Archive for March, 2010
Police sweep up suspects in recent murders
(CNS): Following the three arrests the RCIPS made on Friday after a string of shootings in West Bay, police said today (Monday 29 March) that they have made two further arrests over the weekend in connection to the murder of Damion Ming and of Alrick Peddie. On Saturday, 27 March, a 22-year-old man was arrested in relation to the murder of Damion Ming and, police said they also arrested another man who is 23 in relation to the murder of Alrick Peddie. Both men were arrested in the West Bay area and on suspicion of murder.
Following these arrests police now have three men, aged 17, 23 and 35 years, in custody on suspicion of the murder of AlrickPeddie. Two men, aged 22 and 29 years, are now in custody in relation to the murder of Damion Ming.
On Friday, the RCIPS announced that they had arrested a 17-year-old man and a 35-year-old man in relation to the death of Alrick Peddie, who was shot and killed in West Bay on Wednesday, 24 March, on Willie Farrington Drive. They also said they officers had arrested a 29-year-old man in relation to the death of Damion Ming, who was gunned down in the Birch Tree Hill Lane area of West Bay last night, Thursday 25 March.
During a police press conference on Wednesday afternoon Police Commissioner David Baines appealed to the community once again to assist the police and revealed a new confidential help line. He said this is being manned by hand-picked officers that the community can have the utmost confidence in. He vowed that the line (949-7777) was completely secure.
Police enquiries into both murders are actively ongoing and anyone who has any information is asked to contact West Bay police station on 949-3999, or the new RCIPS confidential tip line 949-7777.
Miller to talk more on review at offshore conference
(CNS): The recent major review of the future financial sustainability of the Cayman Islands economy will be under the spotlight at a special offshore conference in the US in May. The former US government official and economist who oversaw the recently completed Miller Report will discuss his findings at the Offshore Alert Conference in Miami. James Miller, who was a member of former US President Ronald Reagan’s Cabinet and a former Chairman of the US Federal Trade Commission, will offer his thoughts on how Cayman can keep its economy afloat in the modern era.
His report, which has generated considerable attention locally for its emphasis on cutting spending and not raising taxes to stay competitive, will now be scrutinized by a wider audience. "Do not impose direct taxation" was the first of the report’s "Major Recommendations". Imposing such a tax "would be extremely deleterious to the very mobile financial services industry" and "would put the Cayman Islands at a competitive disadvantage compared to other international financial centres" and would "drive away business".
Difficulties obtaining work permits, either at all or in a timely manner, have long been a bane of offshore financial services providers in OFCs. Continuing on its pro-business theme, Miller’s report recommended that Cayman’s government increase the number of work permits, reduce work permit fees, and make the guest worker program more flexible.
Miller will expand on his report’s findings at the 8th Annual Offshore Alert Financial Due Diligence Conference, which will be held at The Ritz-Carlton, South Beach in May.
He will take part in a session which willinclude Michael Foot, who recently completed a review of all of the British OFCs for the UK government, including the Cayman Islands, as well as speakers from the US, Cayman, Bermuda and the Bahamas.
The conference will bring together more than 300 pro- and anti-offshore advocates and neutrals from more than 30 countries to discuss all aspects of OFCs, including products, services, tax issues, fraud, asset recovery, money laundering, compliance, investigations and intelligence-gathering.
Cable and Wireless breaks free from parent
(CNS): Following its separation from the international group, Cable & WirelessCommunications said on Friday that it is now trading as an independent company with a new identity. The de-merger, which was completed last week, will see Cable & Wireless Communications focusing entirely on managing its full-service telecoms operations in the Caribbean, Panama, Macau and Monaco & Islands. This business was formerly known as Cable & Wireless International. (Left: Tony Rice, Cable & Wireless Communications Chief Executive Officer)
A new Cable & Wireless Communications identity has been launched along with a new corporate web site, cwc.com. Designed by brand consultancy, Elmwood, the new brand is an evolution of the iconic Cable & Wireless ‘blue globe’ logo, which has been in existence as the Group identity since 1986, the firm said in a release.
