Archive for June, 2013
Mission queried criteria
(CNS): Long before the challenge to Tara Rivers' election to office last month was filed in the Cayman Islands court, the election observers' mission had already said that some of the qualifications for candidates taking part in the election were unreasonable. Mario Galea, a member of the Maltese parliament and the head of the international observers' mission, pointed to both the period of residency required before the poll and the ambiguity over allegiance to another power or state, when so many people are born overseas as a result of medical need or because of Cayman’s multicultural community, where many locals are born to a parent who may be from elsewhere.
The mission noted in its preliminary report that the required “durations of residence in the Cayman Islands before the nomination appear to be unreasonably limiting the right to stand for elective office.” Speaking at a press briefing before their departure, Galea said the requirement was too strict.
in addition, the mission said they believed that the issue of dual passports was also troubling because it, too, could undermine the democratic process and because the ambiguity of the language in the constitution regarding what is allegiance through one’s own act had led to the Elections Office apparently treating people differently.
"The lack of clarity in the Constitution Order 2009 on what constitutes 'his or her own act' led the Elections Office, which has the authority to initially decide on eligibility of candidates, to make different decisions in similar cases. It should be noted that many Caymanians were born outside the Cayman Islands or to parent(s) with other citizenship and therefore either possess or have right to some other citizenship,” the preliminary report notes.
The international election mission is expected to submit its full report in July as the observers had promised to complete the full report within two months of the 22 May election. However, with the Rivers' case set to be heard, the report may not be ready in time for the courtroom showdown.
Rivers, the new education minister, who is required to have her submissions regarding the challenge filed with the courts by the end of next week, is fighting a challenge on both of the issues raised by the observers.
Although she is qualified to have a US passport by virtue of her birth in that country, it is not clear if she has renewed and used the passport since becoming of age.
Richard Christian, who had planned to run in Bodden Town on the PNA ticket with the former interim cabinet members, was prevented from doing so by election officials as a result of him holding and using a current US passport and his failure to renounce his US citizenship before Nomination Day. George Town candidate Sharon Roulstone, on the other hand, who also once held a US passport as a result of parentage, formally renounced her allegiance and gave up her US passport ahead of the national poll and was able to run with the C4C.
The residency situation is also ambiguous in Rivers' case as she was absent from Cayman in the seven years preceding Nomination Day. Between 2006 and 2009 she was employed as a legal associate with a London-based law firm. However, she was also studying while in the UK. Under the election law there are several exceptions to the requirement to be resident for seven years before an election, including being a student, though it is not clear if that also applies to those who are studying while in full time employment. However, Rivers may also be able to argue that her post in London was part of her professional legal training.
Kent McTaggart, another would-be candidate who had hoped to run on the Coalition for Cayman ticket, was disqualified by election officials in Bodden Town because of his long absence from the island prior to the election for medical reasons. However, because it was not his own personal health issue but a close family member’s medical requirements which kept McTaggart overseas, he was not allowed to run.
The issue of whether Rivers is or is not qualified to hold office will now be decided by the courts as both teams of lawyers argue the finer details of the elections law and the constitution.
Rivers was challenged in Grand Court on the final day of the three week deadline provided for any voter to dispute the qualification of an elected candidate. The challenge came from John Hewitt, the husband of Velma Hewitt, the UDP candidate who came in fifth in the West Bay race.
Rivers’ election to office, however, was emphatic. Running on the Coalition for Cayman platform, along with running mate Mervin Smith, Rivers polled 1,483 votes, more than 44% of the district, and voters were well aware that Rivers had been absent during the seven years prior to the election as it was reported in the local media. It was also reported that Rivers had failed to sign a voluntary declaration certificate relating to qualification, created by the Elections Office, before voters went to the polls.
Despite the democratic support that Rivers received in the district, where she was raised and still lives, the choice of voters could still be overturned if the challenger can prove she was not qualified in the first place. If the challenge succeeds, however, there will be a by-election as it will be difficult for Hewitt to argue that his wife would have been the recipient of Rivers' votes.
