Archive for February, 2009
Sex trade, forced labor top UN human trafficking list
(CNN): Sexual exploitation and forced labor are the most common forms of human trafficking in the world, a new report from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime said. The "Global Report on Trafficking in Persons" is based on data from 155 countries and offers a global assessment of human trafficking and efforts to fight it. The most common form of human trafficking is sexual exploitation, at 79 percent, the report said. The victims of sexual exploitation are predominantly women and girls. In about one-third of the countries that provided information on the gender of the traffickers, women made up the largest proportion of traffickers. Go to article
Nuclear subs collide
(BBC): A Royal Navy nuclear submarine was involved in a collision with a French nuclear sub in the middle of the Atlantic, the MoD has confirmed. HMS Vanguard and Le Triomphant were badly damaged in the crash in heavy seas earlier this month. First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Jonathon Band said the submarines came into contact at low speed and no injuries were reported. Both the UK and France insisted nuclear security had not been compromised. Go to article
African migrants drowned at sea
(BBC): Nineteen people, including an eight-year-old girl, drowned when a migrant boat capsized off the Canary Islands, Spanish rescuers say. Three people are still said to be missing after the boat, mainly carrying North African migrants, overturned off the eastern coast of Lanzarote. Local residents rescued six people from the boat after Sunday’s accident. Rescue helicopters have been scouring for any other survivors, but police say hopes are fading fast. Go to article
New papers reveal AG’s Affordable Housing concerns
(CNS): Despite the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service’s recent announcement that there was not enough evidence to bring any criminal charges regarding the mismanagement of funds on the Affordable Housing Initiative (AHI), documents released under the Freedom of Information Law reveal that Auditor General Dan Duguay had “uncovered substantial reasons to suspect bribery and corruption" between the minister involved and the contractor.
In an affidavit which Duguay gave to the RCIPS following his forensic audit of the National Housing and Community Development Trust, the organization which was managing the AHI on Grand Cayman, the auditor general set out his concerns over a number of issues and made it clear why he felt a police investigation was necessary.
Among them were the numerous personal interventions by the minister at the time with responsibility for housing, Dr Frank McField, to ensure that contractors Staunch Limited were awarded the contract to rebuild the homes destroyed by Hurricane Ivan, and various other irregularities that suggested kickbacks and misappropriation of public money had occurred.
The affidavit, obtained by CNS under the FOI Law, contains details of Duguay’s suspicions, based on his investigation, that Staunch Ltd was awarded the contracts without due process and that payments were made to personal bank accounts that were not properly accounted for, arousing suspicion of kickback payments.
Duguay said Staunch was awarded contracts in the absence of proper tendering, payments were authorized to Staunch by McField against the advice of senior trust officials, dates on letters were altered to give Staunch additional contracts after the election, large amounts of cash were withdrawn from bank accounts and other suspicious amounts were paid by Staunch to Capital Trucking, a firm owned by McField. Duguay also raised concerns about Immigration Law breaches by Staunch over a number of employees.
“My office expressed concern during Phase 1 of the AHI that there was no competitive bidding on contracts. I must again express concern with the absence of competitive bidding processes and the overall manner in which contracts are awarded by the NHCDT,” Duguay wrote.
In his affidavit Duguay explains that, following a dispute between McField and Vetromeccaniche, the minister ordered officials at the NHCDT to give the contracts to Staunch, despite the fact the company had no construction history on the islands. Moreover, although officials at the NHCDT had raised concerns over Staunch’s ability to do the work, McField still directed the contract to be awarded to the firm. Duguay states that there were numerous occasions when the minister directly intervened to order officials at the trust to pay Staunch despite work not being completed.
The AG also cites a number of cash payments and transfers, as well as cheque payments made between various bank accounts and individuals that could not be explained. Although some of the details in the documents requested under the FOI law have been redacted, it appears that around $300,000 was paid into a personal bank account of an individual member of the Staunch management team from NHDCT without a legitimate explanation. Duguay also states in his affidavit that at least six Staunch employees who were working on the island were listed with immigration as visitors with no right to work.
