SPIT requests another $1.5M
(CNS): According to the pre-appropriations list submitted to the Legislative Assembly on Friday 26 June for the government’s temporary budget, the Portfolio of the Chief Secretary has requested a further CI$1,481,581 for the Special Police Investigation Team. Withno Finance Committee to hear the details of any of the requests, members of the House questioned whether this would translate to $4.5million for the year. Leader of the Opposition Kurt Tibbetts told members that he was concerned that, when the investigation should be coming to an end, further requests were being made.
During the debate on the motion for the new government’s interim budget, Tibbetts asked whether the allocation was for just one third of the year or to year end. “I was wondering if there is any anticipated end to the funds the country has to pay,” he said. “We all know from history where the investigations reached and we need some indication on the way forward.” The opposition leader noted that the investigation was supposed to be coming to an end and said the country needed an understanding about what time period the amount was for and what was going on.
During the last sitting of Finance Committee at the end of March, SPIT funding was increased to around $4.5 million for the financial year 2008/09, a sum which was added to around $1.6 million spent in the previous year. This new appropriation, if passed this week, will bring SPIT spending by October of this year to over $7.5 million. However, First Elected Member for the Sister Islands, Moses Kirkconnell, noted that if this was a reflection of how much the investigation will cost each quarter the country would be looking at another $4.5 million at the end of the year. If that was the case, the inquiry could end up costing the Cayman taxpayer more than $10 million. “The people of this country are well aware of the expenditure but we need more information on what is happening and where we are with this investigation,” he said.
The opposition leader also pointed to the $479,693 set aside for the judicial tribunal and asked exactly what that reflected. The Justice Priya Levers case was heard in May but the three judges have yet to return a ruling. There is no indication inthe pre-appropriation request whether this is to cover the cost of the judges to deliberate, for further hearings or even a possible pay-out to Justice Levers.
Category: Headline News
Dear Kurt I respect you to the fulleset but shouldn’t have made them get a cent under ur administration..that’s what helped sent the deficit up.
"Dear Kurt I respect you to the fulleset but shouldn’t have made them get a cent under ur administration..that’s what helped sent the deficit up".
You may not remember, but the PPM Govt. refused to approve any further sums and the Governor overrode them with his reserve powers to take it.
This important operation needs to be properly funded to its conclusion. Local politicians in this territory cannot be seen to block investigations into corruption.
"Local politicians in this territory cannot be seen to block investigations into corruption".
We have no reason to believe that there is bona fide investigation into corruption given the results so far. We have simply seen public funds wasted on this fiasco.
To Shaun Ebanks: Well said mi bredrin, nuff respect !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I agree entirely with the sentiments expressed by the previous comments. As a Caymanian I also call on our leaders to stop bickering with eachother and to have the courage to stand united and tell all those who SPIT on Cayman, to get the he** out of our country now so that we can stop pi**ing away money that our children and grandchildren will have to repay.
Operation Tempura and Cealt is nothing more than an "astronomical farce" directly instituted from the UK and kindly assisted by some of our "naive and gullable Caymanians" who can’t seem to learn that when one arrives to our shores with a suit-tie and a brief case, it should not be assumed that it’s all legitimate. It can only be Almighty God above, to understand why Caymanian people whom hold high positions in Government will allow themselves to used and shot in the foot time and time again, only because their hearts were melted normally by individuals whose extremities were of certain pigmentation and who promised them the worldfor their co-operation.
Don’t these Caymanians know history and take the time to read about individuals who enter like thieves in the night and wear sheep clothing hiding/covering their hairy/fury coat’s ????
This is not the first time that the Cayman Islands have been given a "RAW DEAL" but I would add that this time around, it’s probably had the most negative impact of all those perpetrated against us in the past.
How many more Caymanian school leavers will continue to have their promise’s for a "tertiary education scholarship" ruined by the wastage of funds to operation Tempura and Cealt ??? How many more Caymanians whom will require "legitimate financial assistance" due to the worldwide financial meltdown, be denied such assistance because it was all spent on SPIT, Operation Tempura and Cealt ??? How many more law suits can we settle Cayman ???
I call on the Honourable McKeeva Bush and the new UDP Government to rid the Cayman Islands ASAP of the this "farce investigation" which is bleeding the country dry and to death.
Caymanians and residents alike, enough is enough and it’s time for a new way forward as it relates to this bunch whom call themselves police corruption investigators. A sinner probably has a better chance of getting through the pearly gates of heaven than it is for Martin Bridger and Stuart Jack SPIT, to secure a criminal conviction from a jury in a Grand Court trial here in the Cayman Islands. Put simply, what credibility do they possess here and now in the Cayman Islands after this fiasco ??? Answer= NONE !!!!!!!
Just say no. Approve an appropriation of a few thousand dollars and hold the line until they report why they should continue to exist here.