With the collapse of the OLINT and the confession by its leader, David Smith, that it was has nothing more than a glorified PONZI, there has been some interesting utterances. The most recent one is from the Gleaner calling for the the ‘Gangs’ of Gordon House to repay the OLINT money. This call is the most refreshing and is the right thing for the the JLP/PNP as a whole, members of political directorate and those that benefited to do.
What about the some Church leaders? Devon Dick in his article ‘Churchs should repent over olint‘, pointed out that these Church leaders need to accept their sorry role in the whole affair, repent and where appropriate repay the ‘profits’.
If they refuse to do so, court proceeding should be initiated to force them to do so. Simple put those that benefited from OLINT and other Unregulated Financial Organisations should repay.
Interestingly, to this day no charges have been brought against David Smith in Jamaica.
On slightly different but very related note, what is the status of the OLINT feeder clubs, Lewfam etc and their bosses? When will they be drawn before the courts?
Related
Filed under: Olint | Tagged: David Smith, Jamaica, Lewfam, Olint, Ponzi, SCAM |
Real Investments For Life 
Government reaches Cool settlement with Issa
2011-04-21 17:22:58
The Government has reached an out of court settlement in the law suit brought by Joey Issa’s Cool Petroleum to recover customs user fee amounting to more than $1.4 billion
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=28178
The Sunday Herald reported this last Sunday. Why do the other papers lag behind on reporting news?
Illegal Fee
http://www.sunheraldja.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1111:illegal-fee&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=671
Why do they do it? The Challenge?
http://www.jis.gov.jm/videos/watch?v=14018649
http://www.jis.gov.jm/videos/watch?v=14158015
WikiLeaks discloses new details on whereabouts of al-Qaeda leaders on 9/11
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/wikileaks-discloses-new-details-on-whereabouts-of-al-qaeda-leaders-on-911/2011/04/24/AFvvzIeE_story.html?hpid=z1
OCG wants more action against corruption
The OCG said although much has been promised by the Government to visibly and effectively advance the fight against grand corruption in Jamaica, “to date nothing meaningful has been accomplished save and except for the arrest of low-ranking police officers on petty corruption charges”.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/OCG-wants-more-action-against-corruption#ixzz1KZ3eSiGG
Priority to Olint’s US investors
Deadline extended for Olint investors to submit claims
UNITED States-based investors in the Olint entities will get first bite when the funds are released, the US Government has said.
Thriving alternative investment
schemes offering upwards of 10 per
cent interest per month suddenly crashed in mid-2008, [ October 2007] following [FORCED] local [LIE] and international action that resulted in the freezing of investment funds estimated to run into billions of dollars.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Priority-to-Olint-s-US-investors_8705638#ixzz1KcHMwTmp
“The Jamaican Government assisted with information in the case which was investigated by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, Internal Revenue Service, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.”
Nonco? Should I comment here? Perhaps they will assist further? Do they even know yet that they will be assisting? I have a feeling they will assist but as before are NOT aware of it yet.
Nocotec? ?? Don’t be sore Noncs LOL
More school to come Nonco…
Free Education is the mantra?
Sara
I just want to know how is he doing?
over a year ago
Romeo
Sara, he is doing very fine indeed, there is a whole lot of work being done to get things back on track. Only a matter of time before things get even better. All he ask for at this time, is just the support of the club members and the time he ask for to get things done.
Please, there are a lot of rumours and propaganda out there, just dont pay them anymind. What i can assure you is that all will be fine soon. All funds are ok and will be in order soon.
Trust me, I know
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=25558236313&topic=5240
Romeo
Roan,
I guess that was the way OLINT was looking to go, but if you were a mamber then, you’ll rememberthis delay starts happening since last November when a lot of people try to bring down the company and bomb rush and try encashed all their funds.
Having that amount of funds to move from one point to another was when the RED flag came up on the company. All the funds dispatchers starts delaying the funds to protect themselves. One cant blame them for that, if i own a bank i would’nt allow any group to try and put me under the microscope, especially where the U.S. dollars are involved.
However, WHEN, and i confidently say WHEN, things resume, there will be changes “roun ere”.
over a year ago
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=25558236313&topic=5256
Jonathan Simpson 8. They say pnzi scheme and all kinda crazy stuff when they all know better but they prey on the mind of the week through the media through respectable persons in society and plant seeds of doubt.
9.Is OLINT in problems? alot some is our fault some is because of what I said earlier but we will make it through Jah nah go… mek we suffa by the hands of the wicked and we will all realise or full gains and David Smith will be remembered as HERO and not a villain
Ps. Hope I got the presentation format correctly Mr Denny highly doubt it though
See more
30 July 2008 at 08:47
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=25558236313#!/group.php?gid=25558236313&v=wall
Duane Ogilvie http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080719/lead/lead2.html
Read Full Story above!
Smith said he has not applied the funds of members to his own use. The lawyers said they had full consultations with Smith and his wife Tracey and their lawyers Barnett and Associates during a visit to the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI…) following the restraint order obtained by the attorney general on July 11.
Smitty dont worry old pal we believe you…just do what you do best!
Jah Guide!!!
See more
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19852848686#!/group.php?gid=19852848686&v=wall
Duane Ogilvie http://www.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080718/lead/lead1.html
A high-calibre team of Jamaican and international lawyers has flown to the Turks and Caicos Islands to assist Olint Corporation Ltd boss, David Smith, in preparing for a looming legal battle.
AT THEM SMITTY…..BRING IN THE HEAVY QC FROM LUNDON!!!!!
18 July 2008 at 06:01 · Like · Comment
Mark as spamReport as abuseKaris Chin-quee well one thing is for sure the “alternative Investment clubs” not going nowhere so the banks better accept that reality. Already they are getting slightly less facety
17 July 2008 at 18:23
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19852848686#!/group.php?gid=19852848686&v=wall
Ingrid Riley Just got an email saying that
1. The site https://investforlife.wordpress.com/about/ is really a propaganda tool done up members of LeeChin’s camp to discredit not just Olint but other forex clubs. They are digging and checking IP addresses to find leads as to who’s behind this anonymously written site.
2. Fxstreet.com ha…s a message board and this person call FX Scholar is all over it again propogandising anti-Olint stuff on there too.
You know I always knew the Net was powerful in building up and taking down brands, products, people and things….but seeing it like this…welll damn!
It’s interesting to be a spectator to all of this. Maybe I can write a book in about a year’s time.
See more
17 July 2008
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19852848686#!/group.php?gid=19852848686&v=wall
Kathy-Anne Nunez Everhart My Mother always said “What goes around, comes around” Michael lee Chin and his family now feeling the pain. Him have to liquidate to pay his investors, and how many super plus stores close down???. I blame 3 People, 2 down one to go. No matter what, I will always be a supporter of David.
22 April 2009 at 11:48
Ingrid Riley ANT- LEECHIN CAMPAIGN PLANNED.
Listen man I heard a few people talking that they are about to mount a major anti- LeeChin campaign…renaming him LEECHING…the even developing a mascot with his head…the calling it LEECHING…the man and the company who’s trying to suck the life and livelihood out of the hands of Jama…icans for his own selfish purposes. Mi seh damn!!! We’ll see how far that one goes
See more
17 July 2008 at 09:23
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19852848686#!/group.php?gid=19852848686&v=wall
Miriam Marzouca Sherwood you see they think its all about big homes and cars, have they forgotten the kidney unit he has donated ,
30 July 2008 at 16:03 · Like · Comment
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19852848686&v=wall
Michael R. Douglas Smithie, just keep at it and we will support you. We just want you to communicate with us so we can put ourselves at ease and dispel all these nonsensical rumours. When the smokes clear, you will know what the next steps you have to make to improve your operations and we will still be there with you.
23 July 2008 at 12:51
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=19852848686&v=wall
OLINT starts foundation with US$1m to help needy Jamaicans
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
Foreign exchange trading club OLINT last Tuesday announced that it had established a foundation to help needy Jamaicans, especially children with special needs, and poured in a whopping US$1 million to demonstrate its commitment.
At the same time, OLINT founder David Smith appealed to his club members to donate to the foundation, reminding them of the benefit of giving.
Jared Martinez of United States-based Market Traders Institute, presented his pledge of J$10 million towards the OLINT Foundation to OLINT founder David Smith last Tuesday at the announcement of the OLINT Foundation at the Mona Visitors’ Lodge on the University of the West Indies campus in Kingston.
Smith’s appeal was quickly answered by Jared Martinez of Market Traders Institute out of the United States who pledged J$10 million to the foundation during his address at the well-attended function at the Mona Visitors’ Lodge on the University of the West Indies campus in Kingston.
Martinez described the founders of the OLINT Foundation as “ordinary people doing extraordinary things”.
Tracy Ann Smith, board member of the OLINT Foundation and wife of David Smith, said that the mission of the foundation fully embodies and reflects the desires that she and her husband share.
“The OLINT Foundation is committed to the improvement of the lives of all Jamaicans through contributions to health, education, community development and social development, with an emphasis on children with special needs, that is our mission statement,” Mrs Smith said.
She explained that the foundation was formed due to the overwhelming requests for assistance that continue to pour into the OLINT office.
“We thought it best to formalise our arrangement of giving through the establishment of this foundation,” she said. “This way, we will have a dedicated team to seek out the most deserving and give them support.”
The OLINT Foundation board will be headed by Betty Gordon and will include Edith Smith, Rev Dave Spence, Dr Paul Gordon, Nicole McLaren, Mary Dixon, Paulette Kirkland and Francis Hill.
Guest speaker Michael Missick, premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands, said that the foundation had his and his government’s support.
“People matter, good people matter, and I am happy that this foundation has been established,” said Missick. “We appreciate the efforts of David and Tracy and how greatly they have contributed to the economy of Turks and Caicos in the short time they have been there. Jamaica’s misfortune is indeed the good fortune of Turks and Caicos having gained these model citizens.”
David Smith, in his address, spoke of the motivation for his philantrophy, saying that he was inspired by Joan Duncan, the founder of Jamaica Money Market Brokers, where he worked for 10 years.
“Joan Duncan had a great impact on me, she always used to say the people we serve are most important and we must help them,” said Smith. “I want to continue that dream of Joan Duncan.
“In five years, OLINT has positively impacted the lives of so many people, and I want to say thanks for believing in David Smith and sticking by OLINT,” Smith added.
Monday 1/5/2009
Dear Lord Gifford,
We are indeed acting on the presumption but needed to impress upon the client that we require instructions urgently and as you know I do not like to leave matters open to interpretation so I do not like to leave these matters to the last minute as indeed this is where we are now. I called our client this morning and he indicated that his e-mail address is out of service again hence he has not been recieving my reminders. By copy to his new address (dsmith@yahoo.com) I am urging him to advise us immediately of any future changes in contact information particularly as his telephone contact is unreliable and we are at a critical stage of proceedings. We are instructed that our client is now putting funds $1,500,000.00 in place at Sterling for Security for costs of the Appeal. I do not have the actual order but have told him to have them make the cheque out to Nicole Foster-Pusey/Watson & Watson and we can attend to any details thereafter
From: hazrobinson@cwjamaica.com
To: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: OLINT
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2009 13:42:26 -0500
You are the most vicious and malicious person I have ever come across. I am absolutely apalled that someone with your apparent intelligence could write such drivel, and it appears the the Honorable Prime Minister of Jamaica was quite right with his redicule.
Your behaviour is at best efeminate and “higglerish”,. I pray to God that one or more of the persons mentioned in you story, sue the ass off of you. You are an abolute disgrace.
Anthony R.F. Robinson
Major (Ret’d)
p.s. I am also a citizen of the United States, and can be assured that you could never speak for me
To: David smith
From: Bruce Golding (brucegolding@yahoo.com)
11/28/2006
David, I must express out thanks for your support in our efforts, especially toward the staging of our recent conference. It was a tremendous success and has significantly boosted our campaign. your assistance went a far way in making it possible. I had a brief word with Peter (Bovell) sometime ago and express the hope that we would be able to meet. I hope that we will be able to arrange to do that. Kindest regards, Bruce Golding.
