Archive for August, 2012
UK rejects latest CI budget
(CNS): Following news that the premier is reconsidering the proposal to tax expat earnings, government sources tell CNS that the UK had already rejected the budget proposals that contained the new tax over concerns about the credibility of that and other revenue raising measures. It is understood that the FCO questioned the operating revenue predictions in the budget proposal, which was submitted to London on 31 July, and said the Cayman government needs to do more work on the budget before the minister could offer his approval on the spending plans for this financial year. Premier McKeeva Bush had previously stated that he wanted to present the budget on 9 August but that is now unlikely to be the case.
CNS asked the premier Tuesday, in light of the changes, when he expected to be able to deliver the budget but he was unable to confirm a date. “When the date is known the real press will be notified,” he told CNS by email, indicating that he did not consider Cayman News Service to be the “real press”.
Local opposition politicians have also confirmed that they have not been informed of the date when the premier plans to finally deliver the last budget of this administration.
The premier confirmed on Tuesday that the tax is off the table after the private sector had made a commitment to support other revenue raising measures, the details of which are expected to be revealed tomorrow at a public meeting in George Town.
The need to reassess the operating revenue will, however, lead to further delays in the presentation of the budget to the Legislative Assembly and may lead to yet another eleventh hour delivery. Government will need to re-submit any new revenue proposing measures, officials have said, because the UK will need to examine the new revenue proposals to ensure that the ideas are both credible and sustainable in order to deliver the expected cash.
This means Bush will need to redraw the budget based on the expected revenue projections of the alternatives to the tax proposal, resubmit the revised budget plan to London and wait on the FCO’s approval, present the approved document to the Legislative Assembly, debate the proposed bill, scrutinise the appropriations in Finance Committee and pass the budget into law — all before 31 August when the recent stop-gap budget runs out.
It is understood that a number of alternative proposals have been submitted to government and the premier has agreed to adopt some of the measures that have been suggested, which are believed to target the offshore sector and the high-end tourism condominium market. However, no details of any of the measures the premier has agreed to have yet been confirmed.
The budget submitted last week represented some $592 million, despite significant cuts to government spending. The budget had a surplus of $70 million, whichfell short of the targeted $76 million surplus that the UK had required so that the CIG would not need to borrow to fund capital expenditures during this financial year.
Gang denies armed robberies
(CNS): A gang of men accused of robbing both the Cayman National Bank in Buckingham Square and the customer service centre at WestStar have pleaded not guilty to the crimes. Andre Burton, David Tomasa and George Mignott were charged with robbery and possession of an unlicensed firearms following the two daylight heists in May and June, while Rennie Cole has been charged with the Cayman National robbery. Burton also faces charges for driving the getaway car in the bank heist. The men are accused of stealing over $502,000 in US and CI notes from the bank and threatening staff and taking some $8,000 from WestStar.
On Friday morning after their arraignment the four defendants were remanded in custody to HMP Northward until March when the Cayman National robbery will be the first of the two separate trials to take place. The men will appear for trial in May for the WestStar heist.
Caymanian wins U15 Caribbean squash title
(CNS): Julian Jervis has claimed the title of U-15 Caribbean Junior Squash Champion at the recent Caribbean Area Squash Association (CASA) Championships in Kingston, Jamaica. Jervis was competing alongside a group of local squash players who their coaches say had a very successful tournament. Alongside Jervis’s trophy, i Daniel Murphy lost only one match, and earned a 5th place in the U-17 competition. Eilidh Bridgeman and Kristina Myren earned 3rd and 4th place respectively in the girls U-19 competition.
Head coach, Glenn Stark, and team manager, his wife Amanda Stark, said they were both extremely proud of the progress. “We are very happy with the results, as many members are well below the U-19 cut off point. It’s a great achievement to do so well with such a youthful group, and we believe that we will see much more from them in the future,” Stark said.
Overall the team finished 6th in the boys’ tournament and 7th in the girls’. 10 countries competed in total, with the OECS consisting of four individual countries represented as one.
Ex housing board director denies insurance con
(CNS): The former deputy director of the National Housing Trust Board, Edlin Myles, pleaded not guilty to nine countsof fraud and deception on Friday in the Cayman Islands Grand Court. The insurance manager is accused of using his position on the government’s housing board last year to con people who had been allocated the low cost homes into buying insurance policies from him. The crown claims that Myles told the applicants for the homes in East End that they could not get an affordable home unless they bought the cover from him. He is accused of gaining less than $1,000 through the scam.
