Archive for April, 2010

Government launches campaign for community count

Cayman News | 21/04/2010 | 6 Comments

(CNS): Work is now underway to begin the official launch of the Population and Housing Census of the Cayman Islands campaign which will start on 10 October. Between now and then however, government is hoping to educate the community on need for its wide participation. The publicity campaigns will officially begin in Cayman Brac tomorrow and next week on Grand Cayman. An accurate assessment of the numbers and lives of the people across the three islands will help form future government policy and strategies to meet the changing need of the community. It is more than ten years since a full national census was carried out in the Cayman Islands.

The Economics and Statistics Office, in cooperation with the multi-sectoral Census Advisory Committee, its sub-committees and the office of the Sister Islands’ District Commissioner, is organizing the official launching of the Census in Cayman Brac and Grand Cayman. Both events will mark the start of the education and publicity campaign on the importance of the Census in planning a better future for Cayman, and in getting everyone to be counted to make it a successful national activity.

To underscore the importance of the Census 2010, the launch will feature census messages from high-level government officials including Governor Duncan Taylor, Premier McKeeva Bush and Deputy Premier, Juliana O’Connor-Connolly and Financial Secretary Kenneth Jefferson.

A number of spokespersons from various sectors of the community will also be involved in promoting the big community count such as National Hero Sybil McLaughlin, 2010 YCLA winner Collin Anglin and Miss Teen Jamesette Anglin. A video presentation introducing the Census, its various processes, participants, benefits and use in broad terms will also be presented at the launch events on both Grand Cayman and Cayamn Brac.

The launching is scheduled in Cayman Brac on Thursday, April l 22, 2010 at 10:00 am at the District Administration Building Grounds. The Master of Ceremonies will be Deputy Commissioner Mark Tibbetts. While be Radio Cayman talk show host, Sterling Dwayne Ebanks will play MC for the Grand Cayman launch on Thursday 29 April at the Mary Miller Hall.

Potential Census workers will have the opportunity to sign-up at both launch events and the general public is invited to attend.

Mass job cuts being made in UK public sector

Cayman News | 21/04/2010 | 1 Comment

(Times-online): More than 225,000 public sector jobs cuts are quietly being forced through by councils, the NHS and police forces, despite Gordon Brown’s pledge to protect frontline services. The losses, disclosed in a wide-ranging analysis by The Sunday Times, include tens of thousands of nurses and midwives, social workers, teachers and police officers. Management and administrative workers will face the biggest cuts. The cutbacks are already being implemented. Deeper cuts are expected to emerge after the general election, whichever party takes power. A quarter of England’s police forces have warned that they will have to lose officers and staff to meet a £150m funding shortfall.

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Former TCI leaders hit out over bankclosure

Cayman News | 21/04/2010 | 3 Comments

(CNS): The two former leaders of the beleaguered Turks and Caicos Islands have both issued statements criticising theclosure of the TCI Bank Ltd. Galmo Williams, the Leader of the Progressive National Party, who was deposed when British rule was imposed said that he was concerned that insufficient effort was made to save the bank. While his predecessor Michael Misick said the closure was another move by the UK and its installed dictator Gordon Wetherall to dismantle the institutions created to advance the country towards nationhood and to place control of the islands’ economy in the hands of a few white elite British expats. TCI Bank was ordered to close on Friday 9 April.

The two former premiers’ statements were posted on the Overseas Territories review website and both condemn the move by the governor. Williams said many Turks & Caicos Islanders had invested their hard earned money in the capital of the bank and it had become a household name and a vital financial institution in the development of these islands.

The former leader said that aside from being concerned that nothing was done to save the institution every effort seemed to have been made to roll back all the strides made by the people of TCI in recent years. “It is evident that on a daily basis the quality of life that our citizens once enjoyed is being increasingly eroded,” he said. “This has become clearly evident since the British Interim Government under Governor Wetherell and Mark Capes have taken over the administrative affairs of our country. No one can deny the blatant disregard for the plight of our people and the pungent atmosphere of fear which now permeates.”