See election mission report.
Car catches fire in two vehicle smash
(CNS): The emergency services were out in force on Saturday night when Corvette Z06 burst into flames following a collision at a George Town junction. Police said the smash happened at around 10:10 pm on 22 June at the junction of Shedden Road and Thomas Russell Avenue by Jacques Scott Liquors & Wine. A Ford Range pick-up truck that was traveling on Thomas Russell Avenue towards North Sound Road was hit by the Corvette Z06, which was traveling on North Sound Road towards Thomas Russell Avenues, as it tried to turn right on to Shedden Road. Both vehicles collided and as a result of the impact, the Ford Ranger flipped on its side and the Corvette caught fire.
An RCIPS spokesperson said they understood that a member of the public helped free the driver of the burning Corvette, which was almost completely destroyed by the fire.
Police, fire and EMS personnel all attended the scene and the Corvette was extinguished by officers from the fire service. The 49-year-old driver, who was unaccompanied in the Corvette was taken to George Town hospital, where he stayed for observation although he apparently escaped with minor injuries. Meanwhile, the 44-year-old man driving the Ford truck and the 31-year-old female passenger were also taken to hospital for minor injuries.
Both drivers were breathalysed and the results were negative for alcohol, police confirmed.
School kids spend a day in police boots
(CNS): As part of efforts by the RCIPS to make encourage more young Caymanians to consider a career with the police six new recruits joined the ranks of the RCIPS this week for just one day . The officers who were all aged between 10 and 15 years were chosen by their schools to take part in the RCIPS Junior Police Academy initiative. John Gray students Caswell Ferguson, Elythia Ebanks and Urick McField joined Brandon Ramsay from Clifton Hunter High School and two primary school students Dayger Martinez of Red Bay and Jabari Walrond of Prospect who all took part and spent a day in the life of an officer.
Kitted out in police uniforms they spent the day touring George Town police station, Police HQ and the Air and Joint Marine Units. They also spent some time on foot patrol in George Town with senior officers and visited the Grand Court. Before they began their tour of duty they were inspected by Commissioner David Baines.
The day in the life of an officer programme has three main aims. These are to further develop and enhance relationships between the young people of the Cayman Islands and the RCIPS; create a better understanding, particularly with Cayman youth, about the role of the police; and finally, encourage the young people to think about future employment opportunities within the RCIPS.
Commissioner Baines was delighted with the enthusiasm shown by the students throughout the day “Every one of the students fully applied themselves to the programme,” he said. “They were respectful and attentive during their visits to our various departments and asked somevery relevant questions. I’m sure they learned a lot from their visit and I hope that the time they spent with us will have made them much more aware of what we do and the different types of roles carried out by staff in our various departments.
“While Tuesday’s visit was more about raising awareness of what we do and further developing our relationship with young people, if it has encouraged any of them to start thinking about a career with the RCIPS then that’s a real bonus for us.”
The youngest of the students, 10-year-old Jabari Walrond, was delighted that his school selected him to take part in the programme. “I was very pleased to be chosen. I think it’s pretty cool,” he said. “I would consider becoming a police officer because they help the community and keep the Cayman Islands safe. If I did that I would be following in my father’s footsteps – he is a prison officer.”
The RCIPS will be launching a recruitment campaign to specifically target Caymanian recruits later this year and officials said details will be made available in the near future.
CI teen footballers take on visitors from Honduras
(NU15s): In preparation for the upcoming CONCACAF Under 15 Championships in August, the Cayman Islands Under 15 National Football Team will play two exhibition games against the Under 15s from Club Deportivo Victoria (CD Victoria) from La Ceiba, Honduras on Saturday, July 6, at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday July 7, at 6:00 p.m. at the T.E. McField Field (Annex Field) in George Town. Cost per game is $6.00 and for both games is $10.00. As is the norm with clubs from Central America, CD Victoria is steeped in tradition. Often overshadowed by city rivals CD Vida, CD Victoria celebrates78 years of existence this year.
