Archive for September, 2008
CIO says honesty pays
(CNS): Chief Immigration Officer Franz Manderson has urged business operators to be truthful when applying for employee work permits. Speaking at the Immigration District Evening in East End last week, Manderson disclosed that there have been cases where companies submit work permit applications for lower-level jobs in order to avoid paying the requisite fees which the senior-level positions attract, a government release reported.
He was expanding on his recent announcement that the Immigration Department collected some $90,000 in fines, including from businesses in violation of work permit rules.
“There are companies which we have investigated and fined after finding out that the positions for which they advertised and applied for the permits were not ones that actually existed. For example, a company might need to hire a mason but instead apply for a permit for an assistant mason; or may need a manager and apply for a permit for a clerk,” Manderson said.
He pointed out that such actions do not pay off as fines imposed are often more than twice what permit costs would have been for the senior position. He added that in addition to attracting heavy fines, failure to be honest will reduce an employee’s chances to qualify for key employee status at the end of his or her term limit of seven years.
This is important, Manderson said, because an employer may make an application to the Business Staffing Plan Board or the Work Permit Board to nominate a worker as a key employee because of a particular expertise in his field and skills which are not readily available in Cayman.
“But when it comes time to apply for key employee status the Boards are going to wonder why an assistant mason is a key employee. So a company may end up losing a valuable member of staff because it was not truthful in the beginning,” he said.
Manderson also noted that dishonesty might deny a Caymanian the opportunity to apply for a post because of being misled by advertisement content. “In short, it always pays for companies to operate above board,” he concluded.
Caribbean nations on Bush drug list
(Bahamas Press): US President, George W. Bush, has named four Caribbean nations as major drug transit countries. Bush, in the release of the ‘Major Drug Transit Or Major Illicit Drug Producing Countries For Fiscal Year 2009,’ report, again identified The Bahamas, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Jamaica in the Caribbean as the key transit points for narcotics into the US. Go to article
Captivating the insurers
(CNS): Insurance supervisors from 18 jurisdictions are in Grand Cayman this week to learn more about the regulation of captive insurance entities. The regulators have joined their counterparts from the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) for the Captive Insurance Supervisors Workshop, which began on Monday, 15 September 2008 and which runs until 18 September, a release from CIMA says.
The CIMA-hosted workshop is organised by the Offshore Group of Insurance Supervisors (OGIS), the International Association of Insurance Supervisors (IAIS), and CIMA. OGIS and IAIS provided the funding with additional support from the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC), an IMF regional training centre.
The workshop has been put on for members and observers ofOGIS and the IAIS. It aims to increase regulators’ understanding of the principles, and the regulatory issues surrounding, sound corporate governance, internal controls, and risk assessment and management for captive insurance entities. (“Captive insurance” is insurance or reinsurance provided by a company that is formed primarily to cover the assets and risks of its parent company or companies. A captive is essentially an “in-house” insurance company with a limited purpose and is not available to the general public.)
Focus has also been placed on ensuring that workshop participants understand the requirements of the Insurance Core Principles (ICPs) dealing with corporate governance, internal controls, and risk. The ICPs are the international standards promulgated by the IAIS for the supervision of insurance entities.
The presenters include both regulators and industry players. They are: Ms. Caroline Bradley, the Guernsey Financial Services Commission’s Assistant Director of Insurance; Mr. Steve Butterworth, Insurance Regulatory Consultant from Guernsey; Mr. Dean Wickens, CIMA’s Deputy Head of Insurance Supervision; Mr. Gwyn Hopkins, Director of Forensic Services, Kroll (Cayman) Limited, and Mr. Dan MacLean, Managing Director of Aon Insurance Managers (Cayman) Ltd. and the Immediate Past President of the Insurance Managers Association of Cayman. In addition to the CIMA delegates, the workshop has attracted 31 participants. They represent Guernsey; the
Caribbean jurisdictions of Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Curacao, Grenada, Montserrat, Nevis, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines; as well as Samoa and Vanuatu in the South Pacific.
Founded in 1993, OGIS is a grouping of regulators representing domiciles from the Caribbean, Europe and the Pacific regions engaged in the supervision of international insurance business. IAIS, formed in 1994, represents insurance regulators and supervisors of some 190 jurisdictions. CIMA is a member of both organisations.
Photo: Guernsey Financial Services Commission’s Assistant Director of Insurance Caroline Bradley (left); Insurance Regulatory Consultant Steve Butterworth (centre), also from Guernsey, and CIMA’s Deputy Head of Insurance Supervision Dean Wickens were among presenters at the Captive Insurance Supervisors Workshop.