He said he believed the people presiding over the islands do not care about the people or if their money was safe, if they had enough to eat or if they could send their children to school.
“If Governor Wetherell and his team meant the people of this country well, they would allow for inward investment to flourish thereby helping investors rather than being a hindrance; they would promote confidence in our country by letting the international community know that the Turks & Caicos Islands is open for business rather than weaving a web of red tape around any idea put forward for investment,” Williams said.

Misick said he believed that some people had been notified in advance of the bank’s closure enabling them to move millions of dollars out of the bank “helping its demise while average men and women are left to suffer..” and when as little as $3million could have saved the institution. “A decision should have been made in the interest of the thousands of customers and the good name of the country for National Insurance to place deposits with TCI bank to prevent its collapse,” he added. “Under my leadership or a PNP administration we would never have allowed TCI Bank to fail and have thousands of working people lose their life savings.”

He called on Wetherall to bail out TCI bank to protect the reputation of the Turks and Caicos and prevent thousands of people from losing there life savings. “If the British care one ounce about the Turks and Caicos people this is the least they can do,” the former leader said. “If this is not done this will confirm my suspicion that this too is part of a wider British conspiracy to stop at nothing in their efforts to stop the progress of our beautiful Islands and implement their colonial agenda of keeping us poor while making sure the few British elite reap the benefits of our country.”

Misick also stated that it was ironic that the same week ‘The People’s Bank’ closed, permission was granted to a Cayman based bank to operate a new branch.

Swiss government faces pressure to cut work permits

Cayman News | 21/04/2010 | 0 Comments

(Swissinfo): Pressure is mounting on the Swiss government to revise work permit quotas that triggered an outcry among big businesses in the country like Google. Faced with rising unemployment under the financial crisis the government decided in December to halve the number of annual short-term residence and work permits accorded for non-European Union nationals to 3,500. The permits, typically valid for less than 12 months, are commonly used by international firms bringing in highly skilled staff for special projects.

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Brac to Little Cayman Sea Swim

Cayman News | 21/04/2010 | 28 Comments

(CNS): A group of seven swimmers crossed the 5-mile stretch of ocean between Cayman Brac and Little Cayman last Sunday, the first time someone has made the crossing between the Sister Islands under their own steam for 23 years. The group left the western point of Cayman Brac at 7:20 am on Sunday 18 April and reached Point of Sand on Little Cayman three hours and 20 minutes later at 10:40 am in the first Sister Islands Sea Swim (SISS). The swim was organised by two young Cayman Brac men, Felix Ebanks, aged 19 (right) and Matthew McKinley, aged 20 (left), who were joined by five swimmers from Grand Cayman, all of whom who took part in the 800 metre Cayman Brac Sea Swim the day before.

Justly proud of their accomplishment, Ebanks and McKinley said they have trained since March 2009 – at least 400 metres each day on weekdays in the mornings, 800 metres on weekends and 4 miles once a month, along with personal daily workout routines. “The sea swim was fairly easy. We did have one problem though, we didn’t see the sharks many other Brackers promised we’d see!” Ebanks joked.

Cayman Islands News, Sister Islands Sports News Kate Alexander, Joy Yeatman , Alex Harling, Andrea Roach and Bill McFarland joined the two Brackers for the marathon swim. They were accompanied by two safety boats, including the Department of Environment vessel captained by Marine Officer Robert Walton. The boats were stocked with supplies of Gatorade and water for the swimmers, who stopped only three times for breaks along the way. (Photo by Tishel Watler; Ebanks and McKinley reach Point of Sand, LC)

The first recorded swim between the islands was completed by Jeff Miller, who finished in a time of 2 hours, 36 minutes on 2 May 1987. “I think it is absolutely spectacular that they’d take up that challenge and conquer it. What a fantastic accomplishment for them and I am really pleased to hear that there are those around still that find that type of challenge appealing enough to try,” Miller said.