Office of the Prime Minister
Jamaica House Kingston
21st November 2008
Dear Sir,
I refer to your letter of November 21, 2008
I suggest that you focus your energies on tendering appropriate legal advice to your client.
Yours sincerely,
Bruce Golding
‘It was me’ — Golding confesses
Golding confesses he sanctioned Manatt deal over ‘Dudus’ as JLP leader
Speaking in Parliament yesterday, the prime minister, also held firmly by an earlier statement to the House on March 16 this year in which he said “the Government of Jamaica has not engaged any legal firm, any consultant, any entity whatsoever in relation to any extradition matter other than deploying the resources that are available within the Attorney General’s Department”.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Golding-confesses-manatt_7605025#ixzz1Kfg1ek6s
FLIP-FLOP: Golding Admits Sanctioning Contract With Manatt
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20100512/lead/lead1.html
associationofconcernedolintmembers.info (ASSOCIATIONOFCONCERNEDOLINTMEMBERS.INFO) is for sale
http://www.sedo.co.uk/search/details.php4?domain=associationofconcernedolintmembers.info&language=e&et_sub=136&partnerid=14460&et_cid=13&et_lid=17473
“I suggest that you focus your energies on tendering appropriate legal advice to your client.”
You think its Brady you speaking to?
In January of this year, Lynch, a retired director of finance and planning of the Sandals Group, has told the Financial Services Commission (FSC) that he is at a loss as to why his house was raided by the police as part of a fraud investigation.
In his statement, Lynch said Stewart had complained that he was not consulted by the board of trustees to distribute benefits from surpluses in the fund to pensioners and members of the fund.
Lynch claimed Stewart was objecting to the distribution of $351 million of surpluses in 2008, identified in the annual audit and tri-annual actuarial report. But Lynch, who has has asked the FSC to undertake a thorough investigation into the operation of the ATL pension fund, argued that the procedures for the operation of the fund “have been strictly adhered to over the years and the supporting documentation maintained in the offices of the pension fund”.
In relation to the raid on his home, Lynch said he was in the hospital recovering from surgery when it took place.
http://www.suntci.com/index.php?p=story&id=1636
He [Lynch] said no effort was made to contact him for information before several armed policemen invaded his premises and, to his family consternation and distress, removed five computers belonging to his wife, son and daughter-in-law, none of which belong to him or had anything to do with employment at ATL/Sandals Group of companies.
There have been calls in sections of the Turks & Caicos media for disclosure of dealings between Stewart and other foreign investors and the former Michael Misick’s administration.
http://www.sunheraldja.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=768:butch-under-fire&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=671
Economy affecting mental health of Jamaicans
Psychologist, Dr. Leahcim Semaj, says the 14 consecutive quarters of economic decline has been affecting the mental health of Jamaicans, leading many to engage in destructive behaviours.
Yesterday, the education ministry reported that a suicide hotline set up just over a week ago to deal with issues affecting troubled teens was being inundated with calls from adults.
Dr. Semaj said this is a clear sign that there are many Jamaicans in desperate need of mental health services.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=28261
Crown counsels report sick – Gov’t lawyers push for bodyguards
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Prosecutors-take-industrial-action-at-opening-of-Home-Circuit-Court_8719044#ixzz1Ko9GQTCc
Superman threatens to renounce US citizenship
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/apr/29/superman-threatens-renounce-us-citizenship
Could it be that even career law enforcement people fear the power of this man’s political influence and wealth? Why else would he appear so untouchable?
http://www.tcijournal.com/index.php?idsub=4017&id=8
Jamaican Attorney Indicted In US
A Jamaican lawyer based in Florida is among five persons indicted by a federal grand jury on seven charges.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110429/lead/lead91.html
Ministry of Finance?
From:n.grant@cwjamaica.com
To: dsmith@kasnet.com
Smitty,
Hope everything good with you, Tracy and the little ones.
Just a reminder (being June) that you’re supposed to cut me over the B account. Also David, I want to know when you will be accepting additional margin. Need to put on some more funds.
Heard form Brevy recently and told him we made a link, he wanted your #, so I just checking with you if that criss.
By the way, I have to give you big thanks for this operation. Is the only ray of hope, and one day we have to put you in the ministry of Finance!
Respect
Nellie.
819-7049
http://74.203.141.21/blog/defaultacrchive.aspx
CLICO policy holders threaten to sue T&T Gov ‘t
Attorney for the group, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj said there were other options that could be considered, but taking the state to court would be “fool proof”.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=28381
04-258 Orders obtained against unlicensed forex trading educator
Thursday 12 August 2004
The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has obtained orders and declarations in the New South Wales Supreme Court …
From: Audley Shaw fitzalbert_2@yahoo.com
To: David Smith
Saturday January 1 2007 4:43PM
David, happy new year to you, your dear wife and family. I am still hoping to get the info on the fx trading by Australia in dealing with their debt problems. Also, I had given Daryl the necessary information to have the thing activated, and he advised me that he had sent you an email in that regard. I’m told you might be here next week. I would like to see you as I have two persons who would like to meet with you. Please let me know. Regards. Audley.
dsmith@kasnet.com wrote:
Hi Mr Shaw,
Unfortunately I am just seeing your email, I will find out how you can get Information on the Australian Govts fx trading and let
you Know.
Also My schedule is a little crazy right now when I have a bit more time I will let you Know.
Also Congrats on the mother of all conferences.
God Bless
David
Christiana road project controversy deepens
However, the NWA CEO Patrick Wong told Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee last week that the project will cost $800 million.
Contacted for an explanation this morning, Wong initially declined to provide an immediate response.
However, when pressed he said the JIS report was inaccurate.
The Contractor General Greg Christie has demanded the detailed particulars of the controversial road construction project in Christiana.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=29185
Shaw: Make this the ‘comeback’ year
DESCRIBING 2010 as a ‘make or break’ year, Finance Minister Audley Shaw last Thursday invited Jamaicans to make 2011 a ‘comeback’ year for the country….
GENEVA, Switzerland (CMC) — Switzerland today moved to seize more than US$6 million frozen in accounts here belonging to former Haitian dictator Jean-Claude ‘Baby Doc’ Duvalier.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Swiss-move-to-seize–Baby-Doc–assets#ixzz1LEt5T4fB
Prime Minister’s credibility ratings slip
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/prime-minister’s-credibility-ratings-slip
To: David smith
From: Bruce Golding (brucegolding@yahoo.com)
11/28/2006
David, I must express out thanks for your support in our efforts, especially toward the staging of our recent conference. It was a tremendous success and has significantly boosted our campaign. your assistance went a far way in making it possible. I had a brief word with Peter (Bovell) sometime ago and express the hope that we would be able to meet. i hope that we will be able to arrange to do that. Kindest regards, Bruce Golding.
http://74.203.141.21/blog/searcharchive.aspx
http://74.203.141.21/blog/archivebookmark.aspx?ID=466
K.D. Knight slams government’s headway against crime
Since May last year murders have been going down, 42% reduction in murders but it’s not because of the government, it’s because the Shower Posse has been broken. It’s not the government break the Shower Posse, it’s the United States of America because if they did not insist Dudus would still be here,” Mr. Knight said.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/kd-knight-slams-government’s-headway-against-crime
US marshals take David Smith into custody
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/us-marshals-take-david-smith-custody
The findings of the latest RJR/TVJ/Boxill poll conducted between April 9 and 15 also reveal that a significant number of Jamaicans believe Mr. Golding should resign because of his role in the Manatt/Dudus affair.
The calls were based on claims of inconsistencies and deception in how the Golding administration dealt with the hiring of the US law firm Manatt, Phelps and Phillips.
http://876grapevine.com/2010/05/justin-oglivie1-of-3-shower-posse-man-wanted-visa-revoked/
Book On Dudus Set For Release…
A full-length non-fictional account of the Dudus saga and all its intricacies has made it clear that another log has seemingly been tossed into the fire of controversy that simply refuses to leave the Dudus saga in the backdrop.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110503/ent/ent1.html
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid610244352001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAAjCx1IJk~,TwxVXoKrQUehJ6ffhdmEw5o9Jjc_uKZ9&bclid=640891246001&bctid=928483790001
Tufton Campaign Financed by David Smith/OLINT
8/18/2006
David, thanks for having that open and frank conversation and your subsequent commitments yesterday. As you know we are coming up yo crunch time here so your contribution is very timely and will have visibility at the top. The 100K discussed will go into some 5 communities that really need the assistance at this time as we are converting these communities into garrisons without guns just through hard work. The work that has put in by these MP’s and candidates working door to door we each resident of there constituency is simply remarkable. /the direct recipients will be Andrew Holness, Andrew Gallimore, Chris Tufton, Joe Hibert and one to be named.
Here are the wire instructions for the 100K and I will keep you abreast of how the funds are expended.
WIRE INFORMATION
Bank: Bank of America, 100 South East 2nd Street, Miami Florida 33131.
ABA No: 026009593
Swift Address: BOFAUS3M
ACCOUNT NO: 1901052070
Acoount Name: Alliance Investment Management Limited
How come Minister Tufton never speaks about OLINt? The theft and the ‘common theef’??
Shall TEEF prosper?
Questions raised about the PM’s viability to lead the JLP
According to Dr. Ashley, based on the public’s response, the Prime Minister has tough decisions to make.
“The first short term implication is whether or not Mr. Golding remains viable as leader of the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) in terms of going into the next election.
Attorney-at-law Lloyd McFarlane says even if the conclusions of the Commission favour the JLP, the party may have already suffered in the eyes of the public.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/questions-raised-about-pm’s-viability-lead-jlp
Eloquent Oratory?
“A poll is just a (snapshot) of a given time (and) I really don’t know what’s the sample nor the questions that were really asked, so as it relates to the findings and what people think as it relates to what the findings are, we’ll reserve our comments until then. As it relates to new info that was pulled out, info that we were not aware of (such as) the signing of the MOUs by Dr. Peter Phillips, (the former Minister of National Security). Other than that, I wait to see the results,” said Mr. Franklyn.
He added that the RJR/ TV)/Boxill Poll would have more merit if it was done after the findings of the Commissioners are revealed.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/jlp-questions-methodology-used-rjrtvjboxillpoll
Credit union membership hit by protracted economic downturn
The protracted downturn in the economy appears to have taken a toll on membership at credit unions across the country.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/business/credit-union-membership-hit-protracted-economic-downturn
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid610244352001?bckey=AQ~~,AAAAjCx1IJk~,TwxVXoKrQUehJ6ffhdmEw5o9Jjc_uKZ9&bclid=640891246001&bctid=928483787001
Smith’s counsel Oliver Smith today requested that the Court grant his Unopposed Motion to continue sentence until any date the court deems appropriate between July 28th, 2011 and August 19th, 2011.
Illegal lottery scam forces closure of several money transfer entities
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/illegal-lottery-scam-forces-closure-several-money-transfer-entities
4 ‘Olinters’ on the shortlist to replace a 5th Olinter Bruce Golding.
The one who said “thanks David” on the letterhead of the government of Jamaica leads the pack, according to Boxhill poll.
The question for the public at this point is if these ‘Olinters’ were not complicit in the fradulent money laundering scheme and were instead “fooled’ – then why would the country have proven ‘” fools” in positions of leadership?
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/poll-shows-holness-favoured-take-over-golding
Seems the country has little choice at this time. Checkmate. The choices the country has are between either a scam artist or a fool in each case.
And establishment media is silent on this??…no choice there as they know the category they fall into…
If David Smith could fool up Holness what could stop Al Queida from doing so?
Golding has faced severe backlash after admitting that he, as Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party, sanctioned the hiring of US law firm Manatt, Phelps and Phillips, to lobby the Obama Administration on the extradition request for Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.
He made the admission after first denying in Parliament that he had knowledge of the hiring of the firm.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=28469
“The Government has not been trying to hide anything about the increase in poverty. The prime minister will no doubt address that (in his budget presentation) and if he does not, then I will address that in the closing of the budget debate. But the truth is, in the great United States of America, their poverty (level) also doubled since the global economic crisis.”
Audley Fitz Albert Shaw
http://rjrnewsonline.com/business/shaw-dismisses-claims-govt-withholding-data-poverty-levels
Why Corruption is not a big issue for Jamaicans!
