Archive for November, 2011
GLF may get public cash
(CNS): The public purse may be forced to fork out millions of dollars to GLF, the group that had been selected to develop the cruise berthing facilities in George Town, because the premier opted to pull out of the talks and begin negotiations with CHEC. Against the backdrop of speculation that government is already talking with the firm to avert a law suit and settle with the Italian company, a legal opinion given to the Port Authority Board in April had warned that the government was in breach of the framework agreement and risked paying the developer damages. Although there has been no confirmation of a deal, sources tell CNS that the treasury may need to find more than $3 million to stop an even costlier law suit.
A legal opinion by local law firm Priestlys, which was acquired by the local television news station Cayman27 this week, reveals that the lawyers believed the premier was not in a position to legally terminate the exclusive talks. The legal advice indicates that the agreement government had signed with GLF and their local partners Royal Construction prevented it from legally ending the negotiations with the firm on the basis that it didn’t have funding in place.
On 14 April Premier McKeeva Bush, who is also the minister for tourism and the finance minister, had written to GLF telling them that, in agreement with the port chairman, he was terminating the talks as he did not believe the firm had the money in place. Shortly after the announcement it was revealed that government was already talkingto China Harbour Engineering Company about the cruise port development. In addition, Bush had already indicated that the Chinese were interested when he spoke at the CBO conference several months earlier, in January.
In their legal opinion to the Port Authority, the lawyers said that the framework agreement between government and GLF required that the developer only have a plan in place for financing, which the firm clearly did, as evidenced by the letter from Citibank.
The advice also notes that the agreement had required the government to give notice to the developer for any breach, which was not given, and that the deal had been an exclusive arrangement. With at least one very public comment about the Chinese developers prior to the termination of the deal, it is clear that government was already talking to China Harbour Engineering Company before it pulled out of the deal with GLF.
Priestlys warn the Port Authority Board that if the firm was to mount a successful action, it would likely be awarded damages to cover the more than $1 million the company had spent directly on the project and significant compensation for the loss of potential profit, which could run to millions of dollars more.
With the situation of the board directors' liability in question, especially if they knew of any potential breach, as well as the risk to the public purse, the directors themselves could also be financially liable. In the wake of the decision by the premier, a number of board members resigned as a result of their objections to the move by Bush.
The lawyers also revealed in their assessment of the move by government to close down talks with GLF and move to CHEC, that the Chinese firm would fund the project outside of the agreement which had been made with the Florida Caribbean Cruise Association on guaranteed passenger numbers. To build the port without pinning down the cruise lines to a commitment on passengers and fees was a substantial risk, the lawyers warned.
The decision by the premier to terminate the deal with GLF without warning and move to negotiations to a third party also created reputational risk for the Cayman Islands, Priestlys said, “which could have a material effect on future procurement” and increase costs for government and ultimately the public purse in the future.
See details of the termination and correspondence between premier and GLF here
Bull’s penis case closed
(CNS): Bodden Town businessman and former MLA, Osbourne Bodden, is crossing his fingers for an early Christmas present this year with an acquittal on charges against him for assaulting a man at his gas station last year with a cow-cod. The case against Bodden was closed on Thursday afternoon and Magistrate Nova Hall said she would deliver her ruling on 20 December. Bodden has denied hitting Kirk Watler with a five foot long bull’s penis but has conceded striking the complainant with a stick in self-defence. The altercation between the two men took place in October at Bodden’s business, Lorna’s Texaco, after Watler was refused an exchange on a bottle of rum at the shop.
The court heard how Bodden had given Watler a flask of rum and a packet of cigarettes earlier that day after he had assisted a member of the gas station staff to unload a truck. Watler had shared the rum with a group of friends who were also hanging around the public beach by the local gas station that afternoon, enjoying a drink or two.
Sometime later on the same day, after Bodden had left, Watler returned to the liquor store at Lorna’s with a flask of rum, which when giving his own evidence he had said was a different bottle from that given to him by Bodden. He indicated that this was certainly not the dregs of the original bottle watered down, as suggested by the defence.
Watler had wanted to exchange the ‘rum’ but it was not clear to the court whether he had wanted cash, as he had told the police in his first statement, or bottles of beer, as he told the court. Either way, the cashier at the store had told Watler she would need to contact Bodden to clear the exchange with him. As a result Watler became agitated, angry and upset and caused a scene in the store, insisting that she made the exchange without calling her boss but when the police were called Watler left the premises.
