Archive for December, 2011
Port roads to cost over $25M
(CNS): If government does eventually go ahead with the proposed plans to develop cruise berthing facilities in George Town, it could cost the public purse millions to address the road system that will be needed. At a public meeting last week Burns Conolly said that the NRA has revealed that at least $25 million will need to be spent on modifying the capital’s roads to accommodate the new port and the thousands of passengers that will be coming off the ships directly into George Town. It is understood that China Harbour Engineering Company will not cover the cost of the roads in the current plan, which means the money will need to come from the public purse.
Taking the role as the lead spokesperson for the Red Bay or South Sound port option, Conolly stated that he and the sea-captains had met with both the Department of the Environment and the National Roads Authority in order to discuss their alternative proposal.
He said that they had been told that a considerable amount of work would be needed on the downtown road system in order for George Town to be able to cope with the change that the berthing of mega ships would bring to the capital.
Pushing the alternative location, Conolly said that one of the major advantages with the Red Bay location was that the facility would tap straight into an already gazetted and existing road network and would help to alleviate rather than worsen local traffic problems at the location with the intended bridge. Conolly stated that the plan would be to deliver people to George Town in shuttle buses in a manageable fashion.
He said that a significant amount of work would be needed in George Town to accommodate what could be as many as 24,000 passengers arriving in a given day. During the negotiations with DECCO, the first developer which the current government had begun talks with over the propose project, of which Conolly said he was a part, it was suggested that a one way system would need to be created in the capital to deal with the new facility.
Listing what he stated were the many different problems with developing in the capital, he pointed in particular to the disruption that would be caused during the development as well as after. He added that once the project was underway, the Royal Watler would need to be closed from the start of the project which meant buses and taxis would be returning to the old north and south terminals to collect the passengers from the ships that will continue to tender during construction.
The Royal Watler terminal would under the current plans be demolished to make way for the proposed new two storey retail facility at the point where the passengers disembark.
Meanwhile, speculation continues around the cruise berthing project after the premier extended the existing MOU that he had signed last June. A few weeks ago he extended the MOU to March.
The premier has said that he will get the port project underway, despite the financial framework agreement he has signed with the UK.
McKeeva Bush told the Legislative Assembly recently that the agreement merely requires government to complete an independent business analysis of the project to satisfy the conditions of the agreement. He announced that KPMG was undertaking the business analysis but it is not clear if the review includes examining the alternative port locations in Red Bay.
CNS contacted KPMG to ask if it was part of the remit and despite the fact that this project involves crown land and public assets the auditing firm stated: “Due to client confidentiality, we are unable to comment publicly on this matter or discuss the scope of this engagement with any third party.”
Government has not yet revealed any of the details of the proposed plans that China Harbour Engineering Company has proposed but a delegation from the Chamber of Commerce took an all-expenses paid trip to Jamaica recently for a presentation by the firm. During the presentation it was revealed that the firm was willing to discuss the traffic management issues relating to the project but it was clear it is not currently part of the plan.
See Chamber of Commerce report on trip to Jamaica.
CHF offers training for workplace AED units
(CNS): The non-profit Cayman Heart Fund (CHF) is extending the availability of its training programme to organisations that are part of the project to install Automated External Defibrillator (AED) units in workplaces and public places around the islands. The classes are coordinated by St. Matthew’s University, School of Medicine (SMU). AED training is offered FREE to all organizations which have purchased or received an AED from the CHF. When used in the first 3-5 minutes of a person collapsing, AEDs have been shown to dramatically increase the survival rate of a person suffering from sudden cardiac arrest.
“The AEDs distributed by the CHF are very straightforward and easy to use,” Dr. Sook Yin, Medical Director of the CHF said. They audibly instruct the rescuer about exactly what to do during each step of the process and even will deliver indicated shocks automatically and safely.
A person’s chance of survival drops 10% for every minute that passes between cardiac arrest and getting the heart restarted. Since time is the most important factor in a cardiac emergency. “We wish for the public to understand and feel confident to call 911 and then grab the closest AED should a person suddenly collapse. Persons availing of the free short AED training sessions will enhance such confidence and thus the chances of survival,” Dr Yin added.