In fact, there are some other issues that are now clearly before us as a people to consider on the issue of crime and corruption. Could the masses (96%) who do not see corruption as the major issue, could they be accepting corrupt practices as a part of the Jamaican landscape to get things done? If that is so that the 4% concern is a huge problem because the 96% who do not see it as a major issue may be condemning the country as a corrupt state.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/editorials/why-corruption-not-big-issue-jamaicans
Bradley Manning case: William Hague accused of ‘playing avoidance game’
The foreign secretary William Hague is “playing an avoidance game” over the case of Bradley Manning, the US soldier accused of downloading and leaking classified cables to WikiLeaks, according to Ann Clwyd, a Labour MP.
The former human rights envoy to Iraq has also accused the Foreign Office of “continued stonewalling” of Manning’s mother, Susan.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/05/bradley-manning-case-william-hague
Paymaster gets order from appeals court
2011-05-06 12:56:51 | (0 Comments)
Paymaster Jamaica Limited was this morning successful in getting a Court of Appeal order, which prevents damages from being assessed in its suit against GraceKennedy Remittance Services Limited, until the appeal is heard.
Paymaster had applied for a stay of execution of a Supreme Court order, which ruled that Paymaster must pay damages before an appeal is heard.
However, this morning the three-member panel said Paymaster should only pay the defendant’s legal cost incurred in the Supreme Court.
Middle Caicos ‘land scam’ probe heats up
http://tcweeklynews.com/middle-caicos-land-scam-probe-heats-up-p2399-1.htm
Former Minister searched at Miami Airport
Upon my arrival two (2) uniformed male United States Border Control Officers were checking each passenger’s passport upon disembarkation from AA flight no. 1594. When I presented my documentation I was asked to accompany the officers.
http://www.suntci.com/
But telling the truth, if it is uncomfortable, can be difficult, especially to people of wealth, like Miss Havisham, or of power and influence, like the gangs of Gordon House – the political parties that have alternated in government in Jamaica for more than half a century. For telling the truth sometimes forces us to acknowledge the dysfunctionality of our existence, which has long been the case with politics in Jamaica and the organisations through which it is mostly practised, the governing Jamaica Labour Party and the People’s National Party (PNP).
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110508/cleisure/cleisure1.html
Greece bailout fails to halt debt woes
Secret talks reveal Greece is unable to meet obligations under last year’s €110bn eurozone rescue package
“We will either go out to markets or use the recent decision by the EU that allows the European fund to buy Greek bonds. The markets continue to disbelieve in our country.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/may/08/greece-faces-new-bailout-deal
Greece: ‘Only tourism can save our bankrupt land’
With debts of €340bn, Greece is turning to its cultural heritage to attract a better class of visitor and make tourism the engine of the Greek economy
Last year, the government banished visa requirements for non–EU citizens, waived landing and take-off fees for aircraft at airports nationwide and took steps to facilitate foreign investment in a sector that, like so many others, has been afflicted by corruption, cronyism and lack of competitiveness – the very ills that helped bring Greece to its knees.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/08/only-tourism-save-greece?intcmp=239
Arrivals might be up but revenues show only a slight increase due to discounts and special offers that hoteliers have been forced to offer to attract tourists.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/08/only-tourism-save-greece?intcmp=239
Three of the four groups above, so far, have had the SIPT or Civil Recovery Team file legal papers regarding their behaviour with these same politicians.
Sir Robin Auld’s Commission of Inquiry highlights $250,000 political donations that are run through private bank accounts; Black American Express Cards that have mailing addresses in Prague, Czech Republic, facilitated by a developer – paid regularly from yet another unknown foreign bank account; banks that allow the political party to go well over a $1 million in overdrafts for an extended time.
According to a source then close to Beaches owner Butch Stewart and someone in a position to know the content of the meeting; about a year before Direct Rule, then Leader of the PDM Floyd Seymour and then Chairman Sharlene Cartwright Robinson traveled to Miami mainly to ask Butch Stewart to make a contribution of $250,000 to the PDM. Mr. Stewart declared at that meeting that this was a large amount and he was not sure that he could make such a contribution. He said he would have to consider the matter.
“How can we criticize Leeward and then go to Lord Ashcroft at the next election and ask for money?”
Astute businessmen do this all the time, it is called covering their bases guys, and it is not illegal for the parties to accept these contributions.”
We have a political system where allegedly a large amount of funds are needed by the political parties in order to contest elections. A system where businessmen are considered astute if they contribute to both political parties, otherwise their interests may not be considered if the other party gets elected. (Sounds more like implied extortion to us.)
Why not change a system such as this that practically begs for corruption?
http://www.tcijournal.com/index.php?idsub=4039&id=8
Before the last election citizens are being granted loans without collateral at a local bank, now bankrupt, and a native citizen owner of a car dealership claims many people walked into his showroom with thousands in cash handed to them for their votes.
This issue can be summed up graphically by remembering what a respected witness testified to at Sir Robin Auld’s Commission of Inquiry. She quoted a prominent and wealthy developer who was trying to muscle her with respect to her family property on Salt Cay; he said to her, “I own the Government”
http://www.olintja.com/blog/archivebookmark.aspx?ID=466
Jamaicans want a change of Gov’t
More than half of Jamaicans say they want a change of government.
The findings of the latest RJR/TVJ/Boxill polls show that 57.5% of Jamaicans said it was time for a change of government while 32.4% said that there was no need for a change.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/jamaicans-want-change-govt
David Smith, the man whose millions helped finance the election machinery of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party and the Opposition People’s National Party was described as “common thief” by the Supreme Court judge in the Turks & Caicos before he was sentenced to six years in jail.
As with most frauds, the judge told Smith that he used lies and deception to gain the trust of innocent people and then betrayed that trust for his own selfish ends.
When the rule of law is not applied impartially to all it breeds a criminal culture throughout society
http://www.olintja.com
Economic Woes Push Jamaicans Over The Edge – Experts
Experts believe economic crisis and domestic problems have been contributing to severe depression and stress, the main triggers behind people choosing to end their own lives.
“Too often, when persons go to the Church with great need, they are told, ‘We will pray for you’. What the Church needs to do is use some of that big offering they are storing up and help those in need. Too many of our churches today, and even individuals, have selfish principles,” said Francis.
Study says more challenging times ahead for J’cans
This is despite the much touted Jamaica Debt Exchange Programme (JDX) and the country’s standby facility with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
The study by the Washington-based Centre for Economic and Policy Research has concluded that the JDX has done little to resolve the country’s debt problems or place its public finances on sustainable footing.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/business/study-says-more-challenging-times-ahead-j’cans
Dear TCI Journal Readers,
Over thelast few months we continue to be the subject of multiple technical attacksupon our website. We encountered another similar such attack againthis morning [May 11].
With aidfrom some European friends of ours we are now having to restructure thetechnical backbone for the Journal in order to address the multiple differentforms of attack that we have had to endure over the last three and a halfyears. This may require a week, possiblytwo, starting tomorrow.
We feel theselatest adjustments will carry us to at least until the British SpecialProsecutor Helen Garlick and her team finally complete their work and what hasactually being going on in the Turks and Caicos Islands over the last few yearsis clearly laid out for everyone to see, and those responsible brought tojustice.
The sitewill be down during this period.
Sincerely,
Editors@TCIJournal.com
http://www.tcijournal.com/
And Keith Collister, the Chairman of the Economic Affairs and Taxation Committee of the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce said the GCT can be reduced without causing any interruption in inflows to the country’s coffers.
He said increasing the GCT base will guarantee more collections.
“The reason why that could be done without an excessive loss in tax revenues is because, at the moment, GCT does not encompass everything, a lot of things are exempt from GCT even now. For the proposal to work, whether it is 15%, 12.5% or even 10% it would require GCT to be on most items,”
http://rjrnewsonline.com/business/tax-reform-document-proposing-reducing-gct
Is that my money you’re spending?
People still maintain that a day in politics is like a full year in normal life. Who remembers when Mr Golding promised “Bangarang” if the previous regime touched the NHT? Remember the dispute over the transfer of NHT funds to assist education? Well, that was yesterday. This is today and the government has found a palatable way to use NHT funds to mend some of the torn social fabric.
The PM quoted the figure of $600 million which would be immediately available for the Foundation’s projects. As one of those who have not yet claimed the NHT refunds to which we’re entitled, my pressure went soaring at the first impression that somebody who had not planted the corn was getting set to raid my barn…Peter to pay Paul and all that. I was uptight because no one had asked my view on committing my “lickle smalls” to a bigger agenda. Somebody should’ve said something to me, man!
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Is-that-my-money-you-re-spending-_8793157#ixzz1MF1E1huG
Gurnani v. Loiten et al
Case Number: 6:2011cv00759
Filed: May 6, 2011
Court: Florida Middle District Court
Office: Orlando Office
Presiding Judge: Senior Judge G. Kendall Sharp
Referring Judge: Magistrate Judge Karla R. Spaulding
Nature of Suit: Other Statutes – Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations
Cause: 18:1961 Racketeering (RICO) Act
Jury Demanded By: Plaintiff
A gross media manipulation that has eroded public trust in Government
You pays your money and you makes your choice. The Major-General’s letter does, of course, remind us of what most of us knew already.
How did this happen? Lord Hutton turned out to be a brilliant choice for the inquiry, not because of any lack of integrity, but because of an unworldliness that led him to give the Government the benefit of every doubt and the BBC of none.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/christopher-bland-a-gross-media-manipulation-that-has-eroded-public-trust-in-government-2283896.html
“Unworldliness” New term for Ja to consider?
Why were the BBC’s due processes bypassed?
He had two substantial scalps dangling from his belt; more importantly, he had diverted attention away from a real threat to the Government’s credibility.
Note: February 2009: Multiple fake positive reviews submitted.
http://www.forexpeacearmy.com/public/review/www.markettraders.com
****Dominique Strauss-Kahn accused of sex attack on maid****
French socialist’s career in question following dramatic arrest at JFK airport and furore over lifestyle
Dominique Strauss-Kahn was taken off an Air France flight at JFK airport
Plainclothes officers boarded the flight at 4.45pm, moments before take-off, and took the 62-year-old out of the first-class cabin and into custody.
“It looked like he got out of there in a hurry,”
Strauss-Kahn was expected to throw his hat into the election ring within weeks.
For months opinion polls have suggested that Strauss-Kahn is the only potential opposition candidate who might unseat Sarkozy in next year’s election,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/15/france-dominique-strauss-kahn-lifestyle
A Failure Of Democracy: The Hijacking Of A Country
To most observers, it is clear that in both matters, party power was the decisive consideration. Any doubt about this in respect of citizenship was trashed by Prime Minister Golding’s March 8 statement to the House. He declared that he knew all along that five of his party in the House had dual citizenship but that, in the interest of retaining his majority, he had dealt with the problem, one case at a time.
Golding, in effect, for the sake of party power, deliberately violated the Constitution that embodied Jamaica’s values and well-being, and that he had sworn to uphold. And he threw this violation openly and, apparently, without shame or regret, in the face of the nation. With the same violations by its own candidates, the Opposition party was behaving no differently.
Horace Levy is a member of the Peace Management Initiative.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110515/focus/focus7.html
The truth is that the International Monetary Fund ((IMF) thinks we have to stabilise the economy before growth will be possible. The Government’s strategy is to go for growth now. It feels that there has been enough stabilisation and that the economy needs a growth stimulus. Bear in mind, too, that we are entering an election cycle, Golding’s leadership is under serious pressure, and the private sector is impatient for business.
Not only must Government, the private sector and the IMF now take responsibility for confused or dogmatic thinking about how to achieve growth, but government must be held accountable for the cost to the economy of the events surrounding the Tivoli invasion one year ago. This has cost the economy $18 billion. This is more than the Chinese loan is worth.