The club was founded by a Hungarian and started out as the Instituto Manuel Bonilla, which later was renamed CD Victoria. In 1947, CD Victoria won their first national tournament beating Motagua 3-2. In 1995, the club won their first Liga Nacional championship in 47 years by defeating CD Olimpia in a two-legged final.
Technical Director, Arden Rivers and his coaching staff, comprising Dion Brandon, Michael Johnson, Vincent Mitchell and Alexis Reve, have been putting the local boys through their paces during the past five weeks. Now able to train three times per week, a set pattern of play and intensity has begun to take shape.
Rivers and his staff have carefully gathered this squad of players following several scouting exercises during the recently completed CIFA Under 15 League. The squad boasts players from many of the clubs across the Island including Cayman Athletic SC, Academy SC, Bodden Town FC, Future SC, Sunset FC and Scholars International.
Commenting on the upcoming games, Rivers said, “The coaching staff and players are really looking forward to CD Victoria’s visit. Following the visit of CD Vida’s Under 17 team in 2012, we experienced first-hand how Honduran youth teams play. Their speed, physicality and skill will present a few challenges for our local boys,but with these and other practice games, we are not focusing on final scores but more on how our boys perform. Experience is something you cannot teach on the practice field and these games will tell us how far we have come and what we need to focus on leading up to the tournament in August. We encourage the Cayman community to come out and support our youngsters.”
CIFA’s 1st Vice President Bruce Blake added, “The Under 15 National Programme is the first phase of the rebranding of our national youth football programmes. We congratulate the staff and players for their commitment and professionalism over the past weeks. We encourage the public to stop by the training sessions on Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings at the Annex Field beginning at 4:00 p.m. to observe our youngsters in action and familiarize themselves with the players. CIFA encourages potential corporate sponsors of this programme to get on board as the team prepares for the CONCACAF Under 15 Championships in August.”
The Under 15 team has been put together specifically to compete in the inaugural CONCACAF Under 15 Championships, which will take place in the Cayman Islands between August 14 and August 25 of this year.
ICTA ducks HBO copyright complaint
(CNS Business): Is the Information & Communications Technology Authority (ICTA) obligatedto investigate allegations that a television service provider is broadcasting pirated content? The issue is under debate: ICTA Managing Director David Archbold believes that it should be settled in court, since the issue concerns the copyright law rather than ICTA law. HBO Latin America, the re-sellers of HBO and Cinemax programming, and LIME, which is licensed by them to broadcast the channels, believe otherwise. Last week HBO Latin America issued a statement that WestStar TV was illegally broadcasting its content and it had lodged a complaint with the regulatory authority. Read more and comment on CNs Business
Week left for budget motion
(CNS): Government has just over one week left before its legal power to spend money is lost but no date has yet been confirmed for the new PPM administration to bring the necessary government motion to the Legislative Assembly. Having been given the all clear in London last week for an extension to the government’s overdraft facility, it is understood that UK officials have not yet approved a final figure. Although civil service finance bosses have reviewed their expenditure needs for the next four months and attempted to make some reductions, with no time for new policy measures there will be no new revenue generating measures or major cuts.
Facing the lowest revenue collection period of the year, the new government will be earning less than it spends between now and October,and while Mark Simmonds, the OT minister, agreed in principle to an overdraft extension, the new administration will be keen to ensure that the figure covers the anticipated deficit for the forthcoming first quarter of the financial year 2013/14 before it brings the emergency budget to the LA.
At present, sources have speculated that the government is hoping to deliver this first and critical motion on Wednesday, when Marco Archer, the new finance minister, will set out the details of expected spending and earnings and ask for parliament’s support for the motion, which will include a schedule of anticipated spending across core government and, where necessary, government companies and statutory authorities.
The difficulty faced by the government stems from the discord between the election calendar and the financial year. When the 2004 November election was postponed to May 2005, the subsequent PPM administration could not get the support to extend their time in office to November 2009 and were reluctant to cut their four years short. When the UDP was returned to office in May 2009, despite gaining from the original deferment, McKeeva Bush, the former premier, refused to cut his administration short and would have caused immense controversy had he attempted to extend the time in office instead, as a result of the constitutional limitations.