Basic Life Support (BLS) training is also known as CPR or cardiopulmonary resuscitation. CHF and SMU are offering FREE BLS training session for nannies, teachers and day-care providers to help such caregivers respond more quickly and efficiently in case of an emergency. In addition to free BLS classes for child caregivers, BLS classes are being offered to employer and community groups at the affordable fee of $60 per person and are available at either the group’s meeting site or at the SMU campus.
Organizations and companies may wish to combine the free AED & low-cost BLS trainings back-to-back. Since BLS training could save a life almost anywhere, not just at the workplace, it could be the best present you give this holiday season.
CHF anticipates offering Advanced Cardiac Life Support (ACLS) instructor training for medical professionals in 2012. “CHF will continue its annual provider education Cardiac Symposium and is pleased to expand its cardiac education efforts for the country’s professionals,” said Suzy Soto, CHF Chair Emeritus.
The CHF appeals to businesses, schools, homeowners and public entities to prepare, protect and prevent deaths from cardiovascular disease. For more information on AED installation, AED, BLS or ACLS instructor training, please contact the CHF at (345) 916-6324 or at caymanheartfund@gmail.com.
Meanwhile, CHF is also selling tickets for next February’s fund raising gala dinner for tickets and more details contact 345-916-6324 or caymanheartfund@gmail.com
Booze board allows extensions
(CNS): After many months of pressure from a number of bar and club owners on Grand Cayman for extensions to their business hours, the liquor licensing board has finally given in and granted several extensions for businesses for Friday night through to the early hours of Saturday morning only. This means that several George Town bar licence holders and one West Bay bar that made the application will now be able to serve drinks until 1:30am and play music till 2am. The board has also granted most of the main George Town nightclubs an extension to their licences as well, allowing them to serve booze until 2:45 and play music until 3am on Saturday mornings.
Some of the bars and clubs had been battling for over a year to get the licence extensions in order for their business to stay open later, at least on a Friday night to Saturday morning. The board had resisted the applications by the clubs and bars involved for a variety of reasons, including opjections from residents, but the RCIPS denied that it was the police which was behind the continued refusals.
Following a meeting on Thursday the board finally relented and granted The Inferno in West Bay, Welly’s Cool Spot, Roof Top Lounge and the Corner Pocket all in George Town permission to serve drinks until 1:30am and allow music and dancing until 2am. Jet Nightclub, O Bar Nightclub, L.I. Lounge, Elements and Club Allure were all given permission to sell drinks until 2:45 and play the music until 3pm. Although some of the clubs had asked to operate until 4am, the extension still gives most of Grand Cayman’s nightclubs an extra hour of business on their busiest night.
This move by the board will pave the way for other bars and clubs to make an application to the board to extend their business hours on Friday nights.
The news came in the wake of the revelation by CNS that government will also be bringing changes to the music and dancing law to lift the current ban on drinking and dancing on Sundays for special occasions. This will pave the way for restaurants, bars, and clubs to apply to the board for an extension to serve past midnight on New Year’s Eve, which this year falls on a Saturday night. Without the amendment all premises serving alcohol would have had to stop serving drinks and shut down the music well before midnight, putting a dampener on the New Year festivities.
If legislators pass the lawnext week, as is expected, Board Chair Mitchell Welds confirmed on Thursday that the licensing board does have provision to hold an emergency meeting in order to allow the islands’ licensees to apply for extensions in time for the 2012 party.
In order to pass the amendments to the law the government will, not for the first time, need to suspend the 21 day consultation period and push the legislation through on the grounds of an emergency situation.
Meanwhile, although the board has relented on the decision to give local bars and clubs the opportunity to extend their business and improve their earnings, the owner of Liquor 4 Less was once again refused an extension to the business hours for his liquor stores in George Town. Prentice Panton has also been trying in vain for many months to push his enforced 7pm closing time back to 10pm in line with liquor stores in the districts but he was disappointed with yet another refusal.
