Ryan ‘authors’ Ritz statement
(CNS): A statement delivered by the premier via government’s new television channel last week about the Ritz Carlton and the outstanding duty owed on it may have been written or approved by the former owner of the Ritz Carlton, Michael Ryan. According to the properties on the Word document posted on CNS below, it was ‘authored’ by Ryan on a computer at Stingray Construction, one of the companies he still owns that was established during the development of the luxury resort. The details of the authorship on the copy of the statement released by the premier’s office were picked up by the opposition leader, who has called on McKeeva Bush to say if he was speaking on Ryan’s behalf or as premier of the Cayman Islands.
The statement concerned the outstanding $6 million in duty missing from government coffers that was owed by the companies Ryan previously owned but which were seized by RC Cayman Holdings, the new owners who bought the hotel at auction. In the statement the premier discussed the current situation at the Ritz Carlton and was critical of the new owners, the sale price and other issues regarding the concessions that they had asked for.
Leader of the Opposition Alden McLaughlin came under attack from the premier in the statement, not least because he has raised the issue in the Legislative Assembly, where he suggested that Bush had missed an opportunity to negotiate with the new owners, who were offering to pay the bad debt even though they were not legally liable.
In the address delivered by Bush on government TV on Thursday, which for some reason appears to have been authored by Ryan, Bush denied missing a chance to negotiate with RC Cayman Holdings, accusing them of undervaluing the hotel at auction and insisting that he would get the duty from them as they were now responsible.
In a statement released Monday evening, McLaughlin said it was critically important that the premier was honest about who wrote the statement and how Ryan’s name and company came to be stamped electronically on the document.
“When the Ritz-Carlton property was being developed in 2002 the government, led by Mr Bush, who was then Leader of Government Business, granted various concessions to Michael Ryan, the developer,” McLaughlin stated, explaining why Ryan had been in the position of owing government so much money.
The PPM administration pursued the outstanding debt throughout their tenure and Ryan and his companies paid in quarterly instalments until 31 March 2009. However, after the elections in May 2009, when the UDP took office, the payments stopped and none have been made since.
“On behalf of the people of this country, I now call on the premier to provide a full and frank explanation of his relationship with Michael Ryan and to tell us why his government has not collected any of the outstanding duties payable by Michael Ryan … or his companies. Further, he must explain why he has compounded the situation by squandering the opportunity afforded by the recent sale of the Ritz-Carlton to recover the outstanding $6M which, had he acted in a timely and competent manner, the country could have obtained,” McLaughlin said.
“The premier must explain how it is that the statement which he made on 22 November … was authored by Michael Ryan and prepared at the offices of Stingray Construction, one of Ryan’s companies,” he added. McLaughlin further stated that Bush’s accusation about him and his relationship with one of RC Holdings' legal representatives, Rick Finlay, of Conyers Dill & Pearman, were unfounded.
“Because I raised the issue of his mishandling of this issue, which has caused the country to lose $6M, the premier has attacked me and inferred that somehow I am defending RC Holdings and alleged that I have some association with Rick Finlay or Conyers Dill Pearman, who act for RC Holdings," the opposition leader stated.
“Nothing could be further from the truth. I ceased active practice in the firm of Charles Adams, Ritchie and Duckworth, where I was a partner with Rick Finlay, following my election for the first time in 2000, some12 years ago. I retired from the firm completely in 2004 and have had no association with the firm or Rick Finlay since," McLaughlin said, before demanding that the premier had some explaining to do about his relationship with Ryan.
Related article:
See the opposition leader's statement and Bush's statement authored by Ryan below.
Instructions to see the authorization and properties on the document are as follows:
Click the attached statement entitled “Ritz-Carlton Statement TV mv 21Nov 2012 doc”. Save the statement. Once you’ve saved the statement, without opening it, highlight the name you have given it and right click. When the dropdown box opens, scroll down to the bottom and click “Properties”. When it opensclick “Details”. Scroll down and you will see the “Author” of the statement as “Michael Ryan” and the “Company” as “Stingray Construction”.
Category: Politics
CNS, can you tell me where to collect my prize? According to the Compass, McKeeva decided to go with Explanation #1, which was the first post in this thread.
