Archive for April, 2012
PPM wants OMOV for Brac
(CNS): The opposition leader has said that his party fully supports the principle of one man, one vote for the people of the Sister Islands as well as Grand Cayman. However, the PPM’s position is that because of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman’s unique position it will remain one constituency with two members elected on a first and second past the post basis. In response to a Viewpoint on CNS, Alden McLaughlin said the opposition position on the situation in the Sister Islands was misrepresented as he said the party had always supported the principle of the electorate voting only once but the top two candidates then being returned.
McLaughlin said the PPM did not support voters on the Brac and LC having two votes.
“There are two issues here, one person one vote and single member constituencies and the most important element is addressing the inequity of some districts having multiple votes and others having one. The PPM supports the principle that electors in the Sister Islands will still have only one vote in a constituency that will have two members because of its unique situation,” he said.
He said that the petition had been circulated on the Brac and many people had signed on that basis. While not everyone wanted to lose one of their votes, he said, by and large the principle of one man, one vote was accepted on Cayman Brac and Little Cayman so long as the islands remained one constituency.
“The Brac is a special case,” McLaughlin told CNS on Friday. “It has always been treated differently from Grand Cayman because of its remoteness from the seat of government and the representatives also play a local government role.”
He explained that the Sister Islands are administered differently and independently, making the constituency situation different from those on the larger island. Despite the voting population being relatively small, it has two members constitutionally enshrined because of its geographical position.
McLaughlin said his party had as far back as 2002 come to the view that this arrangement could accommodate the wishes of the majority there as well as the uniqueness of the smaller islands.
He said there had always been concerns because of the Brac and Little Cayman’s isolation from the main seat of power that if there were two constituencies, one with an opposition member and one with a government member, there would be a danger of real inequalities in the local government or district administration.
McLaughlin said there was no conflict with this situation for the Sister Islands with the goal to introduce one man, one vote across the Cayman Islands. He said the real fight now had to be on ensuring the premier offered all voters on 18 July a clear and precise question on the ballot paper.
The PPM leader said that the premier “had hijacked the referendum process” on the issue and he had real concerns about multiple questions that could seriously undermine a clear majority result.
“There are many ways that this could play out and I believe the premier will attempt to put forward numerous questions to confuse and complicate the issue,” he said. “I am certain this will not be straightforward and there is lots of scope for the premier to play all sorts of games.”
McLaughlin echoed the sentiments of Ezzard Miller that the question has to be clear and precise and the ballot should require a simple majority to pass.
RE/MAX-Purple Dragon scholarship contest
(CNS): Children between the age of 6 and 16 are invited to enter a competition to win a one year scholarship at Purple Dragon, which will set them on the road of one day becoming a Purple Dragon Black Belt. Hosted by RE/MAX Cayman Islands and Purple Dragon Martial Arts, the scholarship will be given to the applicant who writes the most deserving statement, starting with: “I want to be a Purple Dragon Warrior because …” The winner will be chosen by a panel of three judges from RE/MAX and Purple Dragon.
Submission forms are available at www.remax.ky/news.php and must be submitted by 5:00pm pm on Friday, 27 April, at the RE/MAX location in 7 Mile Shops or the Purple Dragon location at Mirco Centre.
“RE/MAX is very excited to be sponsoring a child to participate in this karate programme,” RE/MAX Broker/Owner James Bovell stated. “We feel that everyone should have the equal opportunity to become a Purple Dragon black belt, and this year membership is a great way to kick it off. This is also a great way for the children to express themselves in words.”
Purple Dragon has just celebrated the grand opening of their new dojo at the Mirco Centre with over 4,500 square feet. This larger space allows for more classes to be held, giving an opportunity to introduce karate to more people in the community.
“We are honoured that RE/MAX has decided to sponsor a child to become a Purple Dragon member,” Sensei Floyd Baptiste stated. “It is great to know that a child, who may otherwise not have the means to participate in our programme, will be able to do so.”
Karate empowers children, teenagers and adults of all ages in a safe positive environment, a release from Purple Dragon stated. Children learn the art of self defense coupled with confidence, self-control, discipline, goal setting and respect for themselves and their peers, parents and the world around them.