St Ignatius crowned RBC schools sailing champions
(CISC): The annual RBC Inter Primary Schools Sailing Championships has always been a hotly contested regatta and this year’s was no different. On Friday 25th November 2011, 36 sailors representing six schools (Red Bay, Savannah, Cayman Prep, St. Ignatius and Cayman International School) converged on the North Sound to battle for the rights to be crowned 2011 National School Sailing Champions. St. Ignatius dominated the championship fleet with seven first place finishes in as many races.
“RBC was pleased to again sponsor this year’s regatta. We extend congratulations to the teams that competed with such passion and to the organizers for an excellent event,” said Jason Waters, Area Vice President, Cayman Islands for RBC Royal Bank.
The thirty six sailors were divided into two fleets, championship and green. The more experienced sailors raced around a triangular course and the beginner racers sailed a reaching course (sailing across the wind). The weather conditions were challenging with 18 knots of wind and it was a credit to all the sailors that they coped so well with the conditions.
St. Ignatius domination didn’t mean that it was all over for the other schools, because the winner was going to be determined by the team with the lowest combined (championship & green fleet) score.
The green fleet was the most hotly contested group, with just a few points separating the six teams. Cayman Prep (one of last year’s joint winners) started out with three first place finishes but the other teams were not prepared to let them run away with the lead. The following five races saw Savannah (last year’s other joint winner), St. Ignatius and CIS all take line honours. Cayman Prep just managed to dig deep in the eighth and final race and win the Green Fleet event.
After the scores were combined, it was St. Ignatius who were crowned 2011 sailing champs, followed closely by Cayman Prep. CIS and Savannah were tied on points for third and Red Bay and Prospect were tied on points for fifth place. Andrew Moon, Club Commodore and Race Officer on the day, handed out the RBC trophy on behalf of Royal Bank.
The sailing coaches were very impressed with the turn out and level of sailing skill the sailors displayed in the windy conditions. Special mention goes out to newcomers CIS, who had the two youngest sailors (ages 6 & 7) in the competition and although they were by far the lightest team still managed to finish third. Coach Raph said, “Next year we are hoping that George Town, North Side and East End primary schools will be competing in the championship.”
The National Sailing Centre would like to say a big thank you to our sponsors RBC Royal Bank for their continued support of this regatta.
Man stabbed in club, police reveal
(CNS): Updated Monday — Police have now confirmed that a 36-year-old man admitted to hospital on Saturday morning was stabbed at around 2.00am inside Club 7. The injuries are not life threatening and the man is currently recovering in hospital. Police are asking anyone who was in the club around that time to contect them. Police were called to the George Town hospital in the early hours of 10 December when the man arrived with stab wounds to his torso. Anyone with information that could assist the police with their enquiries is asked to call George Town police station on 949-4222, the RCIPS tip-line 949-7777 or Crime Stoppers 800-8477 (TIPS).
Cops release acquitted man
(CNS): A police spokesperson has confirmed that the man arrested outside the courts following his successful appeal against his conviction for the murder of Omar Samuels has been now been released on police bail. Osbourne Douglas, who was freed by the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal on 29 November was immediately taken into custody before he had chance to leave the court house in the wake of his acquittal in connection with the murder of Jason Christian and attempted murder of Keith Montague in September. Sources tell CNS that the police believe Douglas used a cell phone from inside the prison to lure Montague to the location where the two men were shot.
Police arrested Douglas minutes after he was released by the appeal court after the three judge panel had quashed his murder conviction alongwith the convictions of his co-defendants Brandon Leslie-Ebanks and Patrick McField. The appeal court judges had set aside the life sentences and all three men were released after serving more than two years in prison.
However, as Douglas began to leave the court alongside Leslie and McField he was immediately arrested by officers from the RCIPS for conspiracy to commit murder in connection with what police believe is a gang related killing which took place in Cranbrook Drive off Crewe Road in George Town in September.