I tried to get McKeeva to pay me a consulting fee, but he said the people would not believe the part about Richard buying Mike Ryan's used computer, so I need to work harder on my explanations.
"Mike, how do you spell waiver?? Like when I gave you duty free status??"
"Sit over there, let me do this."
Well spotted by the Leader of Oppostion, Hon. Alden McLaughlin. We are quick to find fault with the Progressives when we perceive they are falling below our personal expectations. So lets give credit where credit is due. We have the Progressives and their Leader to thank for this relevation.
You know when your politician is done when the people he "deals" with start writing his speeches.
You know I have always cursed Hollywood about how they portrayed the Cayman Islands in their programs but thanks to our UDP Conglomerate we now FULLY and UTTERLY deserve the tags they put on us. Think of it for a moment, more than 50% of the Cayman population voted these guys in and most of us knew their leader pretty well before we did it. I mean it did not take the stoves and fridges over the years or the First Cayman Bank or the Status grants or the Ritz Carlton Suite scandal but hey they should have confirmed what we believe to be true.
The old people have always said WHERE THERE IS SMOKE THERE ISFIRE…..and if that doesn't help you the other IF IT WALKS LIKE A DUCK AND QUACK LIKE A DUCK…IT'S A DAMN DUCK…
People like him make C4C seem like a solution…..
It’s not true that more that 50% of Cayman voted them in. If you look at the % of the last election you will see that the large majority of voters placed votes for the PPM and independent candidates. NONE of the UDP candidates garnered more than 50% of the vote…probably not even 44%. Some of the UDP MLA’s got elected on as little as 33% of the vote.
Vote spliting is what elected the UDP Government.
All but irrelevant. Point is many or most of us put this bozo in knowing all that we know. The exact percentages is splitting hairs. Simple fact is they won the majority of the votes hence they have the office.
Many but not most…
"Vote splitting is what elected the UDP Government"……………….don't be surprised if this happens again,KeKe and them smarter that what you all think.
I doubt we'll have to worry about that.
YoungLady your analysis is flawed, it is what it is the UDP won the majority of the votes not the PPM or Independent candidates. It matter not how you want to spin, spin on YoungLady spin on but the records and LA does shows that the UPD won the last election.
No, actually you are incorrect. The UDP won a plurality (not a majority) of the votes. That means it got more votes than the PPM or Independents but did not have an overall majority of the votes, i.e. the votes were split. In our system that allows them to be the govt.
It appears that splitting the votes is on the agenda again thisyear as a strategy to get the UDP re-elected. Beware of wolves in sheep's clothing who say they are Independent but are not. Scrutinise the C4C carefully. Why have their backers refused to be transparent about their involvement and why are they not a part of the official UDP bandwagon this time. If they lost confidence in Mr. Bush's govt. they need to explain why to the people.
There is a certain group in WB headed by a charismatic young lady whose UDP connections run long and deep who claims she is running an Independent group. Ask who is financing the campaign. Ask them if they have any criticisms of the current govt. and if not why are they supposedly running against them. Ask whether any of them benefitted personally from the Nation Building Fund.
Do not be fooled my people.
Did Ryan also write the speech for Rolston that he read today in front of the court house. PATHETIC
Nice picture. Which one is Dee and which one… Oh forget it.
What is interesting is that although this story is carried by CNS, Radio Cayman and News 27:
1. The Compass has ignored it.
2. Radio Cayman and News 27 have said only that the leader of opposition has claimed that the statement was authored by Ryan without saying what the evidence was for that claim although they will have received the same statement and can check the metadata for themselves, i.e. they have watered it down.
Only CNS has given this story a thorough treatment.
Maybe they are afraid of being sued, lol. Thank God for CNS, or we would be in the dark all the time thanks to other wannabe reporters who water down stuff.
Not likely. Alden supposedly forbade PPM council and supporters from attending C4C launch; and he was rabidly opposed the next morning on radio…but if C4C really put country first, they should support Alden…
Lets watch and see…
It would be interesting to see whether C4C will say anything about this also
There have been a number of posts on here suggesting that information in properties could have subsequently been manipulated by some other person to make it appear that it was authored by Michael Ryan on the computer of Stingray Construction, Mr. Ryan's company. If such were the case it would be a very serious matter. It would involve major conspiracy among the media and his own press secretary who distributed the statement, and could only have been motivated by malice to falsely implicate the premier and Mr. Ryan in shady dealings. The premier should call for an immediate police investigation which would of course require inspecting his and Mr. Ryan's computers. Somehow, I don't think he, like U.S. Rep. A. Weiner, will becalling for one.
