Archive for March 16th, 2011
UK reveals new cash and plans for territories
(CNS): The British foreign secretary has announced his plans for a new white paper regarding the overseas territories as well as an increase in the funding the UK government allocates to the OT programme. Cash is going to a number of struggling territories, including the Turks and Caicos Islands, which will get £6.6 million. Although Cayman won’t receive any cash injections, William Hague has committed resources for the UK to work with all territories to make sure “the right controls are in place to ensure good governance and sound management of public finances,” he said in a statement in London last week.
Hague said the direct grant to TCI was to cover the costs of pursuing the corruption and crime investigation. Although he stated that the territories should finance their own investigations, this was an exceptional case.
“Mindful of the recommendations of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I have approved a discretionary grant of £6.6m to the Turks and Caicos Islands Government to reimburse the costs incurred in the past year pursuing corruption and violent crime,” Hague said in his statement, which was delivered after a debate in the UK’s House of Lords regarding the territories.
“This is for the Special Investigation and Prosecution Team; related civil recovery work; and the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police. My officials have coordinated this carefully with DFID’s work to underpin the Territory’s public finances. This is an exceptional case. Our basic principle remains that it is an integral part of good governance for a Territory government to ensure that the criminal justice system is properly funded.”
Hague warned that territories should not look to the UK to fund criminal investigations or prosecutions that they are reluctant to pursue themselves but said the rescue package put in place by DFID for TCI should enable future costs to be met from the public purse there in the normal way.
Speaking about his vision for the territories, he said it was for vibrant and flourishing communities “proudly retaining aspects of their British identity and generating wider opportunities for their people,” he stated.
Hague said the UK would continue vigorously to uphold the principle of self-determination and to ensure the security of all the territories. “We want to help the Territories plan their future in a competitive and unpredictable world. We will help Territories that are struggling economically to avoid unnecessary financial dependence on the UK,” he added.
“We are determined that the situation we have found in the Turks and Caicos Islands is not repeated, there or elsewhere. We therefore want to work with Territories to make sure the right controls are in place to ensure good governance and sound management of public finances.”
The foreign secretary also revealed plans to bring all aspects of the UK’s government’s policies on the OTs together in a new White Paper over the next year. “We will want to consult widely on this. I am working with relevant departments on a new strategy to underpin this government’s approach ,” he added.
UCCI conference to stir up community wide debate
(CNS): The country’s university will be opening the doors to the wider public on Thursday evening when it hosts its second leadership conference on the campus in George Town. With some 60 different sessions covering a plethora of subject areas by speakers from home and abroad, the conference promises guests an intellectually stimulating experience. This year’s key note speaker on the opening night is Sir Shridath Ramphal, former Secretary General of the Commonwealth Secretariat. The response and Q&A will be given by Cayman’s Chief magistrate Margaret Ramsay-Hale.
On Friday Ramsay-Hale will also headline the second plenary session with a presentation on ‘Feminism’ before the panel session on ‘Women, Leadership and Empowerment’.
There will be around 60 presentations covering a wide array of subjects, from e-governance, finance, gender issues, and roles of social institutions in empowering people, food security, media, and politics, among others, during the two day event.
Thorny subjects such as the country’s Public Management and Finance Law, media and Freedom of Information, politics and “politricks” will be tackled, as well as issues such as opportunities for young people in Cayman, and food security and social tolerance.
The conference opens with a cocktail reception at the Sir Vassel Hall on campus at 5pm before the evening’s presentations, which start at 6pm with a message from the college president Roy Bodden, who has recently been given the Distinguished Alumni Award 2011 from Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. The educator, author and former politician received the award from his former school on the basis of his achievement and leadership in his field.
Realtor plans to pitch Cayman to Russia
(CNS): Following a trip to international real estate firm Knight Frank’s Global Real Estate Conference in London recently, one local real estate agent has secured himself an appointment to present opportunities in the Cayman property market to Russians looking to invest. Jeremy Hurst, Broker/Owner of International Realty Group Ltd. (IRG), said that while he was in the UK he delivered presentations to Knight Frank’s Russian and Middle Eastern teams who were also at the conference and they have now invited him to Moscow later this year to make a direct pitch to interested parties there.