Although Douglas was in Northward at the time of the attempted murder of Montague and the murder of Christian police believe Douglas sent text messages to Montague directing him to go to the address where the men were shot. When Montague and Christian arrived at the location in a white van police believe the gun men ambushed them and opened fire as they remained inside the vehicle. 19 year old Christian’s body was found sitting in the driver’s seat with a firearm which had not been fired sitting beside him.
Montague, who despite receiving four gunshot wounds, managed to stumble into the next street where he flagged down a police patrol car. He was taken to George Town hospital before being airlifted overseas where police have confirmed he is still recovering.
While police believe that there was more than one gun man involved in the Crewe Road shooting but no one else has been arrested in connection with the killing and no charges have been laid against Douglas.
Meanwhile, Brandon Leslie one of Douglas’s co-defendants in the Samuels case enjoyed only a few days of freedom. He was arrested by officials in Miami as he tried to return to Florida where he is now a resident before he was arrested in Cayman while he was visiting family in 2009. Leslie was arrested by law enforcement on the aircraft in connection with a gun smuggling incident in 2008 where several guns were exported from the US to Cayman inside a refrigerator, and he remains in custody.
Michael Timothy Ebanks was arrested, charged and convicted of a smuggling when he tried to collect the fridge which was sent to him from the US after an inspection revealed the door panel contained an AK–47 magazine, one Mach 10 magazine, two Smith and Wesson handguns, a Titan Tiger handgun, a Taurus .45 handgun and a quantity of ammunition.
Ebanks pleaded guilty as he admitted that one of the guns was meant for his own use as he needed it for protection and was sentenced to five years imprisonment in November 2009.
Bush urged to step down
(CNS): As the local Anti-corruption Commission calls on government, the private sector, NGOs and the media to join forces and eradicate the crime on Anti-Corruption Today (ACT), MLA Ezzard Miller has once again called on the premier to resign from office until the police investigation regarding accusations of financial irregularities is resolved. While the commission issued a poster asking Cayman to “act against corruption”, the independent member for North Side said this would be an appropriate day for McKeeva Bush to volunteer to step aside as premier or for his United Democratic Party colleagues to demand he resign before the UK intervenes. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)
“Today being Anti-corruption Day, I repeat and urge the premier to step aside or be forced to do so by his party until the police investigation into these financial irregularities is concluded,” Miller pleaded, as he warned that Cayman did not want the UK to be the ones to force the issue.
“Everyone seems to be waiting for the UK to do something but that is not the outcome we want. We as Caymanians should deal with this. We do not want a repeat of the Turks and Caicos situation and have our constitution suspended,” Miller added.
It is still not clear if the letter sent by McKeeva Bush to developer Stan Thomas asking for $350,000 in connection with the re-zoning of land, which the governor has said is at the heart of the investigation into Bush regarding “financial irregularities”, is being conducted by the commission’s officers or other members of the police service. The letter was sent by Bush to Thomas from his then ministry’s fax machine in October 2004, some seven years before the anti-corruption law was enacted. CNS has contacted Police Commissioner David Baines, who is also chair of the Anti-corruption Commission (ACC), regarding the investigation and is awaiting a response. Other sources have confirmed recently that the investigation is continuing.
Since its creation in May of this year, the ACC has maintained an exceptionally low profile. Its call to action in a poster created to mark the international day against corruption, Anti-Corruption Today (ACT), is one of the first public communication efforts the commission has ever made. The poster states that corruption undermines democracy, as well as the rule of law and leads to human rights violations.
Despite indications from Baines that an education campaign about the commission’s work would get underway this year, so far the body has continued to remain relatively silent about its work and its own efforts to fight corruption.
The first charges brought against anyone under the law, which came into effect in January this year, were made last month against a civilian working for the RCIPS. Patricia Webster has been accused of abusing confidential police data, which has resulted in two counts of abuse of public office and two charges of misconduct in a public office contrary to section 17 of the anti-corruption law 2008.
A former member of the National Housing and Development Trust Board and a prominent UDP official was also arrested under the law in October, accused of abusing his position on the board relating to the sale of insurance policies to the buyers of the low cost government built homes but he has not been charged with any offences. Police confirmed that he was arrested under the anti-corruption legislation as well as for deception offences.