I know one accountant out there who would love to investigate these guys. He takes no prisoners believe you me. Same guy should investigate the Thomas Crown affair, I mean the Stan Thomas affair. Regrettably it just will not happen. Pity. All will swept under Dr Shadys flying carpet.
Feel free to send all info to the said accountant. Maybe, he/she would do pro bono as he/she would make history books.
Ryan baked Mac the bread, buttered it for him and now they both choking on it. LOL
This right here is further proof that if we were to put Mac's brain inside a bird it would fly back ways. The man is a complete f@#k up!! What an embarrassment to this country! SMDH
Does anyone have Ryan’s email? I have some homework assignments and seeing that he hasso much free time…
The muck and mud is getting deeper and deeper. Hopefully we won't have to endure this too much longer, what a mess.
Mr Governor? Hello?? Any time now is just fine.
The rope is doing just fine by itself……:)
NO Anonymous Tue, 11/27/2012 – 15:08, "The rope" is taking way too long!
Well, time is longer, you knows D’ahlin.
UDP Ministers explanation for continuing to support this buffoon….?
zzzzzz
Explanation simple…Fatter paycheck and benefits than any of them ever dreamed of without having to work for it….for a lucky few closest to our ruler, a bonus arrangement could also apply.
It's sheer unadultered drivel of the lowest kind, whoever wrote it. Only politicians with a fisher-wife mentality would produce such unprofessional, whining, "he said I said" mudslinging statements. If Bush has a case in law to dispute the price of the property and the duty payable, then proceed accordingly. If not (and I suggest there is no possible case) shut up and stop trying to bully the new owners.
Goodness gracious me, until now I've always associated "Bush's brain" with Karl Rove.
Follow the same process with the BT Coalition letter also posted on this site and the author is "wendy" ….
Either the author tracking is not to be trusted and is not really a story – or CNS is not as objective on the dump stuff as we might think.
CNS: Nice try at deflection. The open letters to the minister and Dart were sent to us in the body of an email. In order to provide our readers with the source of information rather than just our reporting of it, as we do whenever possible, Wendy cut and paste the letters into a Word doc. Please note: this is our site so it is not unusual that Wendy's name appears on a document. Is Michael Ryan part of government? Troll much?
CNS, I do not think it was a "deflection" at all. This was a valid point raised by the poster which you have satisfactorily explained. Thanks. I voted "thumbs up" on this one.
of course it is deflection, trying to smear the messenger, rather than the dealing with the message always is.
Just look at Bush trying to smear the leader of the opposition rather than answer his questions
CNS – We trust you. You were merely showing proof. It's the UDP and their supporters we don't trust!
Unfortunately 90% of Caymanians (voters) will be unaware of this.
Who is Donkey Face now?
Mike is paying off the $6million by job work writing speeches. Pearlina will be unhappy.
Who is Pearlina?
It will be interesting to see what Mac says about this. When he does say it , Mr. Governor ..please excercise your powers on this man & see he is removed from the role of Premier.
So Mr.Ryan is, essentially, our Karl Rove. I knew it. There's no way Mac could have been saying this stuff.
Buit it is much worse than that. Michael Ryan is an interested in this party on the whole deferred stamp duty issue and the implication is that Mac is acting at his behest to harrass the new owners. Anywhere else in the democratic world he would be forced to resign for abuse of office.
Oh what a tangled web we weave when we practice to deceive.
If he does not resign now then he is as we all know already, without honor, dirty hands and corrupt heart
What’s going on with Keke investigation rcip? Throw this man in jail before our smart neighbours in the West put him in again! How many times do this man have to mess up before someone do something that rattles Cayman to the core! This man is pushing Cayman in dark ages!!