Love dilemma for Caribbean people
(BBC): In May this year, the chief of an ancient Caribbean people came up with a drastic solution to protect their heritage – and their future. Chief Charles Williams of the Carib – or Kalinago – people of Dominica said they should not marry non-Kalinago people. "The impact of colonisation has been so strong on us that if we do not take steps to protect the race, it will be soon extinct," he said. Go to article
Police enforcing gambling law
(CNS): Another two women have been arrested on gambling related charges, the second arrest in a week, and according to the current Police Commissioner the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service will be enforcing the law with regard to the illegal numbers game and other forms of gambling. “The fact is, the ‘numbers’ game is illegal and can often be linked to other forms of crime,” said David George.
“In addition, any place that carries large sums of cash, and is known to carry it, increases their risk of becoming a victim of serious crime. This is a holistic approach to crime prevention; through tackling the selling of numbers, we hope to prevent crime from taking place and demonstrate a proportionate response to crime,” he added.
The latest arrests occurred on Saturday, 13 September, following an operation at McRuss Grocery store when the 46- and 49-year-old women were arrested on suspicion of selling illegal lottery tickets. One of the women was also arrested on suspicion of using a place as a common gaming house. The women have been released on police bail pending further investigations. On Saturday, 7 September, police arrested a 32-year-old woman on suspicion of illegal gambling in George Town.
Suspended Deputy Police Commissioner Rudolph Dixon is currently facing charges which relate to his role in releasing two men without charge who had been arrested on Cayman Brac under the gambling law, in June 2003. Dixon had reportedly asked Reginald Branch, the Chief Inspector at the time, to release the men as, he said, it was not police policy to prosecute people for gambling offences. The incident occurred several months after the United Democratic Party administration had established a commission to look into a legalised lottery for Cayman.
The charge, Doing an act tending and intended to pervert the course of public justice, has been made against Dixon following investigations into police corruption by the independent enquiry headed by Martin Bridger .
Dixon has previously voiced his thoughts publicly that for the police to actively pursue illegal gambling the service would also have to consider pursuing church raffles and other games of chance used to raise cash for local charities.
While gambling does remain illegal in the Cayman Islands, there has been a tendency for the police not to pursue this particular crime, and there have been very few arrests or prosecutions in recent years. The possibility of repealing the law is a frequent subject of debate among politicians, the local community and members of the church, even more so in recent times with the explosion in Internet gambling sites, which enable people to gamble freely in their own homes.
Moreover, rumours have long circulated in Cayman that there are a number of people in positions of authority who are actively engaged in the illegal gambling business, which has been estimated to generate millions of dollars every week.
Anyone with information about crime taking place in the Cayman Islands should contact their local police station or Crime Stoppers on 800-8477 (TIPS). All persons calling Crime Stoppers remain anonymous, and are eligible for a reward of up to $1000, should their information lead to an arrest or recovery of property/drugs.
Call goes out for 60 mentors
(CNS): With the official launch of this year’s Mentoring Cayman Programme coming up in November some 60 volunteers are needed to fill the role of mentor to encourage young Caymanian school students into a promising future. Since 2002, Mentoring Cayman has assisted many motivated high school students to become the next generation of business and community leaders. (Left Joanne Diaz-Berry launches 2008 programme)
The Programme is reportedly designed to encourage students to go on to post secondary education, introduce them to careers not previously considered, and develop friendships with industry leading professionals. Run by the Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of Education, Training, Youth, Sports & Culture the 2009programme kicks off on Monday, 24 November with the first workplace visit scheduled for Tuesday, 9 December and the chamber will need the mentors in place before that date.
The Chamber said that high school students are identified and nominated by their Principals for placement in the programme. They are then carefully matched with mentors based on the mutual interests of both parties. Each mentor and his or her student meet for seven sessions of one “school day” per month. The student and mentor meet at the mentor’s place of work and also participate in a minimum of two social sessions outside of work.
Taking part in the recently concluded programme, Steve Ali, Senior Account Manager at CITCO mentored John Gray Student Jawara Alleyne whose main interest is in Accounting. “From a mentor’s perspective it allowed me the chance to interact with the youth and the future of Cayman, and show the promising side of the nation’s future” explained Ali. “The experience was a two way street. The time invested was worth it, even though I was faced with a numberof challenges in terms of meeting my existing deadlines and also trying to be part of Mentoring. In the end the sacrifice was for a greater good. It gave me a sense of accomplishment and it brought me closer to the community and the young people in Cayman.”According to the Chamber participating mentors are given the opportunity to offer guidance and direction, demonstrate as well as explain and model professionalism and ethical conduct while instilling the social skills needed in the workplace. “The Mentoring Cayman programme affords Mentors with tremendous benefits. Not only do they obtain great satisfaction from helping a young person grow, there is the added benefit that, through individuals’ links with students, businesses can become more involved in the wider community and forge links with perhaps potential staff members in the making,” the organisation said.
“This programme also provides Mentors with the opportunity to develop interpersonal, communication, and listening skills, increase self-awareness, as well as satisfy the desire to help others feel valued and to put something back into the community.”