A recent study of the IMF’s impact on the economy is critical. The Washington-based Center for Economic and Policy Research has concluded that the IMF has put the country in a straightjacket.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110515/focus/focus4.html
A statement from Wayne Smith, David’s brother, highlights the pitch used to lure investors: “the ordinary man now realises [sic] that there are now greater earning possibilities and does not have to live with the five percent per annum return, but now can realise [sic] larger returns and accomplish dreams and goals of buying a house, educating children, helping relatives, and financing a business.”32
Despite the Court of Appeal’s ruling that the FSC had acted properly in issuing the cease and desist orders, the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has failed to bring charges in Jamaica against Smith for breaches of the Securities Act.
Or perhaps the DPP had money in Olint.72
What makes Olint of particular importance to investors and regulators worldwide is that Olint is considered by some to be “the first transnational Ponzi scheme with a political agenda.”184 David Smith’s ability to influence politicians and government officials in Jamaica and the TCI highlights problems with corruption facing these islands, in particular Jamaica.
Click to access Ponzi_Paper-May_Draft-2.pdf
Ponzi schemes cannot be stopped if they garner political and public support—it is crucial that regulators retain their independence, and that legislation protect regulators in taking strong (and often controversial) actions in keeping with their appointed duties.189 As the court processes restitution requests, should these politicians be required to disgorge the monies that were received as a result of fraud? Politicians in Jamaica seem to think they are protected because there are no laws governing political contributions.
NEW YORK — Marlene Malahoo-Forte, Kenneth Baugh’s deputy, has been dispatched to pound the pavements of North America, beginning today in New York, to smooth over anxiety that the Government is losing the Diaspora.
Amid growing fears that some angry Jamaicans in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada might boycott next month’s biennial Diaspora conference set for the scenic northcoast resort town of Ocho Rios, St Ann, Malahoo-Forte is facing an uphill task and might be too late.
The Prime Minister revealed that based on information from Police Commissioner Owen Ellington, crime statistics were set to go even lower, apparently in comparison with the 44 per cent drop in murders in the first quarter of this year.
Unfair Burden
Charging that successive administrations have institutionalised the transfer of resources from the poor to the rich, Prime Minister Bruce Golding yesterday said some of the tax-reform proposals tabled in the House of Representatives last week are designed to change that game.
Dangerous GCT Proposal
Let us consider the example of an old woman from Epping Farm, St Thomas. Her grandson, who is living below the poverty line, gives her $500 out of his weekly income to buy food. That money is barely enough to buy her oats, a tin of milk and a half loaf of bread.
Should these items be subject to GCT, this old woman, who is barely surviving of $500, will be forced to stop purchasing one of the items. With GCT now applied to these items, suddenly $500 is reduced to $437.50 with $62.50 going to the tax man.
Salt, sugar, flour, rice, oats, noodles, tin mackerel, syrup, patty, biscuits, bread, children’s crayon books, the cane for the blind, sanitary napkins and tampons, and dozens of other items and services were subjected to GCT. Shaw only rolled back after mass public outcry.
US mogul formally announces he will not seek the Republican nomination,
The multimillionaire has formally announced he will not be joining the small band of candidates seeking the Republican nomination for the White House race.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/16/donald-trump-us-presidential-race
‘Scheming’
Q: It is alleged that a family friend gained a lot from one of the recent finance schemes. I caught my 17-year-old daughter, now in sixth form, planning a finance scheme so that she could connive her fellow students. After reprimanding her, she shouted at me stating that I still talk with her uncle even though it is known that he benefited from one of these schemes. I cannot understand how she went to church every week from birth and seems so conscienceless. Was I too harsh to reprimand her?
A: Let your daughter know you cannot run her uncle’s house but you will be in charge of yours. Let her know the consequences of stealing and that you will not put up with that type of bad behaviour. Ensure that you remain in control of your home so that she will respect you and the principles you stand for.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110517/news/news5.html
‘Gov’t gone past Manatt’
Shaw says PNP in trouble if depending on ‘Dudus’ enquiry for re-election
“So I have news for the PNP; if in the midst of a debate we could put on the table issues of such far-reaching importance to the long-term sustainability of the Jamaica economy, if all you can do is go out and talk ’bout Manatt, Manatt you are in a lot of trouble,” Shaw said.
Observe the ‘best’ finance minister…
Europol: Al-Qaida smuggling cocaine from region
President Barack Obama said in a written message to the conference that “terrorists increasingly turn to crime and criminal networks for funding.”
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Europol–Al-Qaida-smuggling-cocaine-from-region2011-05-17T08-50-36#ixzz1Md7cc2Np
Fitz Albert says he should have thought and checked before he ‘had the thing activated’
Smile Jamaica.
Look like they call a bluff…fool…
My play coming up…
DPP don’t find the missing file yet? No problem man…you have made your choices….Get ready.
He is a Finsac bad debtor, an Olint member and he’s in charge of the country’s money.
Australian model…hahahaha pupa jezas…
State Minister says Diaspora Convention will be successful
The selection would then be done by the Minister from those put forward from each Region,” she explained.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/state-minister-says-diaspora-convention-will-be-successful#comment-4135
Selected by the Minister who lied to Parliament by saying Dr. Ronald Robinson paid for his own plane ticket?
Robertson mulling over OCG report on LNG Project
Greg Christie, the Contractor General, commenced the investigation last September after a preliminary examination was conducted on documents, files, email and electronic records seized from the energy ministry and the PCJ.
The OCG also received complaints which, among other things, alleged impropriety, irregularity and corruption in the selection of the Exmar Consortium.
The OCG became concerned about the integrity of the procurement activities for the LNG Project after it was alleged in the media that a local company, Caribbean LNG (Jamaica) Limited, was a part of the Exmar Consortium.
That company had as its majority shareholder and one of its Directors, Ian Moore, who was the former Chairman of the Board of the PCJ.
Copies of the OCG’s report on the findings of the probe have been sent to the Prime Minister and the Acting Group Managing Director of the PCJ.
The investigation report will also be sent to the Commissioner of Police, the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Attorney General, Auditor General and the Financial Secretary.
http://www.kramerlevin.com/
http://www.aig.com/home_318_96595.html
When? When more and bigger dignitaries are permanently logged on…they are queuing again.
50,000 first hits per day…can’t go astray….big corporate media in Jamaica cry for those numbers.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/videos/video.php?id=145
o: David smith
From: Bruce Golding (brucegolding@yahoo.com)
11/28/2006
David, I must express out thanks for your support in our efforts, especially toward the staging of our recent conference. It was a tremendous success and has significantly boosted our campaign. your assistance went a far way in making it possible. I had a brief word with Peter (Bovell) sometime ago and express the hope that we would be able to meet. i hope that we will be able to arrange to do that. Kindest regards, Bruce Golding.
http://www.olintja.com/blog/archivebookmark.aspx?ID=466
Hurry up Sling/Smitty/Dave…for I don’t suffer fools gladly…
Bernard Madoff’s wines sell for top prices
Online auction of jailed financier’s wines and spirits raises $41,500, which will benefit his fraud victims
Bernard Madoff’s wines and spirits were sold to raise money for victims of his Ponzi scheme that robbed thousands of their investments.
Madoff, 73, is serving a 150-year sentence in a North Carolina federal prison for a multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme that robbed thousands around the world of their investments. His wines were seized by the US marshals service, which often auctions criminals’ property to benefit victims.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/may/19/bernard-madoff-wines-auction
I spy 7 months ago in reply to Bear
Dont worry, Vaz has that under control already. why do you think he is going after Samuda’s position? To consolidate his position of course, giving him a firm foothold in the machinations of jamaica’s politics. Ah him a run tings, unuh tan deh – fools!
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20101010/lead/lead2.html
Audley Shaw admits error over NIR
In opening the Budget Debate the finance minister had declared that the NIR had risen US$2.5 billion, the highest ever.
But the spokesman on finance Dr. Omar Davis said it was an artificial figure because it included the US$400 million that had been raised in a EURO bond that was floated for Government housekeeping expenses.
This afternoon, Shaw admitted that the US$2.5 billion NIR includes the money which has been raised through the bond.
http://www.olintja.com/blog/archivebookmark.aspx?ID=853
EDITORIAL – Mr George Must Redirect His Focus
Maybe Mr Emil George has it within him to conjure up one, but this newspaper can discern no useful or credible reason to delay debate on a parliamentary censure motion against the former national security minister, Dr Peter Phillips.
It matters little, too, what position the commissioners arrive at with regard to Dr Phillips – whether he is criticised, or vindicated. For any significant focus on the former minister’s signing of secret memoranda with the Americans and the British would mean that the commissioners would have missed the point of their assignment.
In any event, the censure motion by government member, Mr Gregory Mair, was for the same reason Dr Phillips became so central at the enquiry: deflection and point-scoring.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110520/cleisure/cleisure1.html
More distortions from Mr Shaw
Friday, May 20, 2011
SINCE the 2008 Budget Debate when Peter Bunting criticised Audley Shaw’s statements, as then Opposition Spokesman on Finance, supporting Ponzi schemes such as Olint, Mr Shaw has been on a campaign to smear DB&G and by extension two of its former directors, Peter Bunting and I, Mark Golding.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/More-distortions-from-Mr-Shaw_8835596#ixzz1MtEeNuCN
Olint victims to speak in Parliament?
Should the response not be directed at Shaw’s handlers?
End of the world for who?
Anthony C
5/22/2011
Oh when the Saints goes marching in,The rapture is here.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/US-revokes-Government-minister-s-visa_8852781#ixzz1N700A1kA
According to the cables accessed by The Gleaner, the US Embassy in Liguanea, St Andrew, described as “troubling” the Jamaican Government’s defiance to grant US extradition requests for both Mr. Coke and Presley Bingham.
The US Embassy said the attorney-general, Senator Dorothy Lightbourne’s refusal to grant the requests raised doubt about the administration’s resolve to turn over criminal dons with close ties to the JLP.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=28844
To: David Smith
From: Charlene Robertson (cer@mail.infochan.com)
9/20/2006
It was a pleasure meeting with you. I look forward to returning with my family for a weekend. The folowing is my banking information:-
National Commercial Bank
Swift Code: JNCBJMKX
54, Second Street
Newport West
Kingston 13
Beneficiary: St. Thomas Education & “Development” Foundation 126 Third Street, Newport West, kingston 13. Beneficiary account number 396482711. YOUR SUPPORT WILL MAKE A MEANINGFUL DIFFERENCE TO THE JAMAICA LABOUR PARTY’S SUCCESS, Regards, James.
Embassy officials question sincerity of Ja Gov’t to fight crime
What happened to the LNG?
Wikileaks disclosures may change US, Ja relations – Martin Henry
Longmore is tired of waiting and she wants a full refund. “I have no more interest in it. I thought it was legit, now I think it is a scam,” she said. Another student from the Pre-University Kingston campus, who also requested anonymity, likened the programme to a failed investment scheme.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110523/business/business1.html
Amnesty Demands Justice For Tivoli Victims
In its latest report, ‘Jamaica: A Long Road to Justice? Human Rights Violations under the State of Emergency’ released today, the London-based group said despite some positive steps, the authorities have failed to prosecute anyone for the killings, consequently supporting local calls for a full commission of inquiry.
“An independent commission of inquiry must be established in order to ensure that all human-rights violations committed in Tivoli last year do not go unpunished like so many others in Jamaica,” the human-rights watchdog noted.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110523/lead/lead4.html
Davies poses Finsac questions to Shaw
DR Omar Davies, the Opposition spokesman on finance, is challenging Finance Minister Audley Shaw to declare what was his personal debt to the Financial Sector Adjustment Company (Finsac) and what special agreement was reached to take care of it.
Davies, who posed a number of questions for Shaw, said he already knew the answers but wanted them to be made public so Jamaicans can decide for themselves what is the truth about the financial sector meltdown of the 1990s.
According to the cable, with the covert unit on the verge of becoming operational to “investigate the most senior officers within the JCF”, the ACB had strategically “gone after as many easy cases as he can to show that the branch is active”.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=28849
i.e Anti Corruption metrics to date have been skewed by policy. So there is NOTHING to gloat about there.
United States Federal Investigators will be at the U.S. Embassy in Leguanea between Tuesday May 24th, 2011 and Friday May 27th, 2011. Federal Agents will be speaking to individuals who are Olint victims who are in Jamaica and who attended the M.T.I. course (Market Traders Institute). The M.T.I. course was offered in Jamaica between 2006 and 2008. Individuals who wish to make statements to the investigators must come with documentation proving that they are Olint victims and some evidence that they attended the M.T.I. course. Individuals who do not bring documentary evidence will not be interviewed.