WP Brac
I will be going to the Dr. Munroe Lecture on Caribbean Corruption at UCCI on Thursday evening just to see if Mac, Ryan and Alastair Patterson come to hear about the battle to kill corruption, the expressions on their faces are going to make wonderful pictures. 🙂 🙂
LOL
Even the Ching-Chings are laughing at the stupidity and crookedness that is our government.
Now it is all making sense why McKeeva is behaving the way he is towards the Ritz new owners after failing to collect the $6m from Ryan for 3 1/2 years.
Some of you will be jumping to conclusions….
clearly the Ministry computer broke down and Mac sent Richard over to his friends
place to type it up and then email it back. Simple. See.
And you people always ready to believe the worst!
This letter is no joking matter and those of us who find it so funny is taking a serious situation very lightly. This matter is now in financial publications overseas. It was interesting to hear a senator refer to this so can you really imagine what the implications of this will be. There is no getting over what has happened here. There is always a digital trail to any document one can deny the fact but there is always forensics.
Forensics will only work if you have the PC used to create the document – which is probably over the edge of the reef by now. Otherwise he can simply claim that someone – be it CNS or somebody else unknown -has changed the document Properties field, and it would be extremely difficult to prove otherwise. Whether anyone believes that is another matter.
CNS: This was posted elsewhere. If the document was sent to multiple recipients and the properties are the same for all of them, the claim of manipulation would have to include each person who recieved the email, or that it was manipulated before it was sent out by the premier's press secretary.
Thanks, for clarifying that CNS. Yes, somehow there is a massive conspiracy among all the media and his own press secretary to implicate Mr. Ryan.
This statement is not true, Forensics will indeed work in regard to a .doc without access to the original harddrive(s). You just get less info than if you had the actual machine(s).
Really. My IT forensics department looked at the document and determined that it was impossible to confirm whether the author and comopany fields had been changed after originally being created. They said if they had the hard drive it may be possible, but without it, nada. Either we pay them way to much, or you don't know what you are talking about.
That info was imbedded in the statement disseminated by his own press secretary to all media. Who would have made such a change? One can claim anything but that doesn't mean it is credible. The onus is on Bush to show that it was changed and by whom. He should demand a police investigation.
Ok, I am no IT expert nor am I voting for a Party next year. But I saved the file and followed the instruction, there were 4 tabs in the doc properties – general, securities, custom and summary. The name appeared on the Summary tab. Feeding curiosity, I highlighted the name and deleted it. It worked, the name was deleted. I put John Doe, click on apply changes and wala! John Doe wrote the file!
CNS: You're missing the point. Yes, the 'author' can be manipulated, we all know that, but if it was sent to multiple email recipients from the premier's office and the document they received all points to the 'author' being Michael Ryan, then, if it was manipulated, that must have happened before it was sent out by the premier's press officer.
Caymanians were warned but greed got the better of many of us. Be the judge read this article http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2002/06/11/Funny-Business-Putting-on-the-Ritz/UPI-91441023813652/. Again I ask where is the Foreign Office on this? Goodness is this the kind of message that we want to send to our young people? I just hope that this documents is false and the because if it's not I can only imagine the outcome.
Puppet Muppet Premier
I feel sorry for Mike's hand having to in there.
I would rather have Kermit and Miss Piggy as Premier and Deputy Premier than Mac and JuJu.
What about Fozzie Bear on the Radio?
Richard Parchment’s computer was not working so he stopped in at Stingray Construction to use their computer, that’s all folks poor Richard will be the fall guy again.
I just knew there was an explanation – thanks, friend.
So, given the current attitude of Ms. Dilbert, and given that we now know that Ryan and Mac correspond electronically on government business, an FOI could be sought:
1) Identifying the email which accompanied the draft speech. [It will therefore find out what email the Premier really uses for such things].
2) Seeking production of communications between the Premier and Mr. Ryan that email and any other email from the server used by Mr. Ryan (to cover PA communications etc),
You can just imagine the "Delete" button being worn down as we speak.
For crying out loud, is "Bush's brain" an Irish developer? This is growing weirder by the minute.
Oh gosh, pass me the popcorn, this one's going to be good!!
Alden, as usual, “pick[s] up” call, as usual, from off the road, as usual, says something, as usual but adds nothing…as usual
Ineptitude of opposition fuels McKeevas bad behaviour -Alden you are NOT effective….