The telecommunications company said the new logo retains the heritage of the Cable & Wireless ‘globe’, but adds a three-dimensional aspect to its shape and while retaining the qualities of reliability and reassurance design represented Cable & Wireless Communication’s independent future.
Tony Rice, Cable & Wireless Communications Chief Executive Officer, said the de-merger presented an opportunity to further develop the business.
“The de-merger of Cable & Wireless has in effect returned our business to its shape prior to its entry into the UK market in the 1980’s. It will bring an increased focus to our business as we seek to realise the excellent growth opportunities that exist in our markets. We have a first-class management team in place to take the business forward. In this vein, our new brand identity captures the value of our heritage, while moving us to a more modern brand reflecting our independent future. I’m really excited about our future prospects,” he added.
Cable & Wireless Communications is composed of four operating units – the Caribbean, Panama, Macau and Monaco & Islands. The Cable & Wireless Communications brand has a presence in each of the business units, although local product brands are also used in several markets.
HR body calls for dialogue
(CNS): In the wake of recent announcements concerning immigration, the country’s human resource professionals say they look forward to the changes being implemented not only in financial services but in other sectors as well, but want more dialogue with immigration. The president of the Cayman Islands Society of Human Resource Professionals has also called for more communication between the immigration boards and the business community about how they apply immigration regulations and what businesses need. Phil Jackson said the proposed new accreditation system should improve the situation for local employees as well as employers and strike a better balance.
“There is a need to identify a balanced approach to Immigration, an approach that will create an environment in which businesses can succeed while ensuring Caymanians are being hired, developed and given opportunities to also succeed,” Jackson said. “Our policies need to ensure that Caymanians are given opportunities to fill positions in marketing, human resources, financial control, operations and information technology as well as financial services and these new directives definitely allow for that.”
Jackson added that there needed to be more dialogue between the immigration boards and businesses to gain a better understanding of the needs of the private sector and more discussion on specific issues for both sides. He noted the problems surrounding the way Regulation #6 in Business Staffing Plans is applied. “It often appears to be applied in an ad hoc manner,” he said. “There is also a failure among certain businesses and their HR departments to identify and develop a successor to employees which have a Regulation #6 attached to their work permit, which the accreditation system will also address.”
Following meetings held with the society following government’s announcements about the proposed changes to immigration, the members all said more dialogue would be warmly welcomed. Although the first changes are currently only applicable to the financial services sector, the society looks forward to the system being rolled out to other industries. According to a survey 75% of respondents support or strongly support the new immigration directives.
So far, the immigration regulations have been changed to make a number of important financial positions automatically key posts, offering key employ status to those work permit holders in those positions. The next stage that the Immigration Review Team plans to introduce is the accreditation system, which the chair of the IRT, Sherri Bodden Cowan, has said will be piloted with the financial services sector. She recently revealed that the IRT and immigration were aiming to have the legislative changes ready for the roll out by June or July this year. If the system works well then it will be implemented stage by stage across other sectors.
CISHRP members said they recognize the need to protect Caymanians and ensure that they are given every opportunity to secure employment and progress their careers in their chosen field, but at the same time there is a need for additional overseas employees to fill essential vacancies.
In a statement regarding the recent meetings, the society said that as human resource practitioners they had a part to play in fostering better relationships in the workplace and maintain a harmonious and diverse work force.
“The society is confident that the new directives will assist Caymanians entering the work force and developing their career paths. Under the accreditation system, employers will need to train, develop, and promote their Caymanian staff,” the CISHRP said in the statement.
The members noted that under the proposed system employers will need to maintain good work ethics, policies and employment practices, become involved in community programs and have talent development programmes in place in order to realize the benefits of the accreditation system.
“Those employers who are not accredited may find attracting and retaining good Caymanian talent and the processing of work permits not as easy as those with accreditation,” the HR professionals said.
Eight-year olds with Facebook pages
(The Telegraph): Children as young as eight have Facebook pages and use other social media websites, ignoring the age restrictions, according to an official report. Ofcom, the media watchdog, said that one in five children, 19 per cent, between eight and 12 years old use social media sites such as Facebook, Bebo or MySpace. This is despite these sites officially having an age limit of 13. One in six parents didn’t know their children are on social networks. The report included internet audience data that showed that 37 per cent of home internet users aged between five and seven visited Facebook in October 2009. But it did not examine how many had profiles on the site.