“My goal was to explain to these teams what an excellent opportunity the Cayman Islands represent for their investors and our comments were very well received,” he said. “We have been invited by the Russian/CIS team to visit Moscow to present to a number of their investors and plan to do so later this year.”
During his London visit Hurst said he was pitching Cayman to real estate experts from 230 offices in 25 countries including the Middle East, Hong Kong, China, Europe and the America’s as well as Russia.
“These conferences are an excellent opportunity to network and build strong relationships with our Knight Frank counterparts from throughout the world,” Hurst revealed. “There are very few real estate networks that can place you in a room with property experts from Moscow, Hong Kong, New York, London and India at the same time and provide you with the opportunity to promote your jurisdiction and the properties you represent on a one to one basis. Some of these individuals run some ofthe largest real estate offices in the world and have a huge client base of high net worth investors and our goal is to leverage the relationships we are building to access this client base and bring them to Cayman.”
Hurst also said he met with a number of IRG’s London based clientsand toured one of Knight Frank’s most prestigious listings – One Hyde Park – an ultra luxury apartment complex, which overlooks Hyde Park to one side and Knightsbridge to the other. The apartments are the most expensive real estate in the world at £6000 or almost US$10,000 per sq.ft.
Hurst said the conference was extremely valuable, adding that in the current economic climate it was essential to learn what’s happening in other markets across the world. “The benefit to our clients and their properties and the positive exposure to the Cayman Islands on a truly international stage is immeasurable,” Hurst stated.
Kidnappers claim duress
(CNS): The two men on trial accused of kidnapping Tyson Tatum for ransom last March have admitted they were involved in the plot but said they did so under duress. During the judge alone trial, which is expected to conclude Wednesday, Charles Webster and Allen Kelly said that they had taken part because they were threatened by Wespie Mullings. Webster says he was lured from Honduras by Mullings, who he said was an old friend, to do some constructionwork, while Kelly says he believed he was going to work on a boat when he was taken to a meeting to plot the kidnapping. They claim that when they told Mullings they wanted no part in the crime, he produced a gun, threatening to kill them if they tried to pull out of the scheme.
They also each claim to have received threatening messages after their arrests against them and their families, which they believed came from Richard Hurlstone, who was also charged with the crime but who absconded while on bail.
However, in her closing statement Solicitor General Cheryl Richards QC said that the claim of duress by the defendants came very late in the day after their arrests and neither of the men had revealed the claimed threats when they gave their first statements to the police or mentioned anything about the gun they claimed Mullings, who has already pleaded guilty to the crime, had.
She pointed out that, despite having ample opportunity to pull out of the plan and take evasive action, neither man did because, she said, they were willing participants motivated by money.
The bungled kidnapping plot eventually fell apart when their victim, whom they left alone in the house where he was being held, escaped, but not before the four men accused of the crime had abducted, assaulted and robbed Tatum.
The men had then contacted Tatum’s mother and demanded $500,000 otherwise they would kill him and warned her not to go to the police as they had connections in the RCIPS. However, Angelica Tatum did contact the police after the first call she received from her son saying he had been kidnapped. As a result law enforcement officers were able to record further ransom demand calls, which were produced as evidence during the first days of the trial.
As Richards closed the crown’s case on Tuesday afternoon, she said she believed the crown had proved the six counts against the defendants and that the evidence showed that the men had taken part in the joint criminal enterprise willingly. She said Wespie Mullings, who has pleaded guilty to the crime, never had a gun and the claims by Kelly and Webster were not credible. The crown’s leading advocate pointed out that no one else saw a gun during the episode and the weapon, according to the defendants, was only ever produce when they were alone with Mullings.
She queried why it had taken the three men — Kelly, Mullings and Webster — over five minutes of physical assault to subdue their kidnap victim and get him bound and gagged if Mullings all along had a gun. She pointed out how Kelly claimed Mullings had threatened him with the gun only minutes before Webster arrived at the house with the victim, who believed at the time he was coming to repair wave runners.
