT OF OFFICE. iF THE MAJORITY VOTES AGAINST THIS WE ARE IN FACT TELLING MCKEEVA AND HIS COHORTS THAT WE LIKE WHAT THEY ARE DOING TO US AND THAT WE WANT SOME MORE OF IT. EVERYONE WHO HAS HAD ENOUGH OF THIS GOVERNMENT PLEASE VOTE YES TO OMOV.
If the process, or lack therof, "appears" corrupt then it very likely is!
And the entire ForCaymanAlliance (For Dart, the premier and their chosen few) clearly appears highly questionable/corrupt.
I would have hoped by now that the UK would have insisted that the PWC report be made a public document (after all the public paid for this) so that "transparency" could occur and thus cause some semblance of "Good Governance".
Thankfully Ezzard is continuing to bring pressure to bear by producing what he can find out.
Ummmm…….did you guts happen to notice the almost billion dollar investment made by Dart in Camana Bay….including offices occupied by law firms, accounting firms, fund administrating firms. Not to mention another school alternatives and great cultural events. And let’s throw in district parks and employing hundreds of people.
All firms were in other offices were they not? now empty. 100's of who? Caymanians? District parks, cultural events are the smokescreen we see thru.
None of Dart's companies are giving anything to the people of the Cayman Islands, except the Dart family parks on the island. Everything they built in Cayman Bay is making them money. They have not employed anyone in their various offices, that are not producing more value than the money for them. So please cease and desist from trying to make Caymanians believe anything else and when the Government changes and McKeeva the Big Mac and his small fries, are no longer in power, Dart will keep on bilking Caymanians out of whatever we have left, because that is what he does well. Think back on Greece!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What Cayman needs is a Trade School, for the life of me I cannot understand why so much money has bypassed such an important asset.
A well run school will offer careers in trades for locals in fields of mechanical, welding and fabrication, electrical, construction etc.
Some of the wealthiest indivuduals around operate their own small trades businessess.
And don't think that Caymanians won't take advantage of this opportunity. I know of many youngsters who would be keen to learn a trade. Not everybody wants to work in an office.
Food for thought.
Pleased to report that Cayman's first, REAL Trade School officially opened on Monday evening, 16th July 2012. Allan (Ha Ha) Moore is the man behind "Cayman Vocational Training Academy" and he is a well known figure, having been the Government's Electrical Inspector for the past 30+ years. The school is located at 120 School Road at the corner of McField Lane. This is also a great opportunity for many to offer their services in volunteerism. Give back something to the people of Cayman.
The people have the right to know and see exactly what this UDP Government gave to DART and that includes all documents and studies. Why is that so hard for the government to do? Why is everything so secretive???? Produce the documents McKeeva and produce them now!
mkeewa = dart = vote buying
boycott
If Dart had paid duty like all other Caymanian businessmen this would not be an issue.
Hold MLAs accountable for questionable deals. Vote yes to OMOV.
WTF is going on here? Mr. Dart, if you're worried about the plight of poor Caymanians then pay your taxes IN FULL government has money for social projects. The $5M donation by Dart is politically and ethically off axis. Only in Cayman, my friends!
Mac, show us the PWC report before Dart has it amended to suit his and your needs.
I am confused here. Government is seeking to sell crown land, namely a part of West Bay Road and Dart is seeking to buy it. The payment for the crown land is in cash and kind sounds like. So why is the cash part of it being called a donation? A donation means you have given something not expecting anything in return, isn't it? However, if it is the proceeds of a sale, the money should be paid into government's treasury and become general revenue overwhich Dart has no say. It also means that the money, in my opinion, should not be disbursed by any committee unless approved by the LA and Finance Committee. Can someone add some clarity to what is going on here?
This is called the looting of the treasury before it reaches the treasury…
There is nothing confusing about this deal. I has been kept secret and obtuse (clear as mud) on purpose. McKeeva likes things like this to be kept hidden.
Draw your own conclusions.
Just a sophisticated way of buying votes…Mac say he gon' do it the LEGAL way now! Getting the big boys back him too!
*yawn*…back to sleep I go!