ICTA can handle complaints
(CNS Business): Government officials are advising people who are having problems with their phone, cable, internet providers or complaints about radio content that they can complain to the Information Communication Technology Authority (ICTA). Anyone who has logged a complaint with their phone company and exhausted all avenues but who has still not had their problem addressed can turn to the authority. Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, the minister responsible, said the ICTA requires licensees to clearly describe their services and rates in their marketing materials. Companies should also have complaint dispute resolution procedures to protect customer information and to ensure that their contracts, terms of service and bills are clear and understandable. Read more on CNS Business
Duty debt not his, says Ryan
(CNS): The developer of the Ritz Carlton-Grand Cayman, who is currently facing a number of legal battles, says that the outstanding $6 milllion owed to government is in the hands of the receivers. When asked about the debt, Michael Ryan told CNS on Thursday that he was not authorized to make any statements about the companies now in receivership. He said, however, that he no longer hadresponsibility as the duty was owed by those companies set up to develop the resort and not him. Ryan said he had attempted to make progress on a payment plan but he did not know now whether the receivers would honour debts due to the creditors of the companies in question.
The companies associated with the development of the Ritz Carlton, now controlled by receivers on behalf of Ryan’s major creditor RC Cayman Holdings Ltd, are suing him over misappropriation of undisclosed funds. However, Ryan said it was the companies in receivership, “not me personally”, that owes government money.
“My plan at the time was to negotiate a payment plan and an on-going development agreement with government so that funds could be raised to pay the amount owing," he said in an email. “You have seen from the correspondence that Mr Jefferson was unable to make progress on this for over a year prior to the receivership. I do not know whether the receivers will honour the debts due to creditors.”
The financial secretary had pursued the debt, which the Treasury believed should not be tied to the future proposed development of Dragon Bay. But according to correspondence released under an FOI request, Ryan had persisted in attempting to tie in his desire to buy crown land at Safehaven and the Dragon Bay project with the significant duty debt.
Ryan said Thursday that the Dragon Bay project is legally distinct from the receivership of the property-owning companies, but the litigation would have a negative effect on its future as well.
“Which may be what the lender wishes to achieve,” he added. “I believe Dragon Bay is a tremendous project that I hope will get the support it needs to go forward. The Ritz developer also said he would not be leaving the islands and intended to fight the legal battle he now found himself in. “Cayman is my home. I've lived and breathed this development for more than 15 years and I'm proud of what we have been able to create."
Ryan or the companies he once owned that developed the Ritz-Carlton owes the Cayman Islands Government over $6 milllion in outstanding duty in relation to concessions he was given during the development phase of the hotel. Despite persistent efforts by the financial secretary’s office to get Ryan to re-instate his quarterly payments to address the debt, which was originally over $10 million, the developer has not made any payment to the Treasury since March 2009.
Government officials confirmed that they have approached the KPMG auditors, Kris Beighton and Keith Blake, appointed as joint receivers by RC Cayman for the companies associated with the resort about government’s claim but they were not confident that the public purse would be able to recover the significant debt.
The extent of Ryan’s legal and financial troubles was revealed in February with the news that RC Cayman Holdings LLC, which acquired the loan in May 2011, originally taken out with RSB to develop the hotel, had filed a legal action to take control of the Ritz.
Miller presses for vote clarity
(CNS): The independent member for North Side says that the goal to secure equality and real democracy in Cayman politics is a long way from over, despite the premier’s surprise announcement on Wednesday. Ezzard Miller, who has spearheaded the one man, one vote campaign for a people-initiated referendum on the subject, said that there were now two main goals. Firstly, to ensure the ballot was based on the petition question and that government did not attempt to place several confusing options in front of people, and secondly, to encourage the entire electorate, despite the summer vacation, to came out and vote on 18 July in favour of single member constituencies.
He said the petition would also continue so that thepremier would see that hecould not stem the ground swell of support or momentum in the community for one man, one vote even with the announcement of the summer ballot and by campaigning against it. Miller told CNS that he would be pushing for a simple yes/no question on the ballot as advocated by the petition.