The first Sister Islands Sea Swim was sponsored by the DoE, MLA Moses Kirkconnell, PoPo Jeb’s Pizza and Little Cayman Beach Resort. Ebanks and McKinley hope to make SISS an annual event and will be looking for more participants and more sponsors next year. (Photo below by Tishel Watler: Ebanks and McKinley still have energy after the swim)

Cayman Islands News, Grand Cayman Island Sports News

MLAs amazed re SPIT jobs

Cayman News | 21/04/2010 | 34 Comments

(CNS): The move by the police commissioner to re-employ officers associated with the discredited operations of the UK’s special police investigation team (SPIT) has amazed a number of the islands’ political representatives. One Member of the Legislative Assembly said it was utter madness and another said that it was unwise at best to re-introduce people associated with Operation Tempura. The independent representative for North Side, Ezzard Miller, said he had serious concerns about the impact on the RCIPS and said someone needed to intervene and buy out the contracts of those already given jobs. (Left: Martin Bridger the former SIO of SPIT).

On behalf of the opposition, Alden McLaughlin said it was an unnecessary move. The PPM MLA for George Town said, without commenting on the individuals that have been named so far, that recruiting people associated with what he described as a “disaster” would likely taint any future investigations and operations even before they began. “It is terribly unwise to have recruited individuals connected to that investigation,” McLaughlin added

Miller went even further in his condemnation and said he was “really disappointed” as he believed the new commissioner had been turning a corner over public perceptions of the police with the recent arrests and charges on violent crime.

“I just can’t fathom or comprehend why he would hire officers involved in that fiasco,” he said, referring to SPIT. “I can’t believe that in all of fair England our commissioner could not find two ex-police officers not connected to Operation Tempura, Martin Bridger or even the Metropolitan Police that have equal qualifications and experience,” he said.

The independent representative said he believed it had done untold damage to the newly repaired public perception of policing. Moreover, the MLA said he had already received countless representations from local officers who were seriously demoralised and would now be scared of their own shadow given the situation.

Miller said he may well bring a motion to the LA asking that government or the powers that be address the situation in the interest of the country and the Caymanians serving in the RCIPS and intervene by buying out the contracts of the officers involved.

Speaking at a press briefing last week, Premier McKeeva Bush said he did not believe the two officers given new contracts were directly involved in Operation Tempura but had been brought in to deal with the Cealt investigations.

However, both Richard Oliver, who is believed to have been appointed as head of the police’s own anti-corruption unit, and Dennis Walkington, who has also been given a full time RCIPS contract in the same unit, worked on the failed Operation Tempura cases against both Lyndon Martin over ‘Netnewsgate’ and Rudy Dixon, who were both found not guilty.

The premier noted that the elected arm of government could not interfere with police recruitment. “We were not involved,” he said. “The commissioner of police is the person in charge of this. We have no say in the matter of who he hires.”

AG:Accounts a national crisis

Cayman News | 20/04/2010 | 33 Comments

(CNS): Full update – The auditor general has warned of “tremendous consequences” if the dire situation regarding government’s accounts is not addressed immediately. Describing the situation as a national crisis, Dan Duguay said that some two years since his first review of the state of public financial accounting little has changed, despite government spending more then $1million on an accounting task force to try to get the accounts up to date. Some organisations have made no improvement at all, even falling further behind. Others, he says, have made minor progress. But while a number of government entities have caught up with their financial statements, few have filed an annual report.

Duguay said this “national crisis” was having an impact on the country’s reputation, but above all the government was not being accountable to the people when the Constitution and the laws demanded it, a situation that he said was simply unacceptable.

Following the OK from the chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Ezzard Miller, who said he had done all he could to expedite its release by chasingmembers of the Legislative Assembly to make sure they had their copy first, Duguay was finally able to release the much anticipated State of Financial Accountability Reporting 2010.

Speaking about its contents, Duguay said he really hoped that government would take the recommendations he had made as seriously as the situation warranted. He pointed out that since the last report in 2008, which first revealed the situation, no one had taken responsibility to correct what he called an appalling situation.

“Officials could not provide me with a comprehensive roadmap for how they believe financial accountability reporting will be brought up to date. I found that only a few statutory authorities have shown some improvement,” Duguay added.

Despite government spending almost $1 million in this fiscal year in an effort to address the problem with a private sector task force, the auditor general said his office had still not received the 2004/05 draft set of statements and the supporting financial records necessary for him to audit the government books from the Ministry of Finance (formerly the Portfolio of Economics).