Later that evening, at around 6pm, Bodden arrived back at Lorna’s when Watler was still on the beach drinking. Witnesses said that Watler had called to and taunted Bodden about calling the police on him.
A few minutes later a member of the staff who was working the pumps at the gas station told the court that he saw the two men engaged in a tussle across the street on the ground and he ran over to pull them apart. He said he did not see Bodden strike Watler but he saw that Bodden did have a stick and that Watler had two green beer bottles in his hands.
The complainant had claimed that during the altercation Bodden had struck him several times with a cow-cod, described as being some 4 inches in diameter and around 4 to 5 feet long. The witness was asked if he had seen this implement.
“No, Sir,” he told the prosecuting counsel Kenneth Ferguson. “I’m Jamaican. We don’t waste those things we eat ‘em,” the witness added.
During their summary for the magistrate the lawyers agreed that the credibility of the complainant, who had clearly been drinking on the day, was in question and the magistrate would have to consider if he was bolstering his case by manufacturing things. Ferguson noted, however, that the injuries sustained by Watler were consistent with a weapon which was pliable rather than a stick.
The court heard that there were a significant number of inconsistencies in the complainant’s evidence, which the defence referred to as not just immaterial inconsistencies but ones that went to the very heart of the matter.
Lloyd Sampson, who was representing Bodden, asked the magistrate to consider the incredulous nature of the complainant’s evidence, whom he said had “lost the plot” in the shop on the day in question, which had been shown to the court as it was captured on the CCTV.
Sampson pointed to his previous convictions, which he had tried to hide, and the numerous contradictions in his evidence, as well as his demeanour in the witness stand when he again “lost the plot” in court, against his client’s position that he had struck Watler with a stick in self-defence.
Sampson said the complainant, who was also armed with two bottles, had approached Bodden first and it was him that had struck the first blow, leaving his client with no option but to find something to defend himself with.
Sampson pointed to the absurdity that his client, who is a well-known member of the community, would “lick someone, in broad daylight for all and sundry to see, in the middle of the street with a five foot long bull’s penis.”
Given the many questions and myriad issues relating to the reliability of Watler’s evidence, Sampson said the magistrate could not be sure enough to rely on his claim that Bodden was the aggressor in this case. The magistrate, he said, would have little difficulty making the right decision.
Magistrate Hall confirmed she would deliver her written ruling on the matter on 20 December.
Chinese doing manual work on Jamaican project
(JamaicaObserver): Jamaica's opposition People's National Party Member of Parliament for East Kingston and Port Royal Phillip Paulwell has warned that trouble is afoot over the imbalance in the number of Chinese workers compared to Jamaicans on the Palisadoes Shoreline and Rehabilitation project. "There is a serious problem that is about to explode on the Palisadoes road, and when I say explode, I mean an explosion of no mean order. As member of parliament I have had to contain it but it is not goingto be contained much longer," Paulwell told a meeting of the Public Administrations and Appropriations Committee of Parliament yesterday.
The East Kingston and Port Royal MP said that he had photographs in his possession showing Chinese persons carrying out manual labour on the Palisadoes project.
"We wish them well and we love the Chinese but when they come in the wake of a minister's pledge to the people that this work is going to create hundreds of jobs and for the Chinese to come to be doing manual labour it is going to create problems in this country, and I am warning," he told the committee.
Waterfront restaurant catches fire
(CNS): The Lobster Pot Restaurant along the harbour front in George Town caught fire this evening, officials have confirmed, but the customers and employees were all evacuated safely. Police said that at around 5:24 pm on Thursday evening 911 received a report that the roof at the Lobster Pot Restaurant was on fire. Smoke was reportedly coming from the restaurant but no one was hurt. The Fire Service, medical emergency personnel and Home Gas also attended the scene and attempted to determine the source of the smoke, which was billowing from the ventilation ducts of the restaurant. Although police said that there is no longer any danger to the adjacent buildings, as a safety precaution traffic has been diverted around the restaurant.
Cayman urged to stand up against gender violence
(CNS): The minister with responsibility for gender affairs has said that the often-silent scourge of gender-based violence remains a significant problem in Cayman as he urged people to take a firm stance during this year’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence campaign which starts Friday. Mike Adam said violence against women and girls is one of the most widespread violations of human rights, gender-based violence is experienced by up to 70 % of women in their lifetime. “Here in Cayman, we cannot ignore these unfortunate facts,” he said in his message marking the start of the campaign. “Behind closed doors, too many homes are war zones, leaving families scarred and bruised, with some living in emotional turmoil.”