The political reluctance to cut short any time in power has led to another emergency situation following an election, with a new government faced with no time to prepare a strategic policy statement and then deliver a full new budget. As a result, the PPM will need to bring the emergency motion sometime next week to gain the vote of the LA to keep government open for business until it can deliver its own full 2013/14 budget sometime in October.
During next week’s presentation of the appropriations there will be an opportunity for debate in the LA, including a response to the government’s motion from the opposition benches, and it will be the first time many of the newly elected novice politicians will speak in the parliament. However, there will be no Finance Committee scrutinizing the appropriations.
‘Lifer’ released on parole
(CNS): Based on a long assessment of his case and a low risk of him re-offending, Blanford Dixon, who has served 27 years in jail for the murder of his stepfather, has been formally paroled and will be released from HMP Northward Friday, official sources have confirmed. The release is at the discretion of Duncan Taylor in his capacity as the Cayman Islands governor under the law and not as a result of the introduction of the Bill of Rights, which now provides for all lifers in the local prison system to apply to the courts for their sentences to be tariffed by a judge. Dixon was convicted in January 1986, along with his brother, Lensel Vernie Dixon, and Owen Barrington Bruce, of killing Charles Evans Rankine. Rankine, who had been shot, was found dead on the beach in East End.
After trial, the three men were all sentenced to death but the executions were commuted to life in prison when Cayman was forced to abandon its death sentence policy by the British government. However, with 'life' still meaning to the end of one's life in Cayman at present, despite the advent of the Bill of Rights, no one but the governor can parole a 'lifer'.
Blanford’s release has been under consideration for several years and the prisoner has been living in an apartment on the parameters of the Northward compound for some time, adjusting towards his eventual release. Considered to have an exceptionally low risk of re-offending, he is also believed to be the first inmate convicted of murder and serving a mandatory life sentence to be released on parole.
However, the Bill of Rights gives hope to several other lifers currently imprisoned in HMP Northward and the local Human Rights Committee has already stated that it believes the courts will be forced to begin handing out tariffs for those convicted of murder, opening the window of parole for all killers.
Several other men have been in HMP Northward for more than twenty years, including Dixon’s brother Linsel as well as Bruce, who was convicted with the two brothers. These men are the longest serving prisoners along with William Powell, who was remanded in 1986 and convicted the following year of the murder of Charles and Gaynell Ebanks. He was also sentenced to death, which was later commuted to life with the repeal of executions. Powell has now served more than 25 years and he, too, could be released if he turns to the courts for a tariff.
McAndy Thomas, who has now served 23 years, was charged and remanded in 1990 and convicted in 1991 of killing 77year-old Ratmir Pavlovic, who worked at a local jewellery store. Thomas was found guilty of murdering the store worker during a robbery.
George Oral Roper has served two decades behind bars after he was charged in 1993 and convicted in 1996 of killing a prison guard during an altercation at Northward while Roper was incarcerated for another crime. Steve Manderson also convicted of the same crime has also been in jail since 1993 in connection but having escaped from jail at least five times, Manderson may have a far more difficult time getting parole in the near future.
Although the implementation of the Bill of Rights in Cayman paves the way for prisoners to seek a judicial review of their life sentences and seek a tariff, a judge can still provide for life without parole. However, a judge can also provide a minimum sentence tariff of a specific time period, such as twenty or even thirty years, but this does not mean prisoners would immediately walk free. The completion of a minimum sentence period on life would merely mean that the prisoner would be able to apply for parole; release would not be automatic as a risk assessment would need to be made.
Any lifer considered a genuine threat to the community could still be kept in jail. However, each prisoner would have the opportunity to continue making strides towards release until they had satisfied the authorities they could be trusted back in the community.