In other words, there is still no accountability in government spending since 2003/04, the last time the Caymanian public was able to see what their government had earned and spent, and the entire government accounts were now a further two years behind from when he first revealed the serious lack of accountability to the Caymanian public in 2008.

Duguay pointed to some improvement among individual government entities, but not as much as he had hoped. He said eight of the 25 statutory authorities and government companies had improved in regard to the financial statements. In addition ICTA, CIMA and CINICO were all generally up to date, Duguay said. However, all the others either did not improve or, in the case of Cayman Airways, got worse.

Applauding the efforts of the eight which had improved, he said much more work still needed to be done as only the three noted above have actually tabled recent reports in the Legislative Assembly . He said 73 sets of financial statements had been prepared and audited by his office but they had not been appropriately tabled so they were not public documents.

“This lack of transparency and public scrutiny is an effective avoidance of accountability by government officials and I consider that completely unacceptable,” Duguay said.

The auditor also warned that in many cases where he had audited statements he was unable to offer an unqualified opinion. In other words, his audit found the information in the statements to be inaccurate or lacking in information, or that areas of the accounts were unreliable. He said in other cases there were such significant deficiencies he could only offer an adverse opinion, which meant the accounts were completely unreliable.

With ministries and all government entities for the most part still well behind in their accounts, Duguay noted that the task force might be better served if they began working on the more recent financial record. The information they were currently working on, he observed, was now so old it could be considered almost meaningless.

Duguay said that officials in government have informed him that they believe the governance framework is broken and that the legislation and regulations around public management and finance are an impediment for them to take corrective action to restore financial accountability, which is why there has been so little improvement since his first assessment of the situation.

The auditor also raised concerns that no one in government seemed to have taken the lead in addressing the problem since the July 2008 report was published. He said he thought government would have adopted a comprehensive plan for the restoration of financial accountability and periodic reporting to the Legislative Assembly, but government has still not responded to the recommendations in his last report.

Duguay included the press release in this latest document which was issued by the financial secretary to the 2008 report, which only offered reasons for not doing the accounts and not how the accounts would be addressed. Duguay added that government had never undertaken a review to find out the reasons why financial accountability was not working. “There was no plan developed,” Duguay added, saying no one took leadership and essentially left all of the government entities to develop their own plans.

Meanwhile, the PAC at the time of the report did not hold a meeting as recommended by Duguay to question chief financial officers and it was not until the new committee wasformed under Miller that the document was examined by members. However, when the meeting was convened there were no witnesses and the PAC agreed to wait until the next report before calling the CFOs to account.

Duguay noted that there have been no consequences for government officials involved this who have failed to account to the people of Cayman. The auditor said that if government departments do not prepare their budget financials the consequence is that they do receive any funding. “There is no such consequence for not reporting financial results,” Duguay stated in the report. “Consider how much more accountable government … would be … if there was such a tremendous consequence for not meeting the requirements of PMFL for financial reporting.”

The office of the auditor general has made four recommendations which it says provides government with a way to move forward. Firstly, the auditor general has recommended that someone is appointed to take leadership and responsibility for the crisis. Secondly, a strategic direction is established which would determine the value of trying to do accounts which are six years old against the benefits of concentrating on current activities. Thirdly, Duguay suggests that the government framework be addressed and a central direction for the financial function introduced, as Duguay said it seems unclear to senior government officials that they have this authority. Finally, Duguay emphasised the importance of oversight by the Legislative Assembly as representatives of the people.

Duguay has also included responses from the Ministry of Finance in his report, which will be on CNS later today, revealing the problems that the task force has encountered since it began its work.

Concerning Abacus: Tails you lose, heads I win

Cayman News | 20/04/2010 | 17 Comments

The news broke last Friday that Goldman Sachs, the banking giant whose CEO recently declared that his company was about doing God’s work, had been the subject of fraud charges filed earlier in the day by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The charges allege that Goldman Sachs made material misstatements and omissions in connection with a synthetic collateral debt obligation “CDO” Goldman Sachs structured and marketed to investors in 2007.

The name of the particular CDO is ABACUS 2007- AC1. It is alleged that the marketing materials failed to disclose that a large hedge fund (Paulson & Co Inc), with economic interests directly adverse to investors in the ABACUS 2007-AC1, played a significant role in the portfolio selection process. Incidentally, John Paulson, the CEO of the hedge fund, is celebrated for having personally earned $2.0 billion in 2008 and $2.3 billion in 2009.