In his affidavit Duguay states that the use of large sums of cash was something that commonly occurs in cases where bribes and kickbacks have been alleged or proven – in other words this was a red flag to the government auditors. “The large amounts of cash paid out in this case certainly provides in my opinion the opportunity to pay significant bribes or kickbacks to individuals,” Duguay said
Given the various payments that passed between the NDCHT, Staunch and Capital Trucking (McField’s own company), Duguay stated that he was concerned about the relationships and the links between the three parties, and it was because of these unaccounted for cash payments combined with the unorthodox way that McField ensured Staunch was awarded the contracts, that Duguay believed there was a need for the RCIPS Financial Crimes Unit to take up the investigation.
Three years after beginning their investigation, however, the police announced in January of this year that no charges would be brought in the case. Police stated that a legal ruling given by an independent UK Senior QC, following examination of the case file, exhibits, papers, statements and interviews, advised that there was insufficient evidence to lay any charges against those involved and the investigation should be closed.
Be careful what we wish for
The resulting success is clear for all to see, not least of all to our international detractors, our competitors and those who envy the per capita GDP of the Islands that timeonce forgot.
Times are always changing (pace Mr. Dylan) and our regulatory regime and our financial services industry must continuously evolve. But in the face of the inevitable hysteria and finger pointing by those in the US, UK and Europe trying to deflect the blame from their own policy and regulatory failures, we should remember that our domestic financial services industry has proved resilient and that our offshore industry has not itself been the centre of significant frauds, malfeasance and the like produced by the global meltdown. To the contrary, a small number of our funds have themselves been the victims of fraud committed elsewhere, to-date principally in the
We should therefore continue to take a mature, measured and cautious approach to any new legislation and regulation and continue the practice of a full 360 analysis and consultation to ensure any new moves are appropriate to Cayman, are proportional and balanced, meet the cost-benefit test and do not prejudice (and preferably enhance) our competitive position.
We should also participate actively in the planned global colleges of supervisors better to coordinate cross border oversight and assistance. And the Government and the Monetary Authority (CIMA) must continue to be robust and not concede the game to those who would put us out of business for improper reasons.
Where we can and must do better is in the enforcement of the many laws we already have on the books to deter and punish transgressors promptly and effectively. It is naïve to think that Cayman can avoid any risk of abuse (the only way to do that is to shut down entirely). So we have to demonstrate we perform on the backend clean up. I believe that the necessary commitment exists on the part of the front line agencies, CIMA and the Financial Crimes Unit of the RCIPS (FCU). But they need greatly increased resources.
So rather than calling for new laws and regulation, we should be calling loudly for more resources for CIMA and the FCU to enable them to meet these challenges.
Registered jobless exceeds 1000 people
(CNS): The week long job drive by Department of Employment Relations culminated at the weekend when the job team appeared at the Chamber of Commerce Career, Education, Training and Job expo at the UCCI. By Friday afternoon, with one more open day to go, the DER reported that well over a thousand people were now registered with them and in need of work. The DER noted that, for the Cayman Islands, this figure was a significant number of people out of work.
At the start of the drive the DER had 850 people registered, most of whom were looking for work. Now the figure is well over 1,000. The good news for jobseekers, however, is that the DER jobs bank currently has more than 1,200 vacancies with new positions being submitted every day.
Jennifer Smith, the Deputy Director of the DER (above), said that during the week a significant number of people had registered with the team and the priority now was to get on with the job of matching job seekers with vacant positions.
“After a very successful week registering people who want to find work, next week we will be going through the list of jobseekers and trying to make matches for them. There is a lot to do, we have a lot of people wanting to find work,” Smith said. Positive about the week’s drive, she added that she and the job team had already been able to place some people immediately in work as they had come to the registration sessions fully prepared.
She went on to note that the jobless figure was now significant for Cayman and that the increase in those registering was likely to be related to the recession as a number of jobless had said they had lost their job due to cutbacks and some had been given notice that they would be getting laid off. Smith also said the figure may be higher since some people came by to collect forms but did not sign up to the job seekers’ register.