The 16 days of activism was started by the American organization, Centre for Women’s Global Leadership (CWGL), which launched the international campaign 21 years ago focusing on the elimination of all forms of violence.
See full message below
Immigration reveals key statistics
(CNS): One hundred and sixty- four people have been approved as key employees this year, while 96 have been turned down, according to the latest figures published by the immigration department in an effort to be as transparent as possible. Despite remaining the largest group of workers, only 18% of workers designated key are Jamaican, with the largest group of key employees being British at 20% and more than half of all key employee are in professional or management jobs. There were 19,691 work permit holders in Cayman in September, only slightly higher than the 19,058 foreign workers on island before Hurricane Ivan seven years earlier.
The report also says that there are currently 1,176 people waiting permanent residency applications or an appeal and that the department collected over $70 million in revenue.
The Immigration Department has published the first of what will be on-going detailed statistical reports about its complex work, heralding a new era of transparency in anticipation of its significant FOI requests, the department has said.
The report reveals an array of statistics and data, including the 7,357 annual work permit applications processed so far this year and another 8,398 temporary ones. It also shows that there are 911 non-Caymanians working for government and that while well over 7,199 Jamaicans still make up the largest group of permit holders, at 2572 workers from the Philippines are the second largest group and the British the third with 1,719 permit holders.
The 53-page report gives statistics on border control and visas as well as the work of the immigration staff that has handled 7,000 people and answered well over 30,000 calls so far this year at the Elgin Road office. Their colleagues at the airport have processed 697,427 air travellers and the passport of office issued 3,020 Cayman Islands passports and 4,461 visa-waivers.
“It is one of my key objectives to try to be as transparent as possible about what we do and as our department receives a substantive number of Freedom of Information (FOI) request these statistics will prove helpful going forward,” Chief Immigration Officer Linda Evans said. “We also hope to expand the number of statistics we can make available.”
Commending her officers and administrative staff for the workload they undertake she said, “It is evident that my staff is processing and producing an inordinate amount of transactions of various types. I thank them, and their dedication to their tasks is matched by my own commitment to keep them motivated to continue offering excellent service.”
See the complete document on the website www.immigration.gov.ky or posted below.
UK wants territories to be proud of being British
(CNS): The UK government ‘s vision for its Overseas Territories is for vibrant communities “proudly retaining aspects of their British identity” the FCO minister with responsibility for the territories said at the close of this year’s OTCC. Henry Bellingham the Conservative minister who hosted the Council in London said the coalition government had made good progress this year in developing its approach to the OTs stating that the UK was investing heavily in the Territories that need the most assistance and was working on restoring the principles of good governance and sound financial management to the Turks and Caicos Islands.
“This government has a clear vision for our overseas territories to be vibrant and flourishing communities, proudly retaining aspects of their British identity and generating wider opportunities for their people,” Bellingham said in an FCO release. “I had bilateral meetings with the Territory leaders on Tuesday and chaired my second Overseas Territories Consultative Council on Wednesday and Thursday. I was pleased to welcome over 250 guests to a reception that I hosted in honour of Territory leaders. Our discussions at the Consultative Council have been wide-ranging and constructive.”
He said that the global economic challenges and how the UK and territories are taking action to strengthen public financial management and diversify economic development were topics of discussion during the two day event.
There were also discussions on the new Overseas Territories strategy and forthcoming White Paper, as well as sessions on aviation safety; financial regulation, financial crime and taxation.
“We also discussed with Territory leaders ways in which we can build a stronger partnership, including by enabling the Territories to access UK public sector expertise and training – especially through secondments; and by strengthening links and engagement with the Commonwealth and EU,” he added.
Bellingham said that nine of his colleagues from across the government also attend the council which he described as a “clear demonstration that the UK government as a whole is supporting the territories,” and it wasn’t just an FCO issue. “We will continue to work closely with the territories as we prepare for the publication of our White Paper on the Territories next year.”
According to the FCO release the leaders of the Overseas Territories present, which included the Cayman Islands premier, had welcomed the inclusion of other UK Government Departments in the consultations and expressed appreciation for the support they offered, “especially in these difficult economic times.”