Richards pointed out that it was difficult to believe that, as Webster pushed Tatum into the house and all three men began wrestling him to the ground, Mullings would have hidden the gun away and not used it to threaten the victim, as surely that would have ensured the victim’s compliance with the kidnappers wishes far more quickly.
At the start of the trial when Tyson Tatum gave his evidence to the court he revealed that during the evening and the night when he was being held by the men at a house in North Side, he had was tied up on a bed but sat around talking and smoking ganja with Mullings and Webster until around 11pm. Richards said this was not behaviour consistent with men carrying out the crime under duress.
“The crown submits that the defence of duress has to be rejected on the evidence,” Richards told the judge as she summed up her case against the two defendants. The late claims that they did it because Mullings had threatened them and they were in fear of their lives was “inconsistent and incredible” as the numerous calls both men made to Wespie after the criminal scheme went wrong do not show the actions of men who were afraid for their lives.
Richards statedthat the men had countless opportunities to get away, go to the police or take some form of evasive action during the several days of planning and then during the kidnapping itself, which lasted over a two day period.
She also referred to other people who were at the early planning meetings who had given evidence during the trial that were asked to take part in the criminal scheme but had evaded involvement by simply not taking calls from Mullings or Hurlstone, whom the crown have claimed was the mastermind behind the crime but is now believed to be in Honduras.
Both defence attorneys were expected to make their closing arguments on Thursday morning before Judge Harrison, who is expected to deliver his verdict towards the end of the month. The men are both facing six counts relating to the incident, which include kidnapping, assault, robbery, blackmail, unlawful confinement and threatening violence.
Government gets nod to start GAB move
(CNS): Government now has the keys to its new offices after the official handover took place on Monday, 14 March. Following a number of delays since the first move in date in January of this year, civil servants will finally begin the move into the new Government Administration Building in Elgin Avenue from the old Glass House and other rented accommodation across George Town. Now that the all-clear has been given, government can activate its relocation plan and the first of some 30 government entities will start moving in by the end of this month, government officials stated on Tuesday.
“This building was an enormous undertaking and we were excited to see the official handover take place,” commented Government Office Accommodation Project (GOAP) Chief Project Manager Jim Scott. Furniture and equipment are already in place and the phased relocation should be completed by July.
The GAB was started under the previous administration as a result of the many problems plaguing the Glass House and the fact that the number of public sector employees had outgrown the building many years ago. The building, which has been constructed and designed to be green and energy efficient, cost over $80 million but with government paying more than $10 million in rent annually it is expected to save public money in the long term.
Bacchus takes BBBS Soup-er Bowl title
(CNS): The public vote is in and it’s official that once again downtown George Town restaurant Bacchus is where the best soup is at. The restaurant walked away with the Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Cayman Islands (BBBS) 2011 Soup-er Bowl title. In a repeat of its 2009 victory, the restaurant’s Satinasutro Asian Tomato Fusion soup outperformed all others, leaving a memorable impression on the hundreds of residents who poured into Camana Bay’s Arts and Recreation Centre to vote for their favourite soup. Thai Orchid’s Tom Yum Goong made its mark, as well as the Marriott’s gumbo, which were voted second and third place.
“This was our best event yet. We raised more than $14,000 in donations and we’re so grateful to all the thoughtful individuals and companies who’ve donated cash, kind and time to make this annual event a success,” said BBBS Fundraising Chair Hemant Balgobin. “We’re especially grateful to the hundreds of residents who chose to spend their Saturday with us and again help select Cayman’s best soup. At the end of it all it’s the children we serve that will benefit most from everyone’s generosity.”
Special creativity awards were also presented to participating restaurants by the BBBS board and staff. Thai Orchid’s staff were rewarded for their decorative efforts with the best display award, while Deckers’ Chilled Banana Soup laced with Bermuda Gosling Rum won them most unique soup.
Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Cayman Islands serves children throughout Grand Cayman by providing mentors to those in need of extra time and attention from a caring adult. BBBS is a non-profit organisation that depends solely on sponsorship and fundraising events to fund its programmes, so donations are always welcomed.
To sign up as a mentor, or send in a donation, please contact us at (345) 945-6315. The office is located in the Diamonds International Building at 18 Fort Street, George Town.
Bridger’s complaint dismissal remains a secret
(CNS): Complaints made by the senior officer in Operation Tempura, a discredited undercover police operation that took place in the Cayman Islands through 2008/09, have been dismissed by the Cayman Islands governor. However, the reasons why will remain under wraps, Duncan Taylor said on Tuesday. Martin Bridger, the leader of the special police investigation team (SPIT) that came to Cayman to investigate corruption in the RCIPS complained to the UK Foreign Office that his investigation was deliberately blocked. Today Taylor revealed that he had rejected “all aspects of the complaint” but his reasons will not be made public. He said he had revealed his decision to Bridger, who has reportedly also agreed not to reveal the reasons for the governor’s move.
“I have provided detailed written reasons for my decision to the complainant, Mr Bridger,” Taylor stated in a release on Tuesday morning. “Because of the sensitivity of some of the material in the written reasons I do not propose to make these public; in the circumstances, at my request, Mr Bridger has signed a confidentiality agreement in which he undertakes not to share the reasons with any other person except his legal representative.”
The governor first received the details of the former UK cop’s complaint from the FCO just before Christmas and he stated then that he did not think the complaints against the judiciary were valid and had rejected those. He said he would be taking legal advice about other aspects regarding Bridger’s claims about Operation Tempura before making any more decisions.
“I have now concluded my consideration of that complaint and the legal advice I have received in relation to it. I have dismissed all aspects of the complaint,” Taylor stated.
Bridger left Cayman after the fumbled investigation failed to secure a single conviction or any evidence of corruption and ended in a $1.2 milllion pay-out from the Cayman public purse to Grand Court judge Alex Henderson as a result of his unlawful arrest.
However, on his return to the UK Bridger, along with Martin Polaine, who worked as the legal adviser to SPIT and who was later debarred as a result of his role in Operation Tempura, lodged a number of complaints about the local judiciary with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. A report in the Financial Times in January revealed that the former UK cop, who had been a member of the Metropolitan Police Service in London, had accused the Cayman Islands judiciary, including the chief justice, of inappropriate actions. He also questioned the role of Sir Peter Cresswell, the former UK judge who presided over Henderson’s judicial review and was later appointed to the Cayman Financial Court.
Bridger and Polaine had claimed that Sir Peter made findings of bad faith without supporting evidence and questions why the judge met with Chief Justice Anthony Smellie after arriving on the islands to hear the review. Cresswell maintains that he remained independent throughout and kept a distance from those involved.
When Polaine dropped out of the complaint, Bridger pursued the grievance and also questioned the role of Larry Covington, a Foreign Office law enforcement adviser whose part in the Operation Tempura fiasco has never been fully explained. Stuart Kernohan, the former police commissioner who was sacked during the investigation, had reportedly told Covington about the Cayman Net News office search, which was the start of the SPIT episode.
The complaint dossier included allegations, which were later supposedly examined under Operation Cealt by the temporary police commissioner, James Smith, which Bridger claims were allegations of local police corruption that were not followed up on. The alleged hours and hours of taped interview, which Bridger had said documented complaints about corruption and misconduct in the police and elsewhere, have still not been made public. The outcome of Operation Cealt, which was taken over by the current commissioner after Smith left, has never been revealed.
In his complaint Bridger had reportedly implied that, rather than unravelling as a result of SPIT’s incompetence and a lack of evidence, the investigation was deliberately blocked.
The full story of Operation Tempura and SPIT, which began in September 2007, has still not been told. What is widely known, however, is that the investigation cost the Cayman public purse more than $6 million and according to an auditor general’s report, Bridger was paid more than $500,000 in salary, benefits and expenses during his time here.