Archive for October 25th, 2012
Port slammed over FOI abuse
(CNS): The Information Commissioner's Office has condemned the Port Authority of the Cayman Islands (PACI) over the way it handled a freedom of information request made by CNS back in January regarding the GLF cruise berthing proposal. In her decision delivered Thursday, some ten months after we made our request, Commissioner Jennifer Dilbert described the procedural issues relating to the request as “unprecedented” and said the authority repeatedly failed to meet deadlines or cooperate with the ICO. “In my opinion PACI showed a total disregard for the policies and procedures of the ICO, and the FOI Law,” the information boss found as she announced that she was conducting a separate investigation under section 44 of the law regarding the port's failure to comply.
In the final analysis Dilbert has ordered some further records released and upheld the Port Authority's decision to keep others under wraps. However, her main concern in this case has been the failure of the authority to follow the law, not just in terms of what it should have released but also in connection with the procedural process.
CNS made the FOI request to the port in January after a previous request by someone else was dealt with by the commissioner but was then dropped by the applicant. From that point on the obstruction and difficultiesbegan.
Although the commissioner had ordered the records released to the original applicant, when CNS asked for the same records we were refused. Dilbert ordered the Port Authority to comply with her decision but it objected and questioned the validity of the commissioner applying the original decision to a new applicant.
The commissioner then turned to the courts to enforce her decision, but in the face of what was likely to be a costly and long legal battle, the more efficient move was for CNS to make a fresh request. We did so, and after some time received some records. However, it was very clear that not everything relating to our request had been released and as a result CNS asked the ICO to intervene once again.
"The unreasonable manner in which this request was handled at every step along the way unnecessarily created additional cost, work and delays for all concerned,” Dilbert said as she pointed to the obstructionism of the authority over the ten months since the request was submitted. She added that the authority consistently confused the disclosure of records to CNS as the applicant with the provision of copies of records to the ICO to enable the office to carry out the appeal under the law.
“This resulted in delays and much additional work on the part of the ICO to bring the appeal to this point,” Dilbert said in her decision, rejecting outright the port's claim that to “disclose any privileged documents in the absence of compulsion as to do so would result in waiver of privilege over these records.”
She said the authority had “grossly misused” the application of legal professional privilege in this case in various different ways.
Dilbert also said that once the ICO hearing began, the port engaged in “a month of negotiation, unacceptable delays, and non-cooperative and obstreperous responses”.
The authority did all it could to prevent the ICO seeing the documents that were in dispute but eventually agreed to staff from her office inspecting the responsive records at the offices of PACI’s lawyers.
“The ICO was challenged at each step of the way, and while to expedite matters the ICO agreed to inspect records at the offices of the lawyers, it placed significant and unnecessary logistical burdens on the staff. It was doubly frustrating, and further testifies to the obstructionist approach by PACI, when the resulting informal opinion letter was apparently not seriously considered after a further delay of over a month,” she added.
One of the most serious issues that came to light during this appeal, however, was that the ICO discovered records that should have been identified and provided to the office after the original open records request made which was later withdrawn (Hearing 19-01911). In short, the port may have deliberately withheld records that should have been declared to the ICO in a hearing that was completed last year in direct contravention of the law.
Following her instructions to the port to release more documents, the authority now has 45 days to reveal these outstanding records or seek judicial review. CNS, as the applicant, has accepted the commissioner's decision that some records actually are exempt under the law and others are not relevant and will not be seeking judicial review.
“However, we continue to live in hope that the port will comply with the order to release the records that Dilbert states are not exempt and hope that the almost year long record breaking request can finally be dealt with,' said reporter Wendy Ledger.
“I have made many FOI requests in the course of my work at CNS and many of them have seen public authorities missing deadlines and failing to release what they should, requiring the intervention of the ICO, but this was the most ridiculous of them all. It is quite apparent that whatever happened regarding the sudden rejection of the GLF cruise berthing proposal, the people of Cayman will never know the complete truth.The port's reluctance at every turn over this request speaks volumes about whether this was or was not above board,” Ledger added.
See ICO's full decision below.
GT man faces attempted murder charge over stabbing
(CNS): A 25-year-old man from George Town has been charged with attempted murder in connection with a stabbing in George Town last Friday. Police said that the man appeared in court Thursday morning (25 October) and was remanded in custody to HMP Northward. The charges relate to an incident in Kingbird Drive on the morning of 19 October when a 49-year-old man was stabbed. The victim was takento the Cayman Islands Hospital, where he was treated for critical injuries. The man remains in the local hospital and is now said to be in a stable condition.
Cop charged over single car smash
(CNS): A 54-year-old police officer has been charged with a number of traffic offences, including careless driving and leaving the scene of an accident, following a single vehicle smash in George Town last month. A police spokesperson said that while the officer has been suspended from driving police vehicles, he has not been suspended from the service. The police officer was arrested after leaving the scene of a road crash in Ithmar Circle on Friday 14 September at around 1:40am while he was off duty. The officer was arrested sometime after the crash after a report was made to the police about the crash and the driver's departure from the scene.