Myles was bailed by the judge to return to court for his trial, which is set for 22 April and is expected to last for two weeks.
The former board member was originally arrested last October under the anti-corruption law, when the alleged scam came to light after one of the tenants reported Myles to police. The Housing Trust was closed by police and computers seized as the investigation into accusations of corruption began.
Mac fuels Bermuda spat
(CNS): Cayman’s premier appears to have added further fuel to the fire in his recent spat with the leader of Bermuda. Speaking to a leading newspaper in the country yesterday, McKeeva Bush said that his open letter to Paula Cox was justified. He told reporters from The Royal Gazette that he was well within his rights to send an open letter to the islands’ premier through that newspaper, which he accused of carrying stories with attacks on him from “that woman”, referring to Cox. “You have carried stories about myself from the Premier of Bermuda about myself and not once have I replied,” he told the Gazette.
“In Cayman, people send an open letter to the Premier through the newspaper. Your newspaper carried several articles with Paula Cox and I have responded through your newspaper,” he added. When asked about the three criminal investigations that Bush is currently facing, the paper reports that he hung up.
The Gazette published the letter yesterday in which Bush accused Cox of “antagonistic” behaviour towards him recently, remarks that have raised concerns both here and in Bermuda. The two leaders have exchanged public digs in the past about their respective jurisdictions and on several occasions Bush has implied that Bermuda has implemented restrictive, racist and malicious policies. Cox has boasted of successes in her jurisdiction and beating Cayman in areas of the financial services sector. More recently she told reporters that Bush’s derogatory comments about Bermuda were a distraction from his own domestic problems.
In his letter to the paper Bush had ‘advised’ Cox to stop attacking him and concentrate on sorting out issues in Bermuda. According to the Gazette, the Bermudian leader has declined to comment on the letter
One Bermuda Alliance, the opposition party, issued a statement following the publication of the letter. “Citizens everywhere are looking to their leaders for answers. They have a right to expect them to attack the problems, not each other,” OBA stated. The party’s leader ,Craig Cannonier, said that Bermuda expected their premier to be treated with the respect. “The war of words between Bermuda and Cayman needs to end. Yes, Cayman and Bermuda are business competitors, but we don’t need to be antagonists,” he said.
Here in Cayman, the governor has made no comment about the diplomatic spat between the two British territory leaders. Given the less than cordial relations that currently exist between the governor and Bush, however, any comments from Duncan Taylor are likely to be of no consequence to the premier.
Despite the continued controversy being stirred up by Bush in almost every quarter, Opposition Leader Alden McLaughlin said yesterday that he was still “shocked and embarrassed” by the premier’s letter to The Royal Gazette and questioned exactly what it was the Cayman leader was trying to achieve.
See full report here.
Related story and letter:
Officials discontinue severe weather warning
(CNS): Updated 10-30am — The weather warning issued early Tuesday morning has now been discontinued. As Tropical Storm Ernesto passed just over 200 miles southwest of Grand Cayman officials had issued the warning as rain associated with the system was expected to impact Grand Cayman before moving away from the area tonight. Although the warning has been lifted Grand Cayman will still experience cloudy skies with occasional showers and thunder through early afternoon. An additional one to one and a quarter inches of rainfall is possible today in association with the outer bands of Ernesto. This may lead to flooding of low lying areas and all residents should continue to exercise caution, local forecasters stated.
South-easterly winds 15 to 20 knots with higher gusts are expected through tonight becoming moderate thereafter. Seas will continue to be rough with wave heights of 5 to 7 feet especially along the east and south coasts. All marine interests should remain in safe harbour until further notice.
At 1oam Ernesto was heading toward the Yucatan peninsula travelling west-north west at 14 mph. Maximum sustained winds are near 65 mph with higher gusts and the NHC in Miami is predicting some strengthening and Ernesto is forecast to become a hurricane before it reaches the Yucatan peninsula. Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 140 miles from the centre.
The tax trick damage
For almost two weeks after the political ploy of announcing the possibility of a payroll tax was initiated by the UDP, the community has regressed to being as divided as it ever was in its modern history. Thanks to Mr Bush's "strategy" to announce the payroll tax so that we could swallow a less bitter pill (soon to be announced), the international media has had a good laugh, the cayman vs expats sentiment grew to its worse, and local businesses faced uncertainty.