I guess it all begins at LIGUANEA after all…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liguanea
US Govt cancelled the visas of James Robertson and his wife Charlene
Mr. Robertson said while no details have been provided on to the basis for the cancellations, he and his wife are of the view that it could have resulted from uncorroborated statements forwarded to various departments of the U.S. government.
PNP alarmed at revocation of the Robertsons US visas
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/pnp-alarmed-revocation-robertsons-us-visas
JLP’s image tarnished by visa revocation
Political Commentator Lloyd B. Smith says the revocation of the United States visitor visas of James Robertson, the Minister of Energy and Mining and his wife Charlene will have implications for both the Government and the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/jlp%E2%80%99s-image-tarnished-visa-revocation
OCG calls for a halt to multi-billion dollar LNG Project
The OCG in a 609 page report said it found overwhelming and incontrovertible evidence that the process of picking the bidder lacked transparency and fairness.
It also said it found glaring impropriety and irregularity in the conducting of the exercise.
James Robertson resigns
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
James Robertson resigned from the Cabinet this morning, hours after he admitted that the United States embassy had cancelled his and his wife’s visas.
Who will mentor Delano now?
He lined up his Ducks…
Contractor General cites irregularities in LNG bid process
CONTRACTOR General Greg Christie says he has identified multiple irregularities and improprieties in the tendering process for the Government’s proposed Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project and has referred his report to the island’s law enforcement authorities for them to probe the actions of Ian Moore, Stephen Wedderburn and Conrad Kerr.
In a statement released soon after Mr. Robertson sent his resignation to the media Tuesday afternoon, the PNPYO said “the Prime Minister has been tainted by several controversies that have all called into question his credibility and moral authority to continue leading the country.”
http://www.olintja.com/blog/archivebookmark.aspx?ID=466
84 Jamaicans placed on US terrorist watch list
When RJR News visited Jamaica House Tuesday morning, we were not allowed entry…
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/cabinet-pondering-revocation-energy-ministers-us-visa
Not even a Salad or a glass a wata?
Steady as she goes Smitty, for the bill too big now for u alone to pay…
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid610244352001?bctid=956580857001
US revokes diplomatic visa of Guyana’s deputy police chief
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/regional/us-revokes-diplomatic-visa-guyanas-deputy-police-chief
Mr. Green, who heads Guyana’s Criminal Investigations Unit, said he had done nothing to warrant the move and would seek an explanation from United States officials.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/regional/us-revokes-diplomatic-visa-guyanas-deputy-police-chief
Cables Claim Government Used ‘Economy’ Plea In Dudus Case
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110524/lead/lead6.html
According to the cable, Baugh, the foreign minister, claimed that the current economic conditions made the request for Coke “politically difficult”.
Jamaica the victim
“(The Cabinet minister) reiterated GOJ concerns that, over the years, Coke’s wealth and influence have become ‘deeply ingrained’ in the Jamaican society and economy,” the cable said.
“Because of the severe economic crisis afflicting the country, at present Coke’s pervasive power was particularly dangerous: with high unemployment, labour union discontent, and signs of civil unrest already present, his arrest could ‘spark off’ this volatile mix,” the cable further quoted the Cabinet minister.
According to the cable, the minister argued that Jamaica was not the creator of the crimes being committed here.
The minister reportedly asked the US to consider that Jamaica’s small economy loses 80 per cent of its human capital to North America and the United Kingdom and got criminal deportees in return.
“We’re victims, not the cause,” the minister reportedly declared, according to the cable made available through the non-profit media organisation, WikiLeaks.
In the meantime, the US Embassy has claimed that Golding had asked its officials if the terms of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreement, which was then being hammered out, were being influenced by Jamaica’s handling of the Coke matter.
To: David smith
From: Bruce Golding (brucegolding@yahoo.com)
11/28/2006
David, I must express out thanks for your support in our efforts, especially toward the staging of our recent conference. It was a tremendous success and has significantly boosted our campaign. your assistance went a far way in making it possible. I had a brief word with Peter (Bovell) sometime ago and express the hope that we would be able to meet. i hope that we will be able to arrange to do that. Kindest regards, Bruce Golding.
In the immediate aftermath of that victory, he was to face accusations by then JLP leader Edward Seaga that his campaign had been funded with ‘dirty money’.
Seaga was to later withdraw that accusation, but that did not prevent Robertson from playing a lead role as one of the Young Turks who forced him out and heralded Golding to the helm of the party in 2005.
Those Young Turks were also at the forefront of the 2007 election campaign that culminated with an end to the JLP’s 18 years on the Opposition benches.
Abort LNG project – OCG
The Office of the Contractor General (OCG), says its investigation into the award of a contract in relation to government’s proposed Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project has uncovered glaring irregularities which require criminal investigation.
Contractor General, Greg Christie said he has also referred his findings to the Commissioner of police and the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for criminal investigation to be undertaken into the matter.
Junior minister Laurie Broderick ** will assist Golding in the day-to-day running of the energy ministry.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/PM-takes-over-Robertson-s-former-ministry#ixzz1NNQyIQGP
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid610244352001?bctid=958157720001
JUST IN: Bruce Golding to reshuffle Cabinet
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=28891
A forth Finance Minister in less the 4 years?
A forth Minister of National Security in less than 4 years?
A third Minister of Energy in less than 4 years?
A fir and proper PM for the first time in less than 4 years?
Ambassador to the USA who renew the alliance?
jamdel51 2 hours ago
It’s clear that the PM is a two-faced hypocrite! While telling the Jamaican people that he was protecting the criminal don’s “constitutional rights” he was telling the US “Gimme time, mi soon ketch him and hand him ovah. And yu can gimme a helping hand fi dweet.” Why this man hasn’t been tossed out of office I do not know. He was clearly leading on the people of Jamaica and the US govt.
Flag 800,000,00 people liked this. Liked ReplyReply J. Williams 3 hours ago
Oh what a tangled web we continue to weave when all we know is to continue to deceive.
The Jamaican ambassador to the United States of America and anywhere else in the world has only one job to do, that of furthering Jamaicas’ best interest internationally and particularly in the USA. So when the US Gov., requested the extradition of known criminals, her job was not to act as go -between to see if the US would go easy on Bruce. That makes it quite obvious that this lady was only appointed , for special interests and not the interest of the country. This is so sad. Ms Marks do not allow your image to be tarnished anymore. Please do the honourable thing and follow in Robertsons’ footsteps in Jamaicas’ best interest.
Flag 5,000,000 people liked this.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110525/lead/lead2.html
I am protecting the constitutional rights of a
Jamaican citizen while going through with the extradition and asking the requesting state to help apprehend mi bredrin at the same time.
Pupa Jezas…hahahahahahahaahahaaa
Oh I forgot, in all sides of my mouth I make it clear that it my own image that I am soley concerned with.
The people of Jamaica will get an Olint facilitator close confidante as their Ambassador to the UNITED STATES of AMERICA
pupa Jezas……
WHY?
Why would persons of such high office like Ms Golding, the Mayor of Kingston and the Jamaican Ambassador to the US choose
NOT to help the Jamaican people by insisting on their own violition to speak to the Emil George COE into the Manatt/Extradition matter?
If you have intimate knowledge why woiuld you not share it with JAMAICA?
Yet in your ‘other’ roles you expect us to think Serving the interests of the Jamaican people?
Clearly not…you are self serving….BUSTED! Live wid it!
They had a once in a lifetime chance to act in the best interest of the country.
They made their choice and showed where their patriotism lies….in their own SELF-INTEREST.
Worst and dimmest…
Helen Havisham 4 hours ago
So a woman from off the streets shows up at the US Embassy in Kingston. She says she is acting on behalf of the prime minister and mumbles about extradition matters. She also says she will be the next Jamaican ambassador to the US but it hasn’t been announced yet. Sounds to me like the government is running a back-a-yard fish shop without ice, and with stale salad on the side. Don’t we have a competent Ministry of Foreign Affairs to handle such matters?
“We at Paymaster are excited of the prospect of a partnership [with OLINT] because we see strong similarities between our organizations…”
Kirk Barrow mentions OLINT?
But Motty how you allow Barrow to talk about OLINT and not anyone else?
Recall (try) Motty that you once said the emails were forgeries (on what EVIDENCE you made that statement only ‘the rapture’ could discern) and you let Barow speak about Minister Robertson’s ‘investment’ in Olint without stopping him and asking Barrow, “what EVIDENCE you have of that?”
Motty…it’s pathetic now….your show…the Ads of the sponsors are interesting though…
Personally I don’t think it’s OLINT. For anyone in a position of Leadership would surely have proof to show their full co operation with the British and United States Governments in the investigation of David Smith/Olint. FROM THE BEGINNING.
Particularly, if they had proprietary information beyond that of the average ‘investor.’
Without OLINT we would have had a string of diaspora bonds floating.
The total costing is staggering…
But weren’t ‘investors’ in OLINT labelled fools?
So why would someone who feels that way appoint ‘fools’ to leadership positions?
Something not reconciling there…
Foreign Affairs Minister to meet with US Embassy on visa revocation
Prime Minister Bruce Golding has instructed Dr. Ken Baugh, Foreign Affairs Minister to hold discussions with the US Embassy about the revocation of former Energy and Mining Minister, James Robertson’s visa.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/foreign-affairs-minister-meet-us-embassy-visa-revocation
See, Eureka. And the Minister’s links to Olint are well known. And the investigators are inside Liguanea. Kill 2 bird with one stone. Efficient.
Jamaica, no problem.
Baugh and Marks should go together and proffer affidavits about Olint same time.
‘US could be in breach of policy’
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=28892
Speaking on Mutty Perkins today Kirk Barrow mentioned concerns about Ian Johnson and concerns about Olint.
The Ian Johnson allegations have been challenged by Minister Robertson so will a statement be made refuting any Olint concerns?
Something not right in the State of Denmark and Motty never ask Kirk Barrow the right set of questions as an interviewer…Motty deh a Damascus.
“The revocation of a visa to the US makes your position untenable as it prevents you free movement from carrying out your responsibilities,” Vaz said.
Quizzed as to what would happen if Prime Minister Bruce Golding’s visa was revoked, Vaz
said this is among the matters currently being discussed within the administration.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Visa-cancellations-can-cripple-Gov-t—Vaz#ixzz1NOtYyHT7
Wikileaks: Police secret out
Why the UK and the US turned down
a request to sell six sniper weapons to
the Jamaica Constabulary Force.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=28906
Jamaican government issues WikiLeaks challenge -(Translation: YOU PUT UP)
Vaz also stressed that the government has no plans to respond to the contents of the leaked cables. – (Translation: WE SHUT UP)
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=28911
Credibility to Challenge?
He says an announcement will soon be made about steps to have Robertson and his wife’s US visas reissued.
He says while the US has not provided specifics, in a letter to his client, the Embassy cited sections of the Nationality Act which resulted in the revocation of the visas.
However, Barrow says the legal team is of the view that affidavits in the Ian Johnson case as well Robertson’s investment in the David Smith-led multi-million dollar ponzi scheme, Olint, played a key role in the revocations.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=28912
If the Prime Minister says Olint investors are ‘fools’
and if the Former Minister is one (according to his lawyer- Barrow)
Then logic would suggest that the PM views the Former Minister as a ‘fool’ (unless the PM says he knew not of the Former Ministers membership in Olint)
But if the PM was aware of such an investment then one might conclude that appointing ‘fools’ to positions of high office is acceptable.
Anyway the Finance Minister referred people to membership and we need no chronology or logic to discern that he himself is a ….
David Smith is a confessed criminal, convicted and sentenced to prison. He is facing further charges in the USA to which he has plead guilty and awaits sentencing. He faces a combined maximum of over 140 years.
Select PSOJ Hall of Famers under investigation?
WikiLeaks, Government, Visa, Shadow Shuffle, Govt. Shuffle get ready to take a back seat.
More Anon.