Huh? Actually this is pretty effective in showing what everyone has been thinking all along. Don't let your political allegiances blind you.
That's a new one – the PPM made me do it. There is no one else to blame for Mac's bad behaviour but Mac himself. Stop trying to deflect and change the topic and deal with the issue.
No surprise here. Given the amount of detailed information relating to the Ritz that’s contained in this statement, and the fact that it is generally grammatically correct, it obviously had to be entirely or at least largely scripted by Michael or someone on his behalf who would have all of that information. And it’s no secret that McKeeva and Ryan are close. That has been well documented over the years. So Alden can grandstand all he wants, but there’s nothing shocking here, other than that Michael wasn’t smart enough to not give McKeeva an electronic document with his signature on it. And after all, this was obviously done over the weekend, so it’s not like McKeeva could find a civil servant to come in and write it for him anyhow.
It is shocking to see in black and white that our premier is a puppet of Ryan. If you are not shocked then it means you are far too jaded or corrupt.
There isn't anything saying it was "done over the weekend". 22 November which is shown on the metadata was last week Thursday. Whether he could find a civil servant to write it for him is hardly the point. Ryan is an interested party and this suggests that McKeeva is acting on his behalf.
You can try to minimise this all you like but the truth is plain to see.
Why the poke at Alden, he simply pointed out the signature. Is he supposed to provide Word Processing advice to the Premier as well? Come on, it seems that no matter what Alden does (and this discovery is HUGE) there are those people who just have to discredit the man.
Who go to blame for this one? Tea boy Parchment again?
You have to bear in mind that he is Teflon Mac!
Just watch when he says that it was not him that read the statement, and blames it on somebody else, and then starts accusing Alden and the PPM of doing the same thing twenty-eleven-teen years ago…
Seriously, if that wouldn’t make someone stand down, nothing will. A law unto himself.
Hey – a real estate consultant's gotta due what a real estate consultant's gotta do.
besides, it is unfair to expect the man to have an original thought or a logical one for that matter.
Good detective work CNS! I do support a lot of the things that Mac does….but this stuff has the sniff of corruption. It does cast a shadow on a lot of the good things that Mac has supported. But this kind of stuff, and the Thomas matter……and the real estate commissions that Mac earned on the Ritz while the leader in his previous term……..
hahaha…..mac keeps stumbling from scandal to the next……..can't wait for next week….
vote mac and his udp puppetts out next may……. all of them!
Keke is a fart in world wind (no one)!
Caymanian
Wow…Why didn’t the C$C spot that……I guess it didn’t suit them too busy developing a way to spin AustinGate to see the big picture….well done Al, FFR now this….LOL can’t wait to see what excuse/spin C$C put on this one. As for UDP another hole in the hull of the HMS Muck.
I look forward to Mac's explanation of this….or was the document actually written by Richard Parchment (like the Stan Thomas letter) who uses the pseudonym "Michael Ryan".
There you go Mac there is an excuse for you…..just send me a new fridge & washer please. Or give me one of those cushy jobs you have handed out to your cronies!!!
The document properties also show the file as being created on the 23rd, two days after it was released and shows the person who last modified the file as 'wendy'.
Anybody can modifythe author and company name in the properties of a word document. Right click the author and 'change properties' and you can change it to anything you like. Changing the company is even easier, just click into the company field.
So to say that the document is 'electronically stamped' is misleading as anybody can change those properties. The properties in word documents is intended to be informational, not binding.
Are you suggesting that CNS altered the metadata to say it was authored by Ryan and prepared on his company's computers? What about the statements sent to the other media? Who doctored those?
You defeat your own point by saying that the document has a created date 2 days after it was released (which is false since it was released on 22nd November), the same date it is shown to have been printed, and then saying that the metadata can be altered.
As you will be aware, the date reflects the last modification rather than the creation, and even saving the file will change the date in properties. The real issue is the authorship, which is an easily resolved problem. Simply ask the Premier if Mr Ryan or someone at Stingray Construction drafted it, and if not, who did. If the properties information has been falsified, let him say so. That would be a serious attempt to cause embarrassment for the Premier, and an enquiry should then be launched to discover who did it – your inference is that it was Ms Ledger, who can presumably deal with that one by providing the original e mail or soft copy she was provided with, and so on for the chain of people that handled the document between creation and delivery to Ms Ledger. Unless of course it is as described and is authored by someone using a copy of Word registered to Mr Ryan.