To put it bluntly, the investors, as is generally the case in the casino game that is held up as high finance, were being played for stiffs. The greed game they had willingly decided to play goes simply like this: “tails you lose, heads I win”.

What, you might ask, does this have to do with us ordinary mortals in the Cayman Islands?

The Transaction Overview of the Offering Document (page 20) provides an explanation. ABACUS 2007-AC1 is incorporated with limited liability in the Cayman Islands. The Class D Notes are governed and construed in accordance with the Laws of the Cayman Islands.

Such a vehicle would have delivered less than $25,000.00 to the public revenues of the Cayman Islands. The SEC allegations suggest that investors were relieved of over $1.0 billion and that the Paulson hedge fund’s opposite CDS positions yielded a profit of approximately $1.0 billion. (Thereis a 99% chance that the Paulson positions were similarly facilitated by entities incorporated with limited liability in the Cayman Islands, Exempted Companies.)

A gamed transaction in excess of the $2.0 billion and the house (that’s us the offshore facilitator) is happy to put its reputation on the line for less than $50,000.00!

Are we really so naïve to continue to believe that $25,000.00 is adequate compensation to the public purse for the provision of an enabling environment, wherein so called reputable institutions can arrange for investors to be gamed for billions?

Are we truly satisfied that the reputational damage that is wrought on this little island by the globalrevelations of our involvement in such despicable acts by greedy self- interested financiers is worth the transient material illusion of development that it has brought us over the last two decades?

We continue to hear the self-interested captains of the financial industry and their choir boys and girls warn us that the industry is contributing to the local economy at an absolute optimal level. They continue to chide the public sector for its profligate ways and suggest that the real fix to our current financial and economic woes is to be found in finding ways for the immediate curbing of public sector expenditure.

Maybe rather than reducing the public service we the ordinary folks should be clamouring for the hiring of a few more good people who really understand what goes on the name of high finance and have them deal with the white collar scoundrels as they should really be dealt with.

Female road victim critical

Cayman News | 20/04/2010 | 61 Comments

(CNS): Police have confirmed that a female visitor to the island is currently in hospital in critical condition with life threatening injuries as a result of an accident on the West Bay Road yesterday evening (Monday 19 April.) Police said that just after 7:00 in the evening the woman, who was a pedestrian, was hit by two cars as she tried to cross the road by the Strand Shopping Centre. The victim has reportedly received multiple injuries and is currently being treated in the Critical Care Unit at the George Town Hospital.

Police said that the first vehicle was heading south on West Bay Road when it struck the woman, causing her to fall onto the windscreen of the vehicle and then threw her into the air, then into the path of oncoming traffic in the north bound lane. The victim is visiting the islands from the United States.

This morning the hospital issued a blood donation appeal from the hospital as a result of the victim’s need for blood and an already dwindling supply. The hospital’s medial director, Dr Greg Hoeksema, said that following the media publicity this morning for the blood there had been a tremendous response from the community and he extended his thanks to everyone who came to donate.

He said the hospital blood banks were already getting low and alerts had been forwarded to regular donors but a more urgent request was being considered when the accident occurred last night, draining the remaining resources.

Anyone who can donate blood types A positive, O positive and O negative is asked to call 244 2674.

Cops make drug & gun bust

Cayman News | 20/04/2010 | 0 Comments

CNS): Police have six people in police custody following a major operation in the eastern districts of Grand Cayman today (20 April). Five Caymanian men and one Jamaican man are currently being held at the George Town Police Station in connection with a drug and gun bust. A police spokesperson said a substantial quantity of ganja, along with cocaine, hash oil and three firearms were recovered when the men were intercepted, having apparently abandoned their boat, which sank as they tried to make a landing on the local shoreline.

One firearm was taken from one of the males on arrest and two others recovered together with ammunition after an air and sea search, which located the boat and the residue of its illicit cargo.

Police said this was a substantial seizure of firearms and drugs which would have found its way into the criminal networks of the Island. CNS understands the operation took place in the Bodden Town area.