He said Mr. Robertson’s involvement in the failed OLINT investment scheme was also a factor cited by the US authorities for his visa revocation.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/robertson%E2%80%99s-visa-revocation-linked-allegations-drug-activities-%E2%80%93-us-attorney
“Investment” is now quoted as “Involvement”
James Robertson, minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, is one of them.
Detailed email
However, Robertson yesterday categorically denied receiving funding from Smith or Olint.
“The St Thomas Education Development Foundation and my campaign in West St Thomas did not receive any funding directly from David Smith,” Robertson told The Gleaner last night.
In one correspondence, purportedly from Robertson and sent from a close relative’s email account, a request was made for Smith to provide “support” that would “make a meaningful difference to the Jamaica Labour Party’s success”. The email included a local bank account number.
“I can’t remember. I send hundreds of emails and I am not denying that I am aware or have knowledge or know David,” Robertson said.
“I am not denying that there was contact.I am denying nothing but in terms of that specific, I can’t answer that.”
FACEless SENDER
Robertson added that it was quite possible that a request was made, but he would have to check his records.
Robertson suggested that the person behind the recent spate of emails should come forward.
“I cannot speak to something that I don’t know the source of it. It is being sent around the world, but nobody is claiming it, nobody is stan-ding up and saying this is a fact,” Robertson added.
Another government minister named in the emails said he would not comment because it was a rumour.
Efforts to contact the other ministers and MPs named in the email were unsucces-sful. Messages were left with personal assistants and on voicemail, but the calls were not returned.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20090213/lead/lead2.html
Cables Cite Golding’s Worry Over Corrupt Party Members
The then opposition leader had requested help from the Americans to identify the corrupt persons in his ranks.
“Golding has told us privately that he wants to isolate and remove tainted individuals from involvement in the JLP. However, to do so, he needs more than just rumours.
The cable named a reputed key Golding ally, and alleged that he was “involved in unspecified criminal activity, according to the local UK (United Kingdom) High Commission”.
It also alleged that suspected drug dealer Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke was a financial backer of the JLP.
The cable stated that Golding understood that the fight against corruption “is not necessarily resources; it is political will”.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110526/lead/lead4.html
Not a good time for donors.
Withdraw, Honourable Lightbourne
Furthermore, Lightbourne also made the allegation against McGraw that the September 2009 email that outlined the extradition process and actions and was copied to Harold Brady and also to Solicitor General Douglas Leys, was a forgery. It is unlikely that a typist could be that knowledgeable about the extradition when most Jamaicans, including columnists, have never read the Extradition Act and even eminent attorneys differ on its interpretation. She must have been following someone’s instructions.
Furthermore, she would have had to have the prophetic skills of Philip Phinn and Harold Camping combined to know from September 2009 that there would be a commission of enquiry two years later, to commit an email forgery from then to be used later.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110526/cleisure/cleisure2.html
Economic growth at last!
fall mouth
5/26/2011
This government is sure lucky. Other governments/parties have to pay millions of dollars for public relations. This govt seems to a built in one and they are certain to get placements.
An increase in jobs INDEED!!! This whole editorial could be taken apart piece by piece if only they gave the space the Gleaner does. It is nonsense, sheer nonsense and looks like an attempt to deflect attention from the WickLeaks revelations and JR’s resignation, and to pave the way for the upcoming ELECTION
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/editorial/Economic-growth-at-last-_8876432#ixzz1NT48S0Qr
London Bridge Is Falling Down
Could it be a case the magnitude of a David Smith of Olint
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110526/letters/letters3.html
Trevor Harris
5/26/2011
Mark,I also believe that this visa revocation was well thought out and not just an afterthought.For them to be giving the impression that it was based solely on the allegations of Ian Johnson is ludicrous.Robertson’s name has been linked with drugs, guns,OLINT,etc long before I ever heard about Johnson. Sesga said years ago that Robertson and “dirty money”were synonymous.Ponder that.As for the PNP’s shadow cabinet,I dont see why people are being bent out if shape over it.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Political-endgame-for-JLP-_8884020#ixzz1NT6auZDX
Trevor Harris
5/26/2011
I think these guys know much more than they are leading us to believe but what’s done in darkness still eventually comr to light and all the spin they and Robertson’s lawyer is putting on this won’t change the facts.This fellow name has been linked with many questionable characters long before Johnsons allegations.Sesga once told us about his link with”dirty money”.I think the Govt is in a lot of trouble from Dudus to OLINT they will have a lot of questions to answer in the coming days .
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/VIDEO–Visa-worries_8883539#ixzz1NT86i2of
Christie wants corrupt police, politicians exposed
He charged that politicians and public servants who are engaged in illegal activities are an abomination to the country, “stealing the very patrimony of their grandchildren”.
“They are traitors and they must be held to account. For too long they have been allowed free and unrestricted liberty to corruptly administer the affairs of the Jamaican state,” said Christie, who was addressing the 68th Joint Central Conference of the Jamaica Police Federation at the Breezes Resort in Trelawny yesterday.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/latestnews/Christie-wants-corrupt-police–politicians-exposed#ixzz1NTAOnSl1
Jamaica wants to get house in order — Shaw
PRIME Minister Bruce Golding said that Government’s liquid natural gas (LNG) project is going ahead despite the recommendation by Contractor General Greg Christie to stop the tender process for a re-gasification terminal and natural gas transportation system.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Golding–LNG-project-not-cancelled#ixzz1NUTzuAKN
So predictable he’s really boring. Talk about try to run [away] with it!
May 26, 2011 – The Journal will resume normal publishing beginning Tuesday May 31rst, right after the Government Holiday of Monday. Please check in with us then.
http://www.tcijournal.com/
http://johnww.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/why-did-james-robertson-resign/
Linton What
5/26/2011
Thank you good old America. You are the only one that can save our beloved country. You step in with Olint (David Smith) in less than 3 weeks he was convicted. Please Sir America take up the case with Cash Plus, Because we don’t have any government of our own. Two common reason why the good old America target a country are drugs and oil. Problem solve we doesn’t have any oil.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/VIDEO–Visa-worries_8883539#ixzz1NUjlUwSp
Digicel- Cha d’fhuaireadh am facal Beurla
lomnochd
Thursday talk
Not settled
1 First, there was one resignation. Then another was fired. Then another person was ordered reinstated. Now there are fresh allegations of impropriety.
No briefing?
2 The buzz is, while he found out about the no-fly status at the airport as he tried checking in to board a flight last week, there are others who were advised of that status beforehand! So, for some, the question is: Why was he not called in and briefed of the development rather than being forced to find out the ignominious way at the check-in counter?
Bad news
3 The story now doing the rounds like a wildfire is that there are at least two others who will get bad news soon. The jury is still out on that, but the verdict is in on other matters arising and the story is expected soon.
They are coming!
4 There are predictions that charges could be preferred soon in the matter that made national and international headlines last year!
Hung jury
5 Legal observers have all taken a ringside seat as they wait for developments arising from the latest Contractor General Report! Seems it’s a hung jury, too, as to whether the director of public prosecutions will act on the recommendations and seek prosecution, or simply file the report in what they say is her huge ‘File 13’ container!
Big fight?
6 Whispers abound about a big fight before those in the breakfront met on Monday to decide the fate of one of their colleagues! It’s all very hush-hush but the stories persist that he did not go quietly at all!
Free airtime for doom
7 The question most are asking is why was the Doomsday preacher given airtime to discombobulate those given to believing in the Apocalypse?
http://mobile.jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110526/ent/ent5.php
GREG CHRISTIE SAYS WEED OUT CORRUPT POLITICIANS
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid610244352001?bctid=959909717001
Link is good for a day.
It is doubtful that a serious diaspora conference with real representation will not demand answers with regard to the slew of recent Wikileaks just prior to the June 15th start.
Overseas Jamaicans not likely to be down with the stubborn refusal to answer critical questions.
TheJamaican ex pats not so patient with “I can’t recall” and such treatment.
Some delegates will be swayed by the beach and food and drink and percieved status in Ocho Rios but some will ask the piercing questions of our international standing particularly with many in the diaspora wanting to come home at this time.
The comment about ‘we send away 80% and recieve back deportees” was unfortunate. That is a factual claim. IF it could have been denied immediately it would have been to the benefit of Jamaicans worldwide.
When such blatant falsehoods are repeated AT our people overseas and quoted s coming from our own mouths it can be dehumanising.
The report that it was said that all Jamaica gets back was Deportees was not speculation it was reported as a statement that was said.
Can we not have it immediately refuted? A prompt categorical denial or the integrity to withdraw the statement and apologise?
This from those in bed with David Smith? A criminal who has shamed Jamaica and sullied our reputation abroad? From Panama to the middle East! And all in between?
And to hear this administration make claim very recenty about clearing the name of Marcus Garvey, out FIRST National Hero?
What a hypocrisy! Unpreceedented! Seaga, Patterson, Simpson-Miller, Governor General…are you ‘9 daying’ this one in Silence.
What? Our first National Hero was a deportee. You forgot?
In 2011 do we have to wonder why he migrated again after that
Media. Sellout.
“Dear Mr. and Mrs. USA, all ‘we’ get back is Rt. Excellent Marcus Mosiah Garvey”
Do we have ANY shame?
Deportee Marcus we don’t want you but David “Barabas” Smith mi casa y su casa?
No statement on this from UNIA Downtown? Can’t be that we never READ it for Marcus told us to read…
Marcus Garvey words come to pass for real….
Jamaica’s first Hero Deportee.
Those who made the statement (bag o’ wire) do not represent us USE.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/cartoon/
How can I sing “Justice, truth be ours forever” when my family can get no justice, and the powers that be seek to hide the truth?
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” — Martin Luther King Jr.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/A-night-of-unbelievable-terror_8890356#ixzz1NYjorubY
People move in and bring down all the values in the neighborhood particularly the property values. Safety and Security is compromised. Especially politicians who then line the roads with the SUV’s of their cronies to party with media photographers in toe.
You move…dem falla…
The authorities and the JDF ‘Sandhurst’/India trained could not read a map in trying to find a house that any walk foot Jamaican could have pointed out to them.
From: David Lazarus dhplaz@gmail.com
To: dsmith@kasnet.com
2/6/2007
Barry,
Below is the names you asked for:
1. Neil Andradie
2. James Robertson
3. Charlene Robertson
4. Patricia Nicholson
5. Justin Ogilvie- plus any in his wifes’ name.
6. Gassan Azan
7. Andrea Hughsam
8. Patrick Tempral
9. Ansel Tempral. new & old.
10.Charles Condell. (Eric)
Hope this will do.
David
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/us-govt-cancelled-visas-james-robertson-and-his-wife-charlene
http://876grapevine.com/2010/05/justin-oglivie1-of-3-shower-posse-man-wanted-visa-revoked/
Clara Brooks
5/27/2011
The chief who gave the orders to kill, not the soldiers, are at fault in every sense of injustice committed here. I have written about the need to kill Dudus before he escaped to America. Why did the chief wanted Dudus dead? every child in Jamaica can answer that. But why kill this senior citizen, what a horrible death, and now the family have to spend cash to clear an innocent man name. The government must take the high road and pay, with an apology. It’s time to heal Bruce, do the right thing.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/A-night-of-unbelievable-terror_8890356#ixzz1NZgUqvey
Re-tendering process sends the wrong message – Wong Ken
David Wong-Ken, Legal Counsel for Caribbean LNG, is pointing to the dangers of restarting the bidding process for the Liquefied Natural Gas Project.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/re-tendering-process-sends-wrong-message-–-wong-ken
Who’s WRONG MESSAGE Mr. Wong-Ken?
Still at JFJ?
Controversy surrounded Mr Tauwhare’s exit with many blaming him for lax oversight which allowed corruption by the former administration to run rampant.
Mr Tauwhare’s bid for an extra year was refused due, he said at the time, to Britain’s recent upgrading of the position which meant he was competing against “far more experienced” ambassadors.
http://tcweeklynews.com/governor-successor-chosen-p2415-1.htm
Digicel/Claro deal hits snag
She explained that the application is to be re-submitted as certain documents needed to be translated.
Graham said this has now been done and Digicel is confident that the companies will obtain the necessary approvals in due course.