The North Side representative said that if the government ballot ended up being a confusing list of variables on the theme, such as a national list or other options, there would, if the petition continued, be a mandate to push for a people’s ballot with one simple question that could ensure a clean majority vote.
“We need to ensure this vote is not confusing,” he said. “A ballot containing more than one question could make it impossible to get the necessary 50% on any question.” This, he warned, could see government declare the ballot lost and maintain the status quo. “We need to ensure the ballot question is clear and that voters are not confused with multiple choices. A referendum should be just one yes or no question.”
He said that because the premier had indicated that the United Democratic Party would be campaigning against single member constituencies, the one man, one vote campaign needed even more volunteers to get out in the community and put forward the case.
Miller was not too concerned over the premier’s decision to opt for a summer poll at short notice as there was enough support to win, but, he said, it would require considerable work. Up against government machinery, Miller said he did not feel there would be a need to run an expensive education campaign for one man,one vote if they could recruit enough volunteers.
“We have found since we started the petition that talking to people one-on-one in their homes has been the most effective way of explaining the pros of single member constituencies. I am appealing to people to join the existing group of volunteers and get out into the community to spread the word about the opportunity that Cayman now has to embrace a truly equitable and democratic voting method.”
Miller admitted that he was surprised by the premier’s announcement. “Despite the obvious ground swell of support for one man, one vote, I still expected him to hold out on the referendum,” he added. He also said it would now be interesting to see how the other UDP members took to being informed that government would be mounting an education campaign that would seek to promote multi-member constituencies because he believed some UDP members were not opposed to one man, one vote.
Embracing the opportunity to do whatever he could to ensure the May 2013 elections would be held under the principle of one man, one vote, the single member representative said the window of opportunity to convince those who were not yet decided was short but he was confident that the people would support the change.
Miller said it was also important to debunk the myths circulating about single member constituencies, in particular the fallacies of extra costs. He said people had enough common sense to realise that the country doesn’t need 18 fire stations or 18 constituency offices in Cayman. People are sensible enough to know, he added, “that they deserve better and more accountable representation.”
Minister confirms sex-offender worked at school
(CNS): An investigation by the education ministry revealed that for nine days last summer a convicted sex offender was working on a government school campus for a subcontractor. Following an article on CNS last week that raised the issue, the minister told the Legislative Assembly that the man was on site for three and a half days when students were in the school but in a construction zone isolated from the rest of the campus and his remaining time there was spent when students were not at school. Rolston Anglin said that no complaints had been received but he revealed immediate measures to prevent the situation happening again.
In a statement on Wednesday Anglin said the education department already has a number of protocols in place but he would be mandating police checks for all contracted services and construction workers on the school sites. He also said that construction workers are not permitted to enter a school site without express approval by a project manager or school leader.
In the interest of strengthening the existing system the minister said with immediate effect moremeasures would be introduced for the safety and protection of students. He said all construction contractors engaged in current projects would be required to meet the new safety measures and all volunteers whether on school sites or not would also be required to supply police checks.
“The ministry will also immediately begin the process of developing regulations under the education law to extend and strengthen existing child and student protection measures for persons with direct access to children and make it illegal for persons with certain offences, including sex offences, to be on school sites or school buses,” Anglin said in his statement to the House. “This will then mandate all schools, Early Years Centres and tertiary institutions to put in place policies and procedures to give effect to these standards.”
He added that this was in effect the adoption of a uniform national standard for protecting children in future.
“The ministry takes the safety of our children very seriously,” the minister said. “Outside of contracted services….all prospective employees are police checked as part of the ministry’s pre-employment process.”
In addition Anglin announced what he said were “well advanced plans” for the “safer Schools Strategy” a new initiative that he added would have a wider impact on children’s safety and well-being.
“It aims to develop safe, supportive school, free from risk and harm,” the minister said as he reiterated his commitment to the security and safety of all students in learning institutions.
The issue of the sex-offender who was working on a school campus was raised by local activist Sandra Catron who had petitioned government to introduce a zero tolerance policy for the employment of any offenders but in particular sex offenders in any government school buildings or areas.