Do fatty foods act like cocaine in the brain?
(Health.com): Scientists have finally confirmed what the rest of us have suspected for years: Bacon, cheesecake, and other delicious yet fattening foods may be addictive. A new study in rats suggests that high-fat, high-calorie foods affectthe brain in much the same way as cocaine and heroin. When rats consume these foods in great enough quantities, it leads to compulsive eating habits that resemble drug addiction, the study found. Doing drugs such as cocaine and eating too much junk food both gradually overload the so-called pleasure centers in the brain. Eventually the pleasure centers “crash,” and achieving the same pleasure—or even just feeling normal—requires increasing amounts of the drug or food.
Saudi billionaire in contempt of court
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Grand Court found the Saudi billionaire Maan al-Sanea in contempt last week for breaching a worldwide order freezing $9.2bn of his assets. The judgment is being described by experts as another blow to Sanea, the owner of Saad Group, in his bitter dispute with a rival Saudi company. The complaint was filed by Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi and Brothers Company (Ahab), alleging that Sanea broke the freezing order by transferring $60m from one of his companies to Saad Specialist Hospital in Saudi Arabia last July. However, a spokesperson for Saad has said the company will appeal against the elements of the judgment.
Justice Alex Henderson froze the $9.2 billion of assets last July comprising of 42 entities most of which are registered with local law firm Maples and Calder and relate to al-Sanea, including Saad Group Ltd. and Saad Air Ltd. The freeze was instigated as a result of a complaint brought by Mourant on behalf of Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi and Brothers Company (Ahab).
Local receivers Richard Douglas and Peter Anderson from Rawlinson & Hunter Cayman Islands were appointed by the court for 38 of the companies registered in Cayman
The Saad group of companies came under financial pressure earlier this year following the firm’s downgrading by ratings agency Moody’s to Ba1 — considered a junk rating. The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency then issued instructions telling local banks to freeze Sanea’s personal assets.
The Cayman suit comes on the heels of one filed in New York claiming Sanea misappropriated about $10 billion from the Algosaibi’s family’s accounts into his own and fraudulently arranged loans to the company, which he diverted for his own use.
Court battle to save Indian tribe from tourism
(BBC): The Indian Supreme Court is currently considering whether a controversial tourist resort in the Andaman islands should close. The resort is near a forest reserve, which is home to the endangered Jarawa tribe. The BBC’s Geeta Pandey, who has visited the area, reports from Delhi. A handful of Jarawa tribesmen recently broke into a house in the village of Mathura in the Andaman islands. They left after taking away rice, sugar and coconut. The first people to successfully migrate out of Africa, the Jarawas came to the Andaman islands 60,000 years ago, scientists believe. Essentially hunter-gatherers, the tribespeople have traditionally survived on the raw meat of wild boar.
Cayman appeal court makes key ruling on fund
(CNS): In what is being described as an important ruling, the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal has decided in favour of a solvent hedge fund that was faced with a winding up petition from a disgruntled investor, ruling that such petitions should not put companies under pressure to accede to investor demands, The fund on the winning end of this decision, Camulos Partners Offshore Limited, was represented by local law firm Walkers, who said the appeal court had sent a clear message that winding up petitions are an abuse of protest. The judges ordered that the investor should also pay the fund’s costs on an indemnity basis.
“This case is important as the Court of Appeal has clarified the very limited circumstances in which a dissentient investor may properly invoke the class remedy which is a contributory’s winding up petition,” Walkers said in a client advisory. “The Court of Appeal has made it clear that, although it widened the relief available to petitioners, the new s 95 (3) of the Companies Law introduced in 2009 has not widened the grounds upon which a petitioner may present a winding up petition.”
The legal case began back in the summer of 2008 when the fund in question received a number of redemption requests, including from the investor in the recent litigation, Kathrein & Co, an Austrian private bank. Camulos decided to control the redemption requests through an exchange offer to all investors. However, Kathrein declined the offer and tried to enforce its redemption request but the fund suspended redemptions, and then in April last year the investor brought legal proceedings against Camulos. It claimed over $27 million in unpaid redemptions and said at least 15% of that had to be paid in cash.