Given the growing unemployment situation, Smith said that the DER would be doing its very best to help those people who had come out and registered to find suitable work. She said there were a number of challenges, from transport to the level of pay, that people faced when it came to finding work but the DER was doing all it could to help.
She also noted that they would be scrutinizing the Work Permit Board agendas to make sure that those positions had been filed with the DER and to ensure no one was being overlooked. Smith also said there were a considerable number of school leavers who were registering, but she was encouraging them to do further study as that would greatly improve their chances of finding work.
“Even with an associates degree young people will find a lot more doors open to them, but further education is very important when it comes to getting work. And with a number of scholarships available our young people should take advantage of that and give themselves an advantage in what is a very competitive job market,” Smith said.
The DER joined a number of local firms, educational institutions, as well as government departments and agencies which were present at the Chamber Expo offering training, education, scholarships and career opportunities to the more than 600 young people that passed through the door on Friday.
Jamaican consul to Cayman calls it a day
(Jamaica Gleaner): The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed the retirement of Jamaican Consul to the Cayman Islands, Robert Hamaty. Hamaty was appointed in 1992 as the first Jamaican Government representative for the British overseas territory. Speaking to The Gleaner by telephone from The Cayman Islands yesterday, Hamaty said it was an honour and a pleasure to have represented the Jamaican community for the past 16 years. Go to article
The biology of belief
(Time Magazine): Most folks probably couldn’t locate their parietal lobe with a map and a compass. For the record, it’s at the top of your head — aft of the frontal lobe, fore of the occipital lobe, north of the temporal lobe. What makes the parietal lobe special is not where it lives but what it does — particularly concerning matters of faith. If you’ve ever prayed so hard that you’ve lost all sense of a larger world outside yourself, that’s your parietal lobe at work. If you’ve ever meditated so deeply that you’d swear the very boundaries of your body had dissolved, that’s your parietal too. Go to article
Student makes it a “perfect” Spelling bee
(CNS): Although only 11-years old student, Venkatta Batta did not drop a single spelling challenge during the high school round of the national spelling bee achieving a perfect score. Venkatta who is from Cayman Brac High school was formerly the primary school champion but having graduated to high school the young wordsmith is back on a wining streak walking away with a laptop, trophy and the 2009 title.
With competition was tough this year the final also came down to a spell-off to break the tie for second and third place. In a tense showdown, and only after correctly spelling the French word bête noire (meaning dark beast), was Moesha Ramsay-Howell of PACE High School named the second-place winner. Joshua Dilbert of Cayman Brac High placed third. Other finalists were Bennard Ebanks, representing Heritage High; Janelle Taylor of New Horizons; and Japhia Augustine of PACE.
The annual event took place at Mary Miller Memorial Hall on Wednesday, 11 February, and saw students grapple with words such as braggadocio, abiogenesis and triturate. The spelling bee was hosted by the Department of Education Services, in conjunction with the Lions Club of Grand Cayman and British American Insurance – both of which have been sponsors for more than 25 years.
Education Minister Alden McLaughlin, commended the finalists for their composure under extreme stress, and expressed his delight that they are “all my students.” The six finalists all attend the public school system. Chief Education Officer Shirley Wahler said: “A teacher’s greatest joy is watching children grow and develop.”
The overall high school results, by school, were:
Cayman Brac High – 73 points;
PACE High – 66 points;
New Horizons High – 47 points; and
Heritage High – 42 points.
NYU sues Cayman providers
(OffshoreAlert): New York University is suing a hedge fund, its auditor, its registrar and a bank – all based in the Cayman Islands – in an attempt to recover damages of at least $24 million that it claims to have lost due to alleged fraud by Bernard Madoff. According to the watchdog Offshore Alert a civil complaint has been filed at New York State Supreme Court by NYU. Maples and Calder; Gabriel Capital Corporation; Fortis Bank (Cayman) Ltd; Fortis Prime Fund Solutions (Cayman) Ltd; BDO Tortuga and BDO International have all beennamed. Go to article.