Public accounts fail audit
(CNS): The Cayman public is still in the dark when it comes to the details of how the government is collecting and spending tax dollars. In his latest review on the state of government's reporting on public finances Auditor General Alastair Swarbrick reveals that his office is unable to audit government's entire accounts because of the poor quality of information supplied. Many reports from ministries, portfolios and government companies that have been completed and audited have never been tabled in the Legislative Assembly, he said, and as a result they are unavailable to the public. Although Swarbrick tried to be positive about the improvements he has seen since he took office, such as more timely relevant information, he said government remains unaccountable to the people.
Although government had patted itself on the proverbial back last year for submitting consolidated accounts to Swarbrick's office and the premier has claimed on numerous occasions to have presided over an improvement in the standard of government accounting, this is in fact a far cry from the truth.
Swarbrick said at a media briefing on Thursday morning in connection with his latest review that while efforts were being made towards improving the timing and quality of information being submitted to his office, there was still a long way to go before there was any real transparency for the voting public.
“Government must be held to account on how it uses public money,” Swarbrick said, “but it isn't possible right now.” The progress being made has not yet translated to transparent accounts that can tell the man in the street exactly how government has collected or spent public money, he said. Government is still unable to produce a full set of consolidated accounts that Swarbrick's team is able to audit.
In seven months Cayman's tax paying electorate will go to the polls once again with no real idea about what government has done with more than $2 billion it has collected and spent over the last four financial years.
Swarbrick pointed to the same problems that have been highlighted by his office since the first report undertaken by his predecessor, Dan Duguay, in 2008. A lack of leadership, poor systems in place and a lack of supporting documentation remain as acute today as they did when the problem was first brought to the public's attention more than four years ago.
The auditor said that the failure of the relevant ministers to lay the completed reports on the table of the Legislative Assembly was also undermining the process and the little progress that was being made. Swarbrick said that more than 70 reports that have been finished in some cases for as much as a year have never seen the light of day.
“Accountability delayed is accountability denied,' Swarbrick said. “The tabling of the reports is the final and most significant part of the process,” he added.
While trying to be positive about the improvements he had seen, he acknowledged that the government's state of financial accountability reporting was still of a poor standard.
Even with the advances made with the individual government entity reports, because those do not contain important elements such as executive transactions and balances of government, such as coercive revenues, transfer payments, executive expenses, loans and executive assets, the public is not getting the complete picture.
In short, despite task forces, oversight committees, assistance from FCO experts, direction from the Deputy Governor's Office, scrutiny by the Public Accounts Committee and the regular reports from the auditor general, government is still unable to account for how it is collecting and spending public cash.
See latest report below.
Bosses get access to ten year work permits
(CNS Business): Managing directors, vice presidents, chief executives, directors, managers, finance and insurances bosses can all now apply for ten year work permits following the publication in the government gazette of the regulations to accompany the recent amendments to the immigration law. Prior to the change in legislation employers had to reapply for permits for their top level employees after five years. The change is designed to give those in the financial sector in particular a level of certainty about their ability to remain in Cayman and it is hoped this will encourage more companies to set up shop here. The new regulations also set out a new list of business activity or jobs that do not require a work permit if the person is coming for ten days or less. Read more on CNS Business
Cops hunt fast food robbers
(CNS): Update 11:00am — Two fast food restaurants in George Town were targeted by armed robbers last night (Wednesday 24 October) within about 15 minutes of each other. The robbery at KFC Restaurant on Shedden Road began at 8:50pm, when a lone masked man entered armed with what appeared to be a handgun, and an attempted robbery at Burger King in Walkers Road, George Town, began about 9:05pm, when two men entered the store, both wearing dark clothing and ski type masks with one in possession of what appeared to be a gun. Police said the man robbing KFC demanded cash before going over to the service counter and taking a small sum of money. He then left the scene on foot.
The suspect is described as being of slim build , approx. 5'8" wearing dark clothing with a ski type mask. He had a dark complexion and spoke with a Caymanian accent. There was one customer in the store at the time and three staff. No one was injured and no shots were fired.
The two would-be robbers at Burger King failed to get any cash from staff. Police said that the man with the gun went over the serving counter and demanded money. However, the staff members with access to the cash register had locked themselves into a rear room and the culprits left empty handed They were seen to get into a grey/silver Honda, possibly a Civic with tinted windows. The vehicle made off down Walkers Road in the general direction of South Sound.
There were no customers in the store at the time. No one was injured and no shots were fired.
Anyone who was in the vicinity of either locations just before, during or after the incidents are asked to contact CID at George Town Police on 949 4222.
Sandy reaches category two after pounding Jamaica
(CNS): Updated Thursday — At least one man has died after being crushed by a boulder and almost three quarters of the island was without power after Hurricane Sandy pounded Jamaica Wednesday. As Sandy passed across Cuba on Thursday morning it had reached category two stautus on the Saffir-Simpson wind scale. At 8am local time the storm was packing winds in excess of 105mph and was travelling north at 18mph. Sandy was located around 75miles north east of Holguin, Cuba and headed for the Bahamas. The warnings and curfews were lifted in Jamaica Thursday after the first direct hit from a hurricane since Hurricane Gilbert 24 years ago.
According to the local weather services, Sandy, which passed more than 200 miles to the East of the Sister Islands, is still producing very high seas for Cayman and a marine warning remains in effect. Cayman Weather Services said waves could peak as high as nine feet through Thursday. Some heavy rain and fresh winds are also expected.