Archive for January 24th, 2014
Chamber calls on employers to step up
(CNS Business): With local businesses complaining bitterly about the cost of work permit fees and the negative impact that such high numbers of unemployed locals is having on the community, the Cayman Islands Chamber of Commerce president is asking employers to step up and start being part of the solution. Johann Moxam asked local business owners and industry managers what they are doing to prepare young Caymanian students to enter the workforce or generate interest in their industry sector or business and he urged those doing nothing to consider participating in this year's Careers, Education and Training Expo at the University College of the Cayman Islands in March. Read more on CNS Business
Joey comes clean over theft
(CNS): In a surprise turnaround following his recent clams of innocence, Joey Ebanks has changed his pleas and has admitted to 17 counts of theft, forgery, fraud and deception relating to his time as the managing director of the Electricity Regulatory Authority. Between September 2012 and March 2013, he is said to have stolen around $100,000 from the authority, including spending more than $67,000 on iPads and iPhones. Ebanks, who stood as a political candidate in the North Side race as an independent in the 2013 election and as a PPM candidate in the 2009 election in the same district, had claimed the allegations were part of a conspiracy against him. Following a campaign protesting his innocence on Facebook for almost a year, Ebanks stood in the Grand Court dock Friday and came clean.
The June trial date that had been set relating to his previous not guilty pleas was vacated and a sentencing hearing fixed for 13 March. Defense attorney Ben Tonner requested a social enquiry report before the hearing and for his client's bail to continue. With no objections from the crown, Ebanks, who will be facing a custodial sentence, was bailed to return for sentencing.
Ebanks is also facing charges in Summary Court for theft and drug related offences. In addition, the police recently announced that Ebanks was under investigation relating to a solar panel project Ebanks attempted to launch while working at the ERA.
A former talk show host, Ebanks is no stranger to controversy. When he was the managing director of the Cayman Turtle Farm, he was at the centre of a controversial report by the Office of the Auditor General, as well as running up a significant bar bill and taking what appeared to be unauthorized salary advances of some $40,000. That cash was paid back, however, when he resigned in order to run for office with the PPM in 2009.