See official statement from the governor below:
Bank sued in theft case
(CNS): Butterfield Bank (Cayman) Ltd is facing legal action as a result of a fraud perpetrated by an insurance manager who is currently serving a five year prison sentence in HMP Northward after admitting stealing around US$1 million from his clients. David Self, who was the manager of Monkton Insurance Services Ltd, was convicted last year after admitting the theft. However, in a complicated twist in the fall out of the collapse of Monkton due to the crime, William Ritter, a third party who was a client of Monkton from the US, has filed a complaint against Butterfield, which had cleared the forged cheques signed by the white collar thief.
The action followers an earlier suit by the Cayman Islands liquidators of Monkton Insurance, Gordon MacRae and Gwynn Hopkins of Zolfo Cooper, who also named Ritter in their efforts to recover some of the missing cash.
According to a report on the Miami-based OffshoreAlert, Ritter has filed his action in the US against the bank to protect himself from the liquidators, who allege that when Ritter discovered that Self had stolen $735,000 from his Cayman-domiciled captive Geneva Insurance SPC Limited, he threatened to report Self to the police and the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority (CIMA) unless Self transferred $875,000 directly to Ritter, rather than Geneva Insurance.
During Self’s sentencing hearing in the Grand Court in Cayman last year, the judge heard that this escalated the 53-year-old man’s criminal behaviour as he began taking money from other clients to try and pay off Ritter and buy his silence, before the entire fraud became too much and he was eventually discovered and confessed all. The liquidators say that Ritter’s demands amounted to unjust enrichment.
However, Ritter claims in his complaint against Butterfield Bank that no money should have come from his account there for Geneva Insurance SPC Limited without his signature. However, the bank honoured the forged cheques signed by Self, which were unlike Ritter's signature, and the complainant claims that any amount of due diligence would have readily detected the forgery.
Ritter accuses the bank's representatives of facilitating Self’s fraud when they accepted the forged cheques, which he claims is a breach of contract and a violation of the law.
Operation Tempura
I was an investigation officer involved in the Tempura fiasco, having been a Central London Police officer for 30 years. I also lived and worked for two years in Kosovo as part of the UN International Peacekeeping Police Force, so consequently have some experience of policing and legal processes, albeit at the coal-face end. However, in a career of 40 years of policing, this is the only occasion I have ever publicly vented my frustrations through a national newspaper.
Regarding the recent CNS article, No decisions re Tempura, about the knowledge that former governor Stuart Jack, the FCO’s overseas territories security advisor, Larry Covington, and Attorney General Bulgin are alleged to have had on the entry to Cayman Net News, I make the following observations.
In the case of the Cayman investigation, for me, it involved the retrieval and examination of records of thousands of emails, texts and phone calls and also the examination of numerous hard drives. This historical work is massively time consuming but nonetheless has on many occasions proved fruitful in securing convictions. To find out now that all of this work may have been pointless is just staggering and such a waste of resources and public funds. This new information would also mean that I was also involved in the unnecessary arrest of a high court judge, a former politician and the suspension of senior police officers, which could have all been avoided. Isn’t there enough serious crime to be investigated without being sent on a fool’s errand?
Your recent article refers to a complicated issue. With respect, it is not. Let’s have the truth and keep it simple. Why all the court battles in an effort to suppress information coming out? Why hide the truth? The issue has only been made complicated for the general public because of the lack of information. Why is the governor using the lawyers to make decisions on what should and should not be investigated? Where could that particular dangerous road lead to?
Man hit by dump truck
(CNS): A man who was hit by a dump truck in Bodden Town on Wednesday is currently said to be in a stable condition at the Cayman Islands Hospital after receiving treatment for head injuries. An RCIPS spokesperson said that the man had apparently run into the side of the moving truck yesterday morning (19 June ) at around 9:40am. Police believe the man ran into the roadway and collided with the side of a moving dump truck near to the Turtle’s Nest Inn. He sustained head injuries as a result of the collision with the truck, which was travelling in the direction of George Town at the time. The driver was not injured.
Police said anyone who was in the area at the relevant time yesterday and who may have information is asked tocontact PC Brian Jameson at George Town Police Station on 949-4222.