The council was opened by the British government’s foreign secretary William Hague who said that the Overseas Territories are a priority for the UK Government
“My Ministerial team in the FCO and my colleagues across other Government departments will work tirelessly to ensure that our partnership promotes the best interest of all our citizens and a bright and successful future for the Overseas Territories,” Hague said.
Shetty buys land for hospital
(CNS): Despite widespread speculation that Dr Devi Shetty’s plans to build a health city in Cayman were on hold, the internationally renowned surgeon has completed the purchase of 200 acres, according to his local project director, signaling that the project is still on track. Gene Thompson said the documents have been signed and the Indian doctor has bought 200 acres of land at High Rock in East End from land owner Joseph Imparato for the future Narayana hospital. The local representative also revealed that Imparato will be involved in developing the supporting elements of the planned site.
“This is a large step forward for the project,” Thompson said regarding the completed land transaction. “We are beginning our survey work as well as the initial mechanical design work, which will include energy-efficient technology throughout.”
The High Rock land was recently earmarked to become a commercial seaport but when the proposal failed to gain local support, Imparato revealed that he would be willing to sell the land to Shetty for his health project. In total Imparato owns around 600 acres in the area, which is one the highest elevated sites on Grand Cayman offering natural protection against flooding and storm surges.
Under this deal the doctor has acquired only a third of the land but Thompson said he has an option to purchase more as needs demand.
Imparato will serve as co-developer of the overall site with Dr Shetty, Thompson revealed. City Services (Cayman) Ltd, which is Imparato’s firm, will be working in conjunction with the heart surgeon and his team on site preparation and the long-term development of the project.
Although City Services will not construct the buildings that will actually make up the medical complex, Imparato said, it will participate in developing support facilities, such as hotels and residential accommodations.
City Services is working closely with Dr Shetty’s Cayman team on a master plan for the project to ensure an integrated, attractive and well-coordinated healthcare community, according to a release from Shetty’s spokesperson.
Shetty’s plans to kick start medical tourism in the Cayman Islands have been on the drawing board for more than two years. The doctor signed an official MOU with the local government in April 2010 requiring a number of legislative changes in order to facilitate his vision for the health city in exchange for the investment.
Government has since passed the health practitioners bill and a medical compensation law to limit damages in order to help Shetty keep insurance costs down and in turn the cost of the health care to be provided at the facility. The land purchase is the first major commitment on Shetty’s part, demonstrating that the planned hospital could become a reality.
The first phase is expected to be a small hospital but over the next 10 to 15 years Shetty has said he plans to roll out other elements, including a tertiary-care hospital, an educational facility, an assisted-care community and a biotech research center.
Fugitive now wanted for burglary
(CNS): Police said Thursday that they are still on the hunt for twenty one-year-old Charlton Ebanks (left) who escaped from the Cayman Islands hospital while under police guard last week. Since Ebanks went on the run detectives said that he is now wanted in connection with a string of burglaries. Police said the burglaries occurred in the days before he was arrested and since his arrest, and subsequent escape, information has come to the attention of investigating officers that makes the fugitive a suspect in these crimes that took place in both the George Town and Snug Harbour areas.
Ebanks, who was arrested on Wednesday 16 November in connection with a road-traffic offence and an outstanding warrant, escaped from his police guard at the hospital on the morning of Thursday 17 November. Despite extensive enquiries with his friends and family there is still no trace of Ebank, an RCIPS spokesperson said as the hunt continues.
Police said last week that the circumstances of his escape were also under investigation but no details have yet been revealed on how Ebanks managed to get away from his law enforcement guards.
The fugitive is described as being 5’ 11’ in height with brown eyes, dark complexion, black hair and of slim build, is not believed to be a danger to the public. However, anyone who sees this man or knows of his present whereabouts is urged to contact their nearest police station.
Anyone with any information about his present whereabouts is asked to contact their nearest police station or the RCIPS tip-line 949-7777.
Air tax unfair to Cayman, Bush tells UK
(CNS Business): In the face of an expected hike in the UK’s Air Passenger Duty, Premier McKeeva Bush has sent a last-minute plea to the British Chancellor George Osborne to think about the unfair discrimination the tax brings to the people of the Caribbean and Overseas Territories. Bush acknowledged that it was very late in the game for asking for furtherconsideration on the Air Passenger Duty amendments, as the consultative period had already closed and the Chancellor was about to make his decision on the increase. Nevertheless, Bush stated that he was compelled to write to Osborne to point out crucial areas of concern to the Cayman Islands government and its people. Read more on CNS Business