Some loss potential clients, and quite a few within the financial services industry have had to defend the country's tax neutral status.
But the worse part of this debacle is the very widely held and highly credible speculation that this was all intentional. That is, with no regard to the community division, or international reputational impact on the main sector driving the country's economy, the government went full speed ahead with its brand of local politics, with apparently the only remaining skill set that they possess to deal with a financial crisis.
And this nonsensical piece of politicking was as obvious as it was damaging: CIREBA alluded to it in their reported statement in local media, Wendy Ledger gave us the 'bait and switch' viewpoint, and there were dozens of bloggers on local websites saying this was the political play. So not only was it wrong for the country, it was also a political failure.
None of this will matter much to the UDP, because you see, the UDP is really only one man. And that one man operates with no rationale, little logic in what he does, says one thing on Saturday morning and contradicts it on Saturday afternoon. All on a whim, on the basis of the last person that spoke in his ear, on nothing more than raw and impulsive decision making from one man at any given moment.
Imagine for a second what it would be like if you were to use that same approach to decide which job offer to take or which school to choose for your child. Now consider what it means to operate like that when running an entire country.
And it is this modus operandi of the UDP that is the most worrying. Because regardless of the advice given by his political allies, local businesses and supporters, the leader of the UDP has shown time and time again that he and only he is King. And while no reasonable person would ever criticise a good leader for not having much of a formal education (because one does not need that to make good decisions if they surround themselves with the right expertise and actually use that support), everyone will want to see the back of a leader who shows no respect for others.
If there was ever an episode that gives the other elected UDP members a reason to take charge, it was this one especially because of its closeness to the upcoming election. But we should not hold our breath, because they are all quite happy it seems to stay on board while their captain speeds the ship aggressively towards the rocks.
Hopefully the people will remember the collateral damage of this incident on Wednesday May 22nd 2013.
Forbes misses hurdle in London 2012 heats
(CNS): Cayman’s Ronald Forbes stumbled towards the end of his 110 metres hurdles heat this morning in London and failed to qualify for the semi-finals after finishing in eighth place. The 27-year-old athlete described it as a devastating mistake as he believed he could have made the semis as one of the fastest qualifiers had he not missed the hurdle. Speaking to the CIOC reporter, he said he came off the ninth hurdle and stumbled on the second step. Forebs said he could not push off going into the last hurdle. “I was just forced to push it down. It was a crucial and devastating mistake but I’m not injured, nothing’s wrong. I really tried my best but under the circumstances it was a crucial mistake,” the runner told Ron Shillingford.
Forbes’ disappointment comes in the wake of setbacks for Cayman’s other too track stars. Cydonie Mothersill, who was scheduled to run in the women’s 200m yesterday, elected not to start the race because of a tendon injury that had not healed. Kemar Hyman, who had qualified for the men’s 100m semi-final, was also missing from the line up in that race on Sunday after he began feeling intense pain in his warm up ahead of the big race.
Hyman, who is only 22 and Cayman’s record holder for 100m, is one of the fastest men in the world after clocking a time recently of 9.95 and willbe looking ahead to future international games including the Brazil Olympics in 2016. However, at 34, this is likely to be Mothersill’s last Olympics. Mothersill is also one of the fastest women in the world and the 2010 Commonwealth Games gold medallist and was expected to qualify had she competed.
Forbes at 27 will continue to compete and has his eye on the Rio Games but was disappointed by his performance, which comes following a year plagued with injury.
“This year hasn’t been good for me. I was injured for most of the year. When those guys were out there running, meet after meet, after meet, I only ran three races for the whole year because of multiple injuries that kept coming along,” he said adding that he had tried his best.
“I don’t care if my leg is dropping off, I’m going out there to represent. I did not work this hard to see beside my name ‘did not start’.”
Expat tax off table again
(CNS): The premier has stated that he believes he has the commitment from the private sector supporting revenue measures that will not impact the poorest people and will enable him to remove the tax on earnings of work permit holders, which he had called the 'community enhancement fee'. Confusion reigned on all day Monday after conflicting messages were issued to the media about whether or not a group of business leaders had persuaded McKeeva Bush to drop his controversial tax proposal, and it was not until Monday evening that he said the fee was officially off the table. No details have yet been given about the alternatives, which are believed to include more fees on the financial industry and property fees in tourism zones.
In a short statement Monday evening Bush confirmed that the community fee was now off the table as “robust and credible alternatives” had been identified that did not impact poorer Caymanians, but he did not say what they were.