See related article here
Truck tips up and unloads marl in bank car park
(CNS): Traffic ground to a halt in the Grand Harbour area on Thursday afternoon after a fully loaded dump truck tipped over on its side as it was crossing the dms roundabout near Hurley’s. Witnesses told CNS that the marl was spread across the Scotiabank car park as the truck came to rest on its side. It is understood that no one was injured in the truck smash and although police have not yet stated what might have caused the accident, one witness at the scene said that they believed the vehicle was going quite fast as it went onto the roundabout. Photo by Dennie Warren
Ryan accused of funds misuse
(CNS):The developer of the Ritz Carlton, Cayman is facing further legal trouble as a result of another writ filed in the Grand Court this week relating to companies he is alleged to have owned that are nowin the hands of creditors. Michael Ryan has been accused of misappropriating funds from companies that were closely involved with the construction of the islands first five star resort. The companies, now controlled by RC Cayman Holdings LLC, which has also taken over the Ritz-Carlton, have sued Ryan and a number of other companies he is believed to own for undisclosed sums that the writ says belong to the plaintiffs. Ryan described the situation as a misunderstanding and said no demands were made on him before the writ was filed.
The companies which were said to have belonged to Ryan — Cesar Hotelco (Cayman) Ltd, Cesar Properties Ltd, Condoco Grand Cayman Resort Ltd, and Condoco Properties Ltd — now managed by the creditor, which holds a US$250 million loan taken out by Ryan, are suing him and several other companies he is alleged to still own — Orion Developers Ltd, Deckhouses Construction Company Ltd, IRR Limited, Endless Service Management Ltd, and BlueTip Watersports Ltd – as being the recipients of the money that the creditor says Ryan moved from one place to another without the authority.
However, Michael Ryan told CNS that Orion has been the developer, manager and agent for the companies in receivership for many years and the lending group is aware of how Orion operated the business and the receipt and expenditure of funds on its behalf.
“Any misunderstandings about that could have been resolved without the need for legal action," he told CNS on Thursday.
“I believe that by taking these actions the lender's true goal is to try to embarrass me personally and ruin my reputation both here and abroad. I look forward to the proceedings being resolved in my favour once the allegations are actually made and I have the opportunity to demonstrate the true position. I regret that the minority shareholders and lenders have chosen to take this course, which can only damage to the project's value and reputation as well as harming the image of the Cayman Islands and the values for everyone who has property or investments here,” Ryan added.
The writ, filed on 10 April in Cayman’s Grand Court, alleges that Ryan received and/or misappropriated money and property belonging to the plaintiffs and illegally transferred them to the defendants, all of which, the creditors say, Ryan has some form of direct or indirect benefit.
This amounted to a breach of his fiduciary duties, the plaintiffs claim, but no actual values have been revealed. The plaintiffs, who are essentially the companies Ryan used to control but which are now in the hands of his creditors, are seeking an order from the court to force him to return whatever has allegedly been misappropriated.
This latest legal claim comes on the heels of RC Cayman’s writ suing Ryan for the outstanding loan of US$234 million used to develop the Ritz Carlton, Grand Cayman, for which Ryan was the guarantor, according to the creditors.
RC Cayman had bought the loan from Column Financial last year, which had bought the loan in 2007 from the original lenders, The Royal Bank of Scotland.
Ryan told CNS that as part of his desire to see the Ritz-Carlton’s value and reputation preserved he had been reluctant to comment on the lender's decision to appoint receivers.
“That is their prerogative under the security documents, and although it is a standard provision, in this case it was unwarranted: the stated reasons for invoking the remedy were incorrect, and it impacts negatively on the Residence owners and guests at The Ritz-Carlton as well as the Cayman Islands generally,” he said, adding that, in the face of difficult economic times, he had tried to reach an amicable solution with the lenders.
“Despite those efforts, in March — without any warning whatsoever — receivers were appointed and my involvement with the hotel and project I had built was summarily terminated,”Ryan stated, adding that it had come as a complete surprise.