You are grasping at straws!
Nice try at spin. Bush originally released this statement to his two favourite media houses (not CNS) on 21st Nov and then pulled it back. The metadata on that statement also showed Michael Ryan as the author and that it was done on Stingray Construction's computer. Was there a vast conspiracy reaching into the premier's office which after all released the statement? Richard has been at it again, eh? lol.
Anybody can modify theauthor and company name in the properties of a word document. Right click the author and 'change properties' and you can change it to anything you like. Changing the company is even easier, just click into the company field.
All that is true but be reminded that detailed forensics can also be done to prove or disprove everything. For the sake of everyone involved I trust that this data was manulipated as is inferred. If this is not the case, then what?
Cool!
OMG, the honorable premiered caught again, the Jordanian must be having kittens at this point!!!!!
Sorry, confused? It’s almost enough to start to believe that someone may have just bought their own hotel at auction! No-one’s that clever!
May go to show do anything with the right real estate agent and some forward planning.
What does this tell you about Bush and his Court Jester – Challo. If they did a cut and paste job on a digital document from Ryan, surely it should have occurred to them that this sort of message leaves an audit trail. Clearly their computer knowledge leaves a great deal to be desired. Challo is supposedly a child of the computer generation.
Richard…..stop
Baines?
Baines! Are you smoking your socks? What – add it to his list of things to ignore? If he cannot resolve the Stan Thomas issue , the dynamite issue or the the other, undisclosed investigation (bearing in mind the Stan Thiomas letter is years old), whatmake you think that the RCIPS will do anything at all. Or do you mean that RCIPS should launch another investigation a la NRA to discover who blew the whistle – now I can see that happening.
Munch Munch "Donuts"! We are busy
Ezzard?
Should thisdigital forensic evidence be shown to be irrefutable, the last shreds of any personal credibility that bush might have claimed, have been blown away completely. This would prompt the question – ” What exactly is the bond between bush and Ryan ? “
The problem is it's neither forensic nor irrefutable. Those document properties can easily be changed. As somebody said above it show’s ‘wendy’ as the person to last edit it.
It’s hardly newsworthy and I haven’t seen any other news sources pick it the story. Just more tabloid reporting from CNS.
money perhaps?
Ooops !!
Knew it all along. Can't trust Mac at all. Boy is the cookie crumbling! He's still up to the neck with Michael Ryan and somehow he got stung too. Sooner or later we'll find out how. It would appear from all that has transpired over the years that anyone he persecutes is on the up and up and anyone he is cosy with we got to watch out for. And like a snake slithering along the sand, you never know when he will raise his ugly head. Go read Dr. Frank's article he wrote some time back in the Compass about Anansi.
Wow! OMG! While this comes as no surprise it is still shocking to see it in black and white.
Mr. Bush you have embarrassed this country enough. Enough is enough. Please resign now before you do further damage to our reputation.
No this na true, its the Premir's own new bran computer, he got it at cash for gold, traded some sovenirs from he travel, meybe for sure thats why it say Stingray, musta belong someone else befo, IT'S AINT HE FAULT!
Holy sh.t, where did you learn to write ?
This idiot of a premier just does not know when to shut up, it is obvious he made a lot of money out of the ritz and they are both devastated the cash cow has ended and the new owners will have nothing to do with them. I think we have traded a XXXX politician and XXXX business man for some very clever people at the Ritz and this is great news.
Time for the investigations into mac and ryan to kick up a notch and put them away for the sake of our islands, they have to go before a warship full of MP's and white wigs arrives.
Greed, every time it is always the greed that gets them.
Good point. It's better for us to have real businesspeople behind the hotel now, who are putting their own money into renovating it. Just goes to show you that we don't need corruption to attract investment. This is real, bona fide arms-length investment by a private equity group into Cayman. We gained in this transaction.
Explanation #1. Please feel free to add your own.
Richard bought one of Mike Ryan's old PC's at a garage sale, and McKeeva dictated to him what to type………..