Digicel announced in March that it had signed a deal with América Móvil to acquire its Claro business in Jamaica.
Under the agreement it will in turn sell its businesses in El Salvador and Honduras to América Móvil.
The financial terms of the transaction are not being disclosed, however, there will be a net cash payment to Digicel.
Regulatory approval is yet to be granted in Jamaica.
But concerns have been raised locally about the Digicel-Claro deal with stakeholders expressing fear that the merger will be bad for competition and consumers.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=28958
Bradley Manning: the bullied outsider who knew US military’s inner secrets
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/27/bradley-manning-us-military-outsider
What a read. What a story. He has caused a lot of ‘Nobodies” to soil their underwear in Jamaica.
He’s Gay? What is happening with that libel case in Jamaica? How the $500 go? Not in my courthouse?
In October 2007, Manning joined up. He was far from typical soldier material. He was smart, gay, physically weak and politically astute. “He knew all kinds of things,” said Rose. “He was heavily educated in science. He knew math. He knew what was going on in the world.”
–That paints regular Soldiers as kind of thick headed Robots who don’t understand this world they are born into. Unfortunate. As if they are Moose in the Archie comics.
Some sub human set closer to primates who were late when God was handing out brains…destined to raid Keith Clarke’s home or at best be institutionalized in a Hickling facility.
We need a GI bill type education facility in Jamaica for the army….
and Parliament?
He enlisted in October 2007 and was sent to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, for basic training, but in just over a month he was moved to a discharge unit and on the verge of expulsion.
Mullings?
Robertson?
Br…?
Hugh Scott?
Despite the concerns of his immediate superiors, Manning was “recycled” instead of being discharged.
Reshuffles???
“They had a saying, ‘Shit rolls downhill,’ ” said Jimmy Rodriguez, 29, an infantry soldier who was stationed at the base with Manning.
“We have nothing to hide,” Moore told the Business Observer in an interview last weekend. “Our company was formed before James Robertson became minister of energy and mining. This initiative is a private concern and has nothing to do with Government. In fact, there are no Government connections.”
Moore owns 31.2 per cent of Caribbean LNG, while Paul East and Conrad Kerr — a principal operating executive — share another 28.8 per cent.
Two weeks ago, Robertson announced that a consortium of local and foreign investors — Caribbean LNG (Jamaica) and Exmar — would be investing US$600 million in an LNG facility that will be located at Port Esquivel, St Catherine.
A report on mobile industry website http://www.wirelessfederation.com said “Superintendencia de Competencia (SC), which is the competition watchdog of El Salvador, has rejected the proposed merger of America Movil’s local subsidiary Claro with Digicel.”
“As per SC’s current decision, Claro and Digicel will have to restart the merger application process,” the report continued.
“According to SC, the companies failed to submit the complete information related to the merger process. It added that this inadmissibility does not mean that the merger has been rejected, but rather that the two companies must restart the merger application process,” the report ended.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110528/lead/lead5.html
Robertson’s Visa And Golding’s Manoeuvrings
Delano Franklyn, Guest Columnist
According to Marks’ letter, “Golding is visiting Washington to meet with heads of the international financial institutions and to address a forum of the Inter-American Development Bank on June 9, 2011.” The request for the meeting with President Obama, being sent only three weeks before Golding’s scheduled arrival in Washington, seems to be an afterthought. Usually, representatives of heads are in contact months before, as they work towards a mutually convenient date for a meeting.
What is even of more interest are some of the reasons being advanced by the Government as to why Golding would like to meet with President Obama. This includes, according to Marks, that “Jamaica is at the forefront of the fight against organised crime and that in May 2010, Bruce Golding made a bold political decision which dismantled the organised crime network in his constituency.”
Clearly, Prime Minister Golding is seeking to have a meeting with President Obama under false pretence.
LNG legal battle brews
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=28992
Exmar, you have some fools in Ja that think they smart. But even their own foolish utterings have a profound relevance when taken out of the context in which they were originally intended. One still on the rounds in the media paid for by taxpayer dollars without requiste representation comes to mind , “Think and Check Before YOU Invest.”
It goes on, “Ask yourselves, who are these people?….is my money safe?….”
He characterized Blythe as erratic and
unpredictable, and observed that he seemed to be in the race “because of ego.”
http://johnww.wordpress.com/
Golding’s own party leadership and the JLP’s political supporters are not without their own bad apples. The new Minister without portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister, James Robertson, is involved in unspecified criminal activity, according to the local UK High Commission. In addition, Christopher Coke, a known drug don, has been a
financial backer of the JLP. Golding has told us privately that he wants to isolate and remove tainted individuals from involvement in the JLP.
To: David smith
From: Bruce Golding (brucegolding@yahoo.com)
11/28/2006
David, I must express out thanks for your support in our efforts, especially toward the staging of our recent conference. It was a tremendous success and has significantly boosted our campaign. your assistance went a far way in making it possible. I had a brief word with Peter (Bovell) sometime ago and express the hope that we would be able to meet. i hope that we will be able to arrange to do that. Kindest regards, Bruce Golding.
Neutral Justice 4 hours ago
Obama will not meet with such a person in an election year, when everything Obama does the Republicans pinned the label of being soft with heads of State who covorts with criminals. Bruce, whom have brought disgrace to such a proud nation, cannot fathom the amount of damage he has done to himself and the world at large with Jamaica’s brand name image. Spain’s head of State refused to meet with Bruce in 08, and the reigning in of his super ego cabinet cohorts who have messy past association with criminals. For who the bells of the USA tolls. It’s like a river going over a water falls and the dingy loaded with Bruce and his henchmen paddling to stop the inevitable.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110529/focus/focus4.html
Golding responds to Wiki “leaks”
But speaking this afternoon at the opening of the Jamaica Labour Party’s Area Council Four Regional Office in Montego Bay, Prime Minister Golding told supporters that The Gleaner’s actions were an attempt to harass the Government and oust it from power.
He described the newspaper’s publication of the leaked cables as unethical and claims the information is property stolen from the United States.
Mr. Golding accused the newspaper of publishing select portions of the information from the cables in an effort to unfairly target persons in his Government and members of the Opposition who are not liked by the upper class.
Gov’t won’t respond to Wikileaks cables
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/gov’t-won’t-respond-wikileaks-cables
Puppetmastr…We seem to be coming very close to releasing the full list of JLP donors….’upper class’ I wish the PM had defined that term a little bit more.
I think Minister Henry and the PM have both put the Information Minister on the spot. What’s going on??
“Mr. Golding accused the newspaper of publishing select portions of the information from the cables in an effort to unfairly target persons in his Government and members of the Opposition who are not liked by the upper class. ”
————————————————————————-
Where could such a point of view come from?
From: Shalimar (shalimar@kasnet.com)
To: David Smith
David, thanks very much for your donation towards West Portland Christmas Treats. It will go a far way in helping to make these children feel the Christmas Spirit. I would like to use this medium to wish you and your family a healthy happy christmas and I am sure that 2007 will be better than 2006 for both you and I :-). Look forward to seeing you in Jamaica early in the New Year and remember that my house in portland is yours whenever you wish to visit http://www.villapointofview,com You can take a look and maybe it will entice you to come sooner. Blessings. Daryl.
List of Achievements:
“He urged supporters to work together to ensure the party is not booted from Government by domestic and foreign elements.”
“Those who can afford to run will run but what about those who can’t…they will have to stay…”
Steering Committee too, finds fault with LNG tender process
Bill Richards
5/29/2011
I just find it amusing that the Gentleman who was fired as Chairman of the said corporation, is simply handed a multi-million dollar contract a few months later. His exploits into ethanol imports resulted in Jamaica paying higher than market rates for the fuel, he is fired for contravening the procurement process and then he gets a contract a few months later. Bruce Golding will sink to an even new low if he does not redo the LNG bidding process.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Steering-Committee-too–finds-fault-with-LNG-tender-process_8912859#ixzz1Nn5V3DGP
6. Gov’t won’t respond to Wikileaks cables
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/gov’t-won’t-respond-wikileaks-cables
9. Golding responds to Wiki “leaks”
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=29001
Six for a Nine?
“He described the newspaper’s publication of the leaked cables as unethical and claims the information is property STOLEN from the United States.
To: David smith
From: Bruce Golding (brucegolding@yahoo.com)
11/28/2006
David, I must express our thanks for your support in our efforts, especially toward the staging of our recent conference. It was a tremendous success and has significantly boosted our campaign. your assistance went a far way in making it possible. I had a brief word with Peter (Bovell) sometime ago and express the hope that we would be able to meet. i hope that we will be able to arrange to do that. Kindest regards, Bruce Golding.
Breaking:
Jamaican PM Bruce Golding may meet with USA Secretary of State. He will NOT have audience with the American President.
Jamaican Ambassador to the US qualification and competence under scrutiny.
Thou shalt no covet thy neighbours visitor Visa
Very insensitive display in the house of Parliament.
Zoom on it and see that it is not his own….hahahaaaa
Like the ‘donation’ check Jared Martinez ‘gave’ David Smith at Mona Visitors Lodge for the Olint Foundation?
Blank piece of paper…
“There are powerful forces at work, domestic and foreign, and the challenge is going to be for us, how to organize ourselves on the ground, how to build that machinery, how to communicate to those voters to make sure it is strong, sturdy and resilient enough to withstand the forces,” Mr. Golding told party supporters.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/pm-chastises-gleaner-over-wikileaks-publications
Yes Luke Skywalker, the force etc. So who refused to testify at the COE ? Obi One Kanobi or R2D2?
Who paid Manatt? Darth Vader?
Looks like the Infamous “Olint Kool Aid” is being bootlegged again…
“It is not a PNP (People’s National Party) or a JLP thing…”
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/pm-chastises-gleaner-over-wikileaks-publications
“Moral Equivalency” the stale “both” argument?
Boyne you in the background there? Hidden by the force? Unseen to those of us who are not Jedi?
Mr. Golding, who was speaking on Sunday at the official opening of the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP’s) Area Council Four regional office in Montego Bay, St. James, said the publishers, who he referred to as the ‘Power brokers of North Street’, have no compunction about how they go about garnering information.
“…have no compunction about how they go about garnering information. ???????????”
“…have no compunction about how they go about garnering information. ???????????”
” I know that in Law in Jamaica, if the police find me with stolen goods, that fact that I didn’t steal it, (it is you who steal it and came and shared it with me), I am still guilty.”
B.G.
http://www.olintja.com/blog/archivebookmark.aspx?ID=466
Is that the OLINT confession?
According to the OCG report, Moore said that initially he disagreed with Golding and pointed out that this was a private sector initiative that would see electricity pricing going down by more than 30 per cent. However, Golding “countered by saying, what if another company said they could lower the cost by 40 per cent, that could cause a problem, so he said he saw no way but to go to bid”.
Added Moore in his statement to the OCG: “In making an observation of the situation, the HPM used the words to the effect of ‘you are halfway down the track; all you need is a race…’
http://www.wikileaks.is/origin/98_0.html
According to a recent report by the Jamaican Justice
System Reform Project, even if the Special Prosecutor’s
office is established, it would have difficulty moving cases
through the Jamaican Judicial system: a broken institution
with clogged dockets, inadequate infrastructure, overburdened
and underperforming judges, and an inability to seat juries
and protect witnesses.
13.(SBU) Conclusion: Golding understands that the missing
piece is not necessarily resources; it is political will.
During his campaign as well as in his inaugural address, he
promised that his government would have the political will to
tackle crime, violence, and corruption. These assertions now
will be tested severely.
To: David smith
From: Bruce Golding (brucegolding@yahoo.com)
11/28/2006
David, I must express out thanks for your support in our efforts, especially toward the staging of our recent conference. It was a tremendous success and has significantly boosted our campaign. your assistance went a far way in making it possible. I had a brief word with Peter (Bovell) sometime ago and express the hope that we would be able to meet. i hope that we will be able to arrange to do that. Kindest regards, Bruce Golding.
” I know that in Law in Jamaica, if the police find me with stolen goods, that fact that I didn’t steal it, (it is you who steal it and came and shared it with me), I am still guilty.”
