Archive for December 8th, 2009
Cops to host on-line scam prevention meeting
(CNS): The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service is urging people to be extra vigilant when it comes to internet shopping during the Christmas season to ensure that they don’t become victims of internet fraud. Officers from the Financial Crimes Unit will be attending a public meeting tonight, Tuesday 8 December in West Bay to advise people how to avoid being scammed. “Every year more and more people rely on the internet for their Christmas shopping and we just want to make sure that we are doing everything we can to let people know what to watch out for,” said Sergeant Michael Montague who will be attending the session.
“Internet crooks have no conscience – it will not matter to them that you are spending your last buck buying presents for your kids – if they can scam you they will scam you,” he added.
Police warned internet users when shopping on-line to be aware of potential credit card fraud and advised them to ensure sites are secure and reputable before providing card details and not to provide any financial information when asked to do so through unsolicited e-mails.
Montague said that the reoccurring online scams include exaggerated claims of possible earnings or profits, messages and calls saying you’ve won a lottery demands to send money to be eligible for future winnings. Long standing scams also include people representing themselves as foreign government officials asking to place large amounts of money in your bank account as well as phishing or spoofing where unsolicited e-mails request personal information.
“Remember that if something appears too good to be true – then it is too good to be true,” added Sgt Montague.
Anyone who wants further information about how to avoid becoming a victim of internet fraud can either attend the meeting in West Bay tonight in John A Cumber Primary School at 6.30p.m. or contact the RCIPS Financial crime Unit on 949-8797.
Anyone with information about crime taking place in the Cayman Islands should contact their local police station or Crime Stoppers on 800-8477 (TIPS).
Ezzard queries duty free lard
(CNS): The government has not only missed an opportunity to correct anomalies in the customs duty tariffs but also to help improve health and stimulate local business, the independent MLA for North Side has told CNS. During the debate to amend the law to increase customs duty last week, Ezzard Miller asked the government to consider his motion to change a number of the rates on the tariff that would assist local farmers and growers, cut duty on medicines and put duty on a number of items such as lard. Miller told the Legislative Assembly that it was absurd that the least healthy fat was duty free when things like olive oil carried a duty of 22%.
However, government refused to accept Miller’s motion at the time of the debate as the premier McKeeva Bush said it would first need to confer with the business community over his proposals, but Bush said he would look into Miller’s suggestions for possible future changes. Speaking to CNS after the bill was passed, with none of his suggested changes, Miller said he was disappointed that government had missed a chance to influence people’s behavior as well as start to implement some of its own policy aims as promised in the election.
“I thought, since the government was reviewing the customs tariff, it gave parliament the opportunity to influence behavior and encourage a healthier lifestyle,” he said. “Diet is a big problem in Cayman; most of the problem diseases in the community are diet related. Government needs to the lead the charge on healthier lifestyles and this was a chance to place a 22% duty on lard, a food stuff that’s bad for you, and reduce it on healthier oils.”
Miller said there were a number of other things that are currently duty free or low duty without any obvious reasons, which could have been increased to the 22% rate. This would have then allowed government to reduce duty on necessities such as medicines, which he believes should be duty free. “It’s absurd that medicines are charged at full rate when lard, wood carvings and leather are duty free,” the MLA noted.
Miller said that he had done the work necessary to work out which items could be reduce and which increased so that government coffers which not be negatively impacted, and he said that, in the long run, his suggested amendments would have increased government revenue, not reduced it.
Miller also noted that government did not take the opportunity to help Cayman’s farmers and local growers with achange to the duty on imported plants and agricultural produce. He said that, from an environmental perspective, legislators should be encouraging the use of indigenous plants for all landscaping and to do that local growers needed help to compete more effectively with plant importers.
“Government said in its election campaign it wanted to help farmers and other small businesses and encourage more local production. A change in the tariffs would have helped to do that. There is no reason why imported non-native trees for cultivation should be duty free,” he said, adding that government could have also taken the opportunity to manipulate rates on foreign fruits to help local farmers.
He said he believed that what government really should have done before this change, and still needs to do, is to examine the tariffs more closely and look at how they could better implement their own policies, help local businesses or farmers, and encourage a healthier lifestyle through important duty rates. Miller added that all over the world governments use the tax or fee system to influence behavior and manipulate the economy and there was no reason why the Cayman Islands government couldn’t do the same thing.
On this occasion it was apparent that government had not undertaken any kind of serious cost analysis exercise regarding the duty, he observed, but had simply upped the rate by 2% on all items that already carried duty. Miller said it was apparent that no one had looked closely at why certain goods are rated the way they are or why they remain duty free before this bill came to the House.
“One of the first things that you see on the tariffs is that turtle is still listed when it is illegal to import any turtle related products. It needs to be deleted,” Miller noted, adding that there were a number of anomalies that no longer made sense and needed to be changed.
He said it was a shame that government hadn’t chosen to modernize the tariff and make it reflect the needs of the local community as it is today when they had the perfect opportunity while amending the law.
Government has said that the increases to duty will take effect in a few weeks when the new amendment to the law is gazetted.
$1m more for clean-up
(CNS): Following what he said was the success of the recent clean-up operation, Premier McKeeva Bush has said government will find more money to continue the clean up for a few more weeks into the New Year. Aside from keeping the island spruced up during the busy tourist season, Bush said the initiative had put a little bit of money into the hands of those that needed it most. Speaking in the Legislative Assembly last week he said government faced many challenges, including the highest unemployment the island had seen. He said his administration was taking the bull by the horns and was getting people working through the clean-up initiative.
Bush said that around 500 to 600 people had been helped by the programme so far but it was unfortunate that so many people needed help and government had an obligation to assist them. He said that while government was limited in its influence over policing and the problem of rising crime, it could create jobs for the people who were not working and help them avoid getting involved in criminal activity.
Announcing that he intended to find another $1 million for the programme to give at least another four weeks of work in December and January, he said the programme had been well received. “There has been tremendous support in the community for this and it is concrete evidence that when provided with a decent wage our people are willing to work,” he added.
The district clean ups were scheduled to end on 11 December and more than 900 people came out to try and get work on the clean up crews in the various districts. Although the Department of Employment Relations says it has around 900 people registered as unemployed on its books currently , it is believed that there are considerably more people actually out of work.
The DER says its figures merely represent those people who have registered that they are seeking work, some may already have jobs but are looking to change and many other people chose not to register with the department.
During the recent strategic policy statement which gave an overview of government plans for this administrative term unemployment was said to have reached 6.3%, but government predicted a decline to 4.6% for the next fiscal year.
Telephone evidence could hold up Martin verdict
(CNS): The late submission and difficulty obtaining telephone records in the trail of Randy Martin for the murder of Sabrina Schirn in March of this year could push the trial beyond its scheduled four weeks. As Martin appeared at the Grand Court on Monday morning for the start of the third week of the murder case, his attorneys argued before Justice Charles Quin that prosecution phone evidence that allegedly ties Martin to Schirn has been provided to the defence very late and they would need more time to examine what they call a late disclosure. On top of that the defence has also said it wishes to have its own phone records admitted.
However, the prosecution is arguing that the evidence is inadmissible and irrelevant, according to reports on News 27.
David Evans and Adam King, defence attorney’s for Martin, told Justice Quinn on Monday that the evidence regarding phone calls, which the crown is arguing link the defendant Martin to the 21 year old victim, has been trickling in during the trial itself. With the evidence arriving so late, the lawyers say they need time to scrutinize the phone records. Solicitor General Cheryll Richards said that the phone records had been requested in May but had been received onlyrecently. The defence also said it was having trouble getting the records it needed as well.