Mentor applications are available for download from www.caymanchamber.ky. Companies interested in sponsoring the Mentoring Cayman programmme or anyone seeking more information should contact Joanne Diaz-Berry, Programmes & Events Manager at the Chamber of Commerce on joanne.berry@caymanchamber.ky
White roofs could save planet
(Greenbang): The idea of painting roofs white to reflect the sun’s rays and help cool houses naturally without energy-intensive air conditioning isn’t exactly new and has been floating around for a while. Now a new study claims to show that painting roofs white can help combat global warming. It claims that if the world’s 100 biggest cities installed white roofs and changed to ‘cool’ pavements with more reflective materials such as concrete it would be enough to offset 44GT (giga tonnes) of carbon dioxide emissions. Go to article
Explosion of litigation coming
(Legal Week): The former UK Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, has predicted an explosion of ‘mega-litigation’ in the aftermath of this week’s collapse of Lehman Brothers. Falconer said the demise of the US’s fourth-largest investment bank would be a turning point for credit crunch-related litigation, unlocking a flood of cases. “There is going to be litigation on a scale that we have not seen before,” he told a conference, predicting the emergence of “a new era” for litigation and dispute resolution. Go to article
.jpg "Grand Court supports OCC powers")
Grand Court supports OCC powers
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(CNS): A Grand Court decision has ruled that the Complaints Commissioner does have the authority to demand private and confidential information from a non-governmental entity concerning a private citizen while investigating a complaint. The need for clarity arose during an investigation by the Commissioner in which Cable and Wireless was asked for information about calls to and from a telephone owned by a C&W customer.
The investigation by the Office of the Complaints Commissioner (OCC) concerned an allegation that information had been improperly leaked from a government entity. A release from the OCC said the Office made a formal request on 5 May 2008 requiring Cable and Wireless (C&W) to produce a list of incoming and outgoing calls during December 2007 and January 2008 on a telephone belonging to a C&W subscriber. The subscriber was a private citizen who was not employed by any government entity.
C&W was uncertain about their obligation to comply with the request, and referred the question to the Information and Communications Technology Authority (ICTA), which felt unable to offer a conclusive opinion on the matter. The ICTA suggested the Commissioner apply to Grand Court for a declatory order.
Complaints Commissioner Dr John Epp then applied to the Court to clarify the Complaints Commissioner Law, which says that for the purposes of an investigation his office has the same powers as the Grand Court, including requests for documents, and specifically whether this authority extends to the power to demand the telephone records of private persons from service providers like C&W.
In making his decision, Justice Alex Henderson quoted a 1994 Supreme Court of Canada ruling on the scope of the duties assigned to the British Columbia Ombudsman, which found that the Ombudsman “should receive a broad, purposive interpretation consistent with the unique role the Ombudsman is intended to fill".
The Supreme Court also said, “(The Ombudsman’s) powers of investigation can bring to light cases of bureaucratic maladministration that would otherwise pass unnoticed. The Ombudsman ‘can bring the lamp of scrutiny to otherwise dark places, even over the resistance of those who would draw blinds’: ReOmbudsman Act (1970).”
In delivering judgment on 4 September 2008, Justice Henderson said that given the breadth of the provision in the Complaints Commissioner Law, “it can hardly be doubted that the Commissioner is authorized to compel a non-governmental (private) entity to disclose private and confidential information concerning one of its customers,even though that customer is not employed in the government service.”
Justice Henderson noted that the Commissioner has the same rights as Grand Court to demand documentation, and in Grand Court there are no rights to argue that the evidentiary value of the information is outweighed by the privacy interest at stake. Moreover, it is the court itself which determines the question of relevance, he said.
“Applying these principles by analogy to the Complaints Commissioner, I conclude that he may demand the disclosure of private and confidential information from someone unconnected with government, and indeed from someone unconnected with the subject of the investigation where, in the opinion of the Complaints Commissioner, that information would be relevant to his investigation. He may demand such information from governmental departments and entities, from non-governmental entities and from private citizens,” Justice Henderson found.
Following the Grand Court decision, Dr. Epp said he was satisfied that the point had been clarified.
“The Grand Court decision supports the power of the OCC to demand the disclosure of information in order to shine a light on government maladministration. However, the Complaints Commissioner Law prohibits the OCC from disclosing confidential information obtained in the course of an investigation. Therefore, while this office can obtain such records, the public’s privacy is protected,” noted Epp.
The OCC is located on the 2nd floor, 202 Piccadilly Centre, Georgetown, Grand Cayman, phone number (345) 943 2220. The website is www.occ.gov.ky.
Fund managers on defensive
(Market Watch): Expectations of a global economic recession have risen sharply, and risk aversion has reached a new high, according to Merrill Lynch’s Survey of Fund Managers for September. It found that 61 percent of respondents now believe a recession is likely in the next 12 months and investors have moved to their most risk-averse mindset yet recorded. The survey also shows that investors have adopted more defensive strategies and shortened their investment time horizons. Go to article