He also claims that at first he had assisted the receivers but that he is now owed money as a result of his efforts to support the project, “totalling many millions of dollars”, by the companies now in receivership.
He accuses the creditors that now manage those companies of launching the recent legal action against him without warning.
“I have not received any demand letters or prior notice of the claims that were filed, and the most recent claims have not even been served on me," Ryan said in an email. “I do not know what the alleged complaints are because the documents are so vague: I am going to try to expedite the claims so that they can be defeated as soon as possible and so that the amounts due to be paid to me and the other companies and individuals involved can be collected.”
Ryan said that he believed the litigation was designed to attack him personally to taint his reputation as the documents show no details about the alleged misappropriation of funds and added that he believed it was a tactical move.
See writ filed in Grand Court below.
Fake cash spotted on Cayman Brac
(CNS): Police say that over the past few days some fake US$100 and US$10 bills have been tendered at businesses in Cayman Brac. Officers from Cayman Brac police station and the RCIPS Financial Crime Unit are asking businesses owners and members of the community to be extra vigilant and take a few extra seconds to check all notes that come into their possession. Particular attention should be paid to the metallic strip and to see if a watermark is present.
The advice from the FCU is: if you receive a counterfeit note, or suspect one to be counterfeit, observe the description of the person passing the note, as well as that of any companions; do not return the note to the passer if possible, but be sure to initial and date the white border of the note then tag the note with a copy of the transaction receipt and call the police; if you have counterfeit report forms issued by the FCU, obtain as much information as possible from the person passing the note and write it on the form; secure any CCTV footage.
The RCIPS form for reporting counterfeit money can be found on the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) website www.cimoney.com.ky under “Currency.”
Anyone who wants further information about how to identify counterfeit currency, or how to spot real notes from fake notes, should contact the RCIPS Financial Crime Unit at 949-8797.
Brac student wins the Optimists’ oratorical contest
(CNS): A 12-year-old student from the Cayman Brac high school will represent the Cayman Islands at the Optimist District Level Oratorical Contest on Saturday, 14 April, at the Norman Manley Law School,UWI Campus in Jamaica. Abijith Anu was selected by a panel of three judges on Saturday, 24 March, at the Harquail Theatre, as the winner of the local Optimist Oratorical Contest, hosted by the Optimist Club of George Town, Grand Cayman. Abijith, a student of the Layman E Scott High School (formerly Cayman Brac High School) received a first place prize of US$500.
Other winners were Oneka Thompson (John Gray High School) and Delano Callender (Clifton Hunter High School) who tied for second place and received US$350 each for their performances. At the regional contest in Jamaica this weekend, Abijith will compete against other winners from Barbados, Dominica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Antigua and Barbuda, Bermuda and Jamaica.
All of the contestants spoke eloquently on the topic “How my optimism helps me to overcome obstacles”. Chairman of the local contest, Mark Ray, said in a release from the Optimist Club that all of the contestants were very impressive, including, the lone primary school student, 10-year-old David Swan (Prospect Primary School); Melissa Bridgemohan (John Gray High School); Erika Shim (John Gray High School), Starri Smith (Clifton Hunter High School), and the three winners.
Club President, Fred Dallas commented, “The Optimist Club of George Town Grand Cayman wishes to congratulate all the participants and thank all the parents, teachers and friends who encouraged, coached and supported the contestants. Special thanks to the support of the media for this event, in particular, Paramount Media and Cayman 27.”
Education Minister Rolston Anglin gave his support to the contest for the third straight year by attending the event and presenting the certificates of participation to all contestants, and medals to the winners. The minister noted that the level of the competition continues to be extremely high, and he praised the contestants for their performances and encouraged the Optimist Club to continue to provide opportunities for students to express themselves.
The Oratorical Contest is the flagship programme of the Optimist Club of George Town, Grand Cayman. The club’s focus is to improve outcomes for children through a range of educational and fun activities for kids and parents. The club meets at 6:30 p.m. every first and third Thursday of the month in the Hibiscus Room of the Cayman Islands Hospital in Grand Cayman.
For more information, email optimistcayman@yahoo.com or call 939-3954.