No other details have been revealed of the commission’s work or that of its serving officers, including Detective Inspector Richard Oliver, a former member of the infamous UK’s Special Police Investigation Team (SPIT) of Operation Tempura and Cealt, which was operated in Cayman between 2007 and 2009 reportedly investigating police corruption.
According to minutes posted on the commission’s website, legal counsel to the body, John Masters, had written to the governor and the attorney general regarding “the lack of resources the commission has faced since its inception” and the related concerns. The minutes also reveal that an annual report has been produce by the commission and given to the governor but it has not been made public.
Go to commission website here
See poster below.
FATCA tsunami about to hit
(CNS Business): There is time, but not much, for funds to become compliant with the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and, if they haven’t done so already, funds had better start putting in place policies which will deal with all the issues likely to arise from its implementation, according to a report in the latest AIMA Journal. The US government has already reached agreement on nearly US$1 billion in settlements from large foreign banks who were allegedly assisting US nationals in hiding assets and the IRS believes this is the tip of the iceberg, according to David Conen of KPMG Cayman. He said that given the scope of possible new requirements, comparing FATCA to a tsunami is a fair analogy. Read more on CNS Business
Cayman’s UK peer brought into question
(CNS): The appointment of the British Conservative peer Lord Blencathra to the Cayman Islands London office in order to lobby on behalf of the financial services sector has been called into question in the UK’s House of Commons. According to records in the UK, opposition Labour MP Maria Eagle has queried how a serving Conservative peer could have been appointed as the representative for the Cayman Islands to oppose further regulation of what she called offshore tax havens when there was an urgent need for tough regulations of such jurisdictions. She also noted that in opposition the UK Prime Minister had raised concerns about the “potential scandal” relating to lobbyists.
Last month the labour MP asked the government front bench to reveal its position on serving Conservative lords lobbying against the regulation in light of David Cameron’s promise to regulate lobbying and create a register of lobbying interests.
On behalf of the government, George Young revealed that the coalition was committed to introducing the register and consultation was due to begin shortly but made no comment on the appointment of the former Tory chief whip, David MacLean, as director of Cayman’s London office. He was appointed to the House of Lords earlier this year after he chose not to fight to retain his seat in the 2010 election as a result of worsening health.
During the MPs expenses scandal it was revealed that Maclean spent more than £20,000 improving his farmhouse under the Additional Costs Allowance (ACA) scheme before selling it for £750,000.
He claimed the money by designating the property as his “second home” with the Commons authorities, yet Maclean did not pay capital gains tax on the sale because the taxman accepted it was his main home. MacLean was one of 98 MPs who voted to keep their expense details secret. In 2007 he introduced a private members bill to exempted MPs from the UK’s Freedom of Information Act.
McLean was appointed to serve as the Cayman’s UK representative last month by Cayman Premier McKeeva Bush, who said it was vital that Cayman has astrong voice in Westminster and McLean would ensure the islands’ interests were protected at a time when Cayman was the subject of “malicious and ill-informed attacks”.
The Tory peer said at the time that a major part of his job would be to persuade Britain and Europe that allowing the Cayman Islands to maintain its leading position in world finance was vital to the vCity and the UK economy.
UN debates independence resolution
(Bernews): The United Nations General Assembly in New York will today [Dec.9] discuss a draft resolution reaffirming the incompatibility of any form and manifestation of colonialism, including economic exploitation, with the international organisation’s charter. Bermuda is on the official list of colonial territories being discussed as well as Anguilla, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Turks and Caicos, British Virgin Islands, Montserrat, St. Helena, Gibraltar and Pitcairn, all under British Overseas Territories. The US Virgin Islands also appears along with Guam and American Samoa [US administered], New Caledonia [French], Tokelau [New Zealand] and Western Sahara [former Spanish colony occupied by Morocco].
The initiative was proposed last month by the Special Political and Decolonisation Committee of the UN with the title “Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.”