In July Kathrein threatened to present a contributory’s winding up petition, which would have put the fund into involuntary liquidation. Camulos sought an injunction against such a petition and the issue was heard in the Cayman Islands court. The judge decided in favour of Kathrein, finding that the case was indistinguishable from previous case law. During September the investor filed two identical winding up petitions with the Grand Court of Cayman, one before the judge’s final decision and one just after that decision was sealed.
The petitions forced Camulos to seek validation orders to enable it to carry on its normal business. The fund also appealed against the petitions.
On 18 March the Court of Appeal decided ordinary litigation in the Grand Court’s Financial Services Division was a more suitable course of action in this case. It said all the relief sought by the investor would be available if such litigation were pursued. They said winding up petitions were designed to put pressure on the fund to give in to the investor’s demands. As such they were abuse of process. The court awarded indemnity costs to Camulos, enabling the fund to recover most of its legal costs.
“The clear message is that disputes between an investor and a hedge fund should ordinarily be litigated in the usual way i.e. by way of writ of summons or originating process in the Grand Court’s new Financial Services Division,” the Walkers legal team stated. “It is inappropriate and likely to be an abuse of the Court’s process for an investor to seek to use the threat of a winding up petition as a means of placing undue and improper pressure on a company or fund to accede to its demands. Acting in this manner is a high risk strategy which, if unsuccessful, may well be sanctioned by an award of indemnity costs. We understand that the Court of Appeal intends to issue an addendum to its judgment dealing with the circumstances in which indemnity costs may be awarded against an unsuccessful petitioner and will produce an update as necessary.”
The case has confirmed that the Cayman companies law introduced in 2009 did not expand the grounds on which an investor or shareholder can present a winding up petition, although it did expand the reliefavailable to successful petitioners.
Government minister seeks coordination with NGO
(CNS): Although the National Council of Voluntary Organisations’ nursery, day-care and foster home facility are not government entities and depend heavily on the support of the private sector, the non-governmental organisation does receive a public contribution and the Minister of Community Affairs and Housing is hoping to work more closely with the NCVO and increase the coordination of all agencies involved in the care, protection and development of young people.
On a recent tour of the NCVO nursery and care home Mike Adam said once he had visited all of the facilities working with young people in the community he planned to bring everyone involved together for special planning and information-sharing sessions
“One of my ministerial priorities is to address the needs of all our children in a holistic manner,” Adam stated. “I amkeenly aware that if we do not take care of our children socially, economically, spiritually, physically and mentally we cannot expect them to grow into productive, responsible and well-rounded citizens.”
The NCVO is a not-for-profit institution and NCVO Chairman Garry Wilkins said that board members – all of whom are volunteers – agree with the concept of multidisciplinary care plans for each child assisted by the NCVO. During their meetings, board members review detailed progress reports of every child in foster care, and generally from the nursery and preschool.
Wilkins said the NCVO staff is also securing closer working relationships with other advocates, such as social workers and educators. The organisation works hard to support families and assist with home-transition as well as offer support for children in areas such as job placement and higher education.
Wilkins said that public financial support for the NCVO is essential for its operations. Funds come from the annual NCVO telethon, which is the organisation’s only public fundraising initiative; an annual government grant; current benefactors, including Hedge Fund Cares Cayman, the Pink Ladies, and the Garden Club; and retailers. Private donations are a cornerstone, he said
In addition to funds, supporters have given the NCVO gifts – which recently have included a solar water heater; a minivan; hurricane shutters; airline tickets; bicycles; and computers for the children.
As well as noting the generosity of the community John Alban, the foster home’s care manager explained the need for volunteers. “While the foster home has four consistent volunteers, we welcome the support of anyone who can make a long-term commitment to even a half-hour each week — especially male role models,” he added.
To volunteer time, goods or services to the home, contact Mr. Alban on 945-8698, ncvocaremanager@hotmail.com. For more information on any of the NCVO’s services, contact 949-2124 or ncvo@candw.ky, or visit www.ncvo.org.ky.