"I will give an update and confirmation on Wednesday evening at the Mary Miller Hall,” Bush said, following the cancellation of the planned Monday night meeting as a result of the weather conditions.
Meanwhile, the Facebook group Caymanians and Expats United Against Taxation submitted a range of possible alternative revenue sources to the premier’s office on Monday afternoon.
“We have come up with some great ideas that are not discriminatory,” said Eden Hurlstone, one of the young Caymanians who founded the group, which lit up the social media scene in Cayman following the premier’s announcement on 25 July that he would be introducing a 10% tax on the earnings of expatriate workers.
“We don’t think it’s right to ask the guests in our country to repair the financial damage which was as a result of mistakes made by both the UDP and the previous PPM administrations,” he said as he called on government to curtail the extravagant spending and produce audited accounts to show the Caymanian people exactly how it was spending the half a billion dollars it collects from the people every year.
Although there has been no confirmation on the alternatives that the premier has accepted, it is understood that they include increased work-permit fees on the financial sector, as well as further increases on the financial industry across the board. There are also suggestions of a property fee that will impact condos in tourism zones, though this had not been officially confirmed.
Teen gunman has sentence cut on appeal
(CNS): A teenager who was found guilty of robbery and firing at a police officer while trying to make his escape has had his 16 year prison sentence reduced on appeal to 9 years. The Cayman Islands Court of Appeal found that the trial judge who sentenced Elmer Wright to an accumulation of 16 years in jail for robbery, possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition as well as the unlawful discharge of that weapon had not considered the young defendant's age when he committed the crime, although he was 18 years old when he was tried and sentenced over a night time gas station heist.
Wright, who is now nineteen years old, was the only person ever charged in the case and was convicted of a catalogue of offences relating to the armed robbery that took place at Mostyns Esso in Bodden Town in 2010. The teen, who was 16 at the time of the crime, was said to be one of four men that planned and executed the robbery at the small gas station and community shop at around 10:30 on a Friday night in June. The robbers stole around $1000 during the hold-up, in which a customer was gun-butted by one of the offenders.
As the robbers fled the store, police picked up their trail and gave chase towards the Northward area. When the getaway car finally stopped the robbers got out and ran off. However, before the young teen fled he turned and fired a shotgun on the police patrol vehicle. He was later apprehended by the police a short distance away with various incriminating pieces of evidence including shotgun shells and money taken from the gas station.
After a judge alone trial before Justice Smith, Wright was found guilty of the robbery, the possession of the gun and ammunition and the unlawful discharge of a weapon but he was acquitted of attempted murder.
The judge said at the time of sentencing that despite the defendant’s age, it was important for the court to send a clear message, otherwise public confidence in the justice system was at risk.
“The court must bear in mind the welfare of young offenders but when they deliberately commit serious offences, as the case now before the court, there is a legitimate public expectation that the defendant is severely punished,” he said. The judge added that the sentence had to also serve as a warning to other would-be offenders of the gravity of the offence and the risks associated with behaving in the same way.
He gave Wright the statutory minimum ten years for the possession of the gun, twelve years for the robbery and seven years for the possession of the ammunition which he ordered to run concurrently. However, he gave the teen a further four years jail time for the firing of the weapon, which he ordered to run consecutively because, he said, it was a separate offence as it occurred while the gang members were making their escape and not at the scene of the crime. The result was a sixteen year prison term.
In response to the appeal claim filed on behalf of the young offender by his attorney Nick Hoffman, of Priestley’s, that the sentence was “manifestly harsh”, the Court of Appeal agreed.
It found that the judge should have given greater consideration to the fact that the teen was only 16 when the crime was committed and he could have sentenced him in line with the youth justice law. The appeal court said he was wrong to think he was bound by the statutory minimums or sentencing guidelines designed for older offenders. The legal panel of senior judges said the trial judge should have had greater consideration for the totality of the situation, although they agreed that the teenager had committed a serious offence.
The court set aside the sentences and imposed new ones that they felt were more appropriate. They reduced the robbery sentence to seven years, the possession of the ammunition to 4 years and the ten year mandatory minimum to seven years, all of which they said should be concurrent.
They agreed with the judge’s decision to impose a four year sentence on the teenager for shooting at the police patrol car but ordered that two of those four years should run concurrently and the remaining two consecutively, resulting in a new nine year prison term for the young offender, which would include the time the he has spent in jail since his arrest in 2010.