IAN Moore, a local partner of the Exmar Marine LNG consortium, is of the view that Contractor General Greg Christie’s 609-page report on the tendering process for the Government’s proposed Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) project is inconclusive, sullies his reputation and will delay the project, thereby incurring costs of around US$1 billion.
“This CG Report will only scare away much foreign investment needed in this country,” he said. “Imagine what investors think when they see something like this. It is essential to have local partners who know the landscape and can guide the investor.
David Smith? Not a name any investor wants to be associated with. He’s in Federal Custody. He is a convicted Money Launderer. He confessed. He used threats of badness. He has many more problems to answer to that he and his kind can’t manage.
The cable says in 2007 Admiral Lewin, the former chief of the Jamaica Defence Force, JDF, was warned by current and former police officers and other JDF officers to avoid eating or drinking anything prepared or provided by persons he did not explicitly trust.
The Embassy also apparently requested that Washington support the admiral.
It said despite a burgeoning murder rate, rampant corruption, a lack of critical resources and credible threats against him and his family, admiral Lewin appears confident and comfortable in command of the JCF.
However, despite the promising start, Lewin was to lead the JCF for just under two years before the Prime Minister said he had no confidence in him.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=29018
“If information comes to me that I consider to be information that requires the public to be made aware of, in protection of my democracy, you coulda’ preach till you drop down I going to be calling press conference after press conference…”
B.G.
Sorry, we meant Waiting for Garlick. Never mind, same thing.
Alas, we’re back up this morning wondering as to how much detail to share with our readers about what has been going on in the background with respect to the various legal, technical and associated issues and attacks that we have had to deal with here at the TCI Journal.
There is a saying be careful when you fight monsters that you not become one. And so we will temper what we say at this time until the moment comes when Godot, we mean Garlick, finally arrives.
The legal attacks stem from Lord Michael Ashcroft and Butch Stewart, the technical from identified sources, and the gutter and vulgar intimidation from a well known native businessman NOT normally associated with the PNP.
[Night Editor’s Note: Butch Stewart did telephone one of our contributors to say that the legal action had taken place without his knowing. That it was an action taken by a director of his company without his knowledge. So we will just wait and see whether Butch is a man of his word and if he resolves the lack of internal control at his company or if the phone call to our contributor was just an intelligence seeking effort on Butch’s part. In that call he also attributed “issues” involving Beaches that are of interest to the SIPT in the TCI as being due to the actions of another particular director. One might be led to believe that Butch is a tragic and sad victim of unfortunate executive staffing choices!
We do note that during the call he asked our contributor if he knew the real identity of the person commonly known as “The Torch”. Our contributor, even if he knew, told Butch Stewart that he did not know The Torch’s identity. At no time has the Torch written in the Journal about Butch Stewart so directing that inquiry at us was odd; perhaps Butch was just being opportunistic. As a final note, their complaint is not regarding anything that the TCI Journal or its Editors has ever written, but that we had published a particular letter to the Editors about a year ago now, even though we had afterwards ALSO published a response from Stewart’s Global Public Relations Director, Stephen Hector, to that letter.]
If the legal attacks continue, our best defense probably is to invite our friends in the “tier-one” international media and NGOs in Europe and California who have already strongly supported us in the past and raised our profile internationally, to help publicize our struggles globally once again.
We do want to comment for the record however on the third type of intimidation so that when Godot finally arrives we can flag who this young businessman is at the time of his “perp walk”.
During the last three and half years that the Journal has been publishing, it has been remarkable that almost from the first six months of operation fully seven (7) separate contributors to the TCI Journal have been met with long lasting streams of broadcast vulgar and gutter texts, emails, and physical threats. What was always surprising to us was that they did not originate from the Ministers of the PNP government, who had been the main focus of the calls for good governance, or from those commonly associated with them, but from someone not normally associated with them in the public consciousness (until you dig deeper).
This was all taken in stride by everyone as “par for the course” until some nine months or so ago when the emails started to imply that family members and spouses of contributors were being followed and that their movements were being monitored even when the head of household was not home. At that point the American FBI was contacted because some of these threats were directed in the United States. Shortly thereafter we were told that the police authorities investigating had checked with the US Embassy in the Bahamas (which oversees the TCI region for the USA) as well as their offices in Florida. We were told that this person was known and his business activities were very much on their radar and that we had to be patient, and wait until the ongoing co-operation between the UK and the USA was acted upon.
We were subsequently told by an impeccable person involved in these investigations that every “alphabet soup” United States government agency is communicating, meeting, and assisting with the work of the SIPT (and vice-versa).
Though this native businessman continues with his threats even into May 2011, we continue to patiently wait for Godot. Our readers will have to be patient along with us.
Trust us though, we will definitely flag and name him when he is arrested and charged.
Just as the entire Turks and Caicos Islands were surprised to learn of some of the malfeasance that became known via the public hearings conducted by Sir Robin Auld, we are absolutely certain that the nation will be even more stunned when all the indictments are finally brought down by Helen Garlick.
http://www.tcijournal.com/newsite/may-31-2011-waiting-godot
Responding to questions on the now defunct Olint Corporation in Parliament on Tuesday, Mr. Shaw said key elements of the IMF study are under serious consideration.
He says it’s with a view to widening the ambit for criminal and civil action against the operators of ponzi schemes.
Among the proposed changes is, allowing the Financial Services Commission (FSC) to be named as a complainant in cases against ponzi schemes.
Shaw said this will help to eliminate the problem of unwillingness of investors to come forward as complainants.
Shaw said he also wants the FSC to be given more power to act independently of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in some instances.
“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few”
Winston Churchill.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Never_was_so_much_owed_by_so_many_to_so_few
Churchill’s argument was in fact correct; shortly thereafter the British won the battle – the first significant defeat for the hitherto unstoppable Nazi war machine.
There will be more backpedalling to come….
haha..Shaw seh “go study yu subject first” hahha
Shaw are you still being “BRIEFED” on your portfolio by David Smith?
hahahaa
What new information does Shaw claim has been garnered? Visa Business?
“Remember to call the North Manchester person. Also remember he had a falling out with our man at MZ some years ago.”
“REMEMBER to personally call and handle the North Manchester person.”
Cool nuh, them a HANDLE you “man a yard?”
“..to prove WE are a pyramid scam.
PTN – FINANCE MINISTER ON OLINT ASSETS
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid610244352001?bctid=969897985001
DPP backs allowing camera’s in court
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jun/01/dpp-keir-starmer-cameras-in-court
UDC has a new board
The Urban Development Corporation (UDC) has a new board.
Attorney-at-law, Kathryn Phipps, is the Deputy Chairman.
Other businessmen on the board are Robert Russell, Michael Ammar Jr, and Engineer, Michael Subratie.
Gleaner publication of WikiLeaks cables has negative effect – Vaz
Daryl Vaz, the Minister of State with responsibility for Information, is of the view that the Gleaner Company’s publication of WikiLeaks cables has embarrassed members of the diplomatic community and politicians who have been named.
The cables document communication between United States Embassy officials and Washington.
“It’s two different things completely because the fact is that the information that came in relation to Trafigura did not involve internal communications between a US Embassy and (its) Government,” Mr. Vaz replied.
Internal between Audrey Marks and convicted money launderer David Smith.:
Who in turn was sent to be Jamaica’s representative to
….. “our strongest ally, (the) United States of America,” Mr. Vaz said.
Because of some connections? There are hundreds of Jamaicans who are much more ‘connected…’
The one in the U.K. saw the high-jacker on the Eastern Airlines Flight and pretended to sleep…
Diplomacy?
or Leadership Style? Self Preser…..you know
Two diplomatic cables accessed by The Gleaner through WikiLeaks claim the JLP official believed that Trafigura could have torpedoed the People’s National Party (PNP) out of power if it had been handled differently.
The PNP had said the Trafigura money was a campaign contribution and was returned after public outcry.
But the firm said the money was payment for services.
“Payment for Services Smitty?”
http://www.olintja.com/blog/archivebookmark.aspx?ID=466
Having been locked up in Britain (the former colonial ruler) AND in America (“our strongest ally, (the) United States of America.”)
Nothing happened in Jamaica.
Where complaints were made to FSC (documented) and to Fraud Squad (documented) and to Serious Crimes (documented) and DPP (documented) and Flying Squad (documented) and the Prime Minister (documented)…..and on and on…all documented…
tape when people did not even know they were being taped for expectations were ……Low?
And the Cash Plus/ Worldwise/ Kingdom/Lewfam etc. victims think the fairy godmother is working in the background to help their cause?
Cabinet probes LNG project
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=29076
Exmar, do you know how the USA is structured?
“We’re saying a clear statement has to be made and must be made otherwise you face being a part of the disclosure when the investigation starts. ”
Seaga
http://rjrnewsonline.com/sports/football/seaga-says-jff-must-declare-if-it-took-bribe-bin-hammam
Shaw, ” As it now appears Mr, speaker, I am to indicate to you that there is (pause)… the NEED.. for the FSC to create a new file and send it to the DPP….AGAIN.”
“…FSC having problems with witnesses coming forward??”
Strange? For Shaw is an excellent witness in the OLINT case.
Why is there now a NEED Minister? What has changed?
You still don’t sound rearing to go after OLINT. Perhaps your motivation will increase….
Palisadoes strip rehabilitation could be in trouble (Shaw and Henry to trade Portfolios)
The massive undertaking of the rehabilitation of the Palisadoes Strip may run into trouble if the Government does not make more money available for the project.
“The only problem we have, and it’s a major problem, is the allocation in the budget.
Protest over the cost to rehabilitate the Christiana by-pass
And questions were raised about the cost of the Christiana by-pass project in Manchester at Wednesday’s PAAC meeting.
The NWA’s CEO said the project, which involves one kilometre of road, will cost US$8.9 million.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid610244352001?bctid=969894867001
One kilometre of road for US$8.9 million??
OLINT return that MInister Shaw! Documented? We shall see….ehh Mr. Big League?
Vidoe Clip 2. Title: “Meek and Mild and the sudden appearance of NEED”
PTN – FINANCE MINISTER ON OLINT ASSETS
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid610244352001?bctid=969897985001
Before he could get into a full
discussion of that meeting, Keene proceeded to explain that
she had a problem with Jones. She indicated that, last year,
she decided that he must take leave from September into
January. He resisted, and, according to Mrs. Keene he said,
“people kill people for things like this.” Keene said there
was a witness to his threat against her. Jones did take the
leave, however. In the meantime, Keene filed a report with
Deputy Police Commissioner Mark Shields. Shields passed the
complaint to Les Green, who is another International Police
Officer and heads Organized and Serious Crime. Keene said
she had heard nothing back from Green on the matter.
http://www.wikileaks.is/cable/2007/03/07KINGSTON385.html
The Chairman is The Most
Reverend Charles H. Dufour, Roman Catholic Bishop for Western
and Central Jamaica. However, the most energetic members is
the Honorable Oliver F. Clarke, who owns one of Jamaica’s
leading newspapers, The Gleaner, among other companies.
He explained that,
last year, XXXXXXXXXXXX obstructed the appointment of an American law enforcement officer to the International Police Officer
(IPO) slot that would have the anti-corruption portfolio.
According to Clarke, XXXXXXXXXXXX resented the prospect of having a
“white” man in that job (white could also mean foreign) and
Assistant Commissioner XXXXXXXXXXXX opposed the move as it
would remove anti-corruption from her portfolio. She put
pressure on XXXXXXXXXXXX.
http://www.wikileaks.is/cable/2007/03/07KINGSTON380.html
“Key Person” steps down.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=29086
Smith contributed money stolen from his victims to a Worthless Cause.
Police Commissioner Lucius Thomas, who is
known to be corrupt, and to whom Felice at least nominally is
to report, has only begrudgingly accepted Felice’s
appointment. Thomas along with other members of the JCF,
will likely do all they can, including participating in
extra-judicial killings of witnesses and intimidation of
their fellow officers, to prevent Felice’s Division from
making progress. Serious consideration has to be given to
witness protection, and the offer of immunity in certain
instances, if it would permit the prosecution of high-level
officers.
http://www.wikileaks.is/cable/2007/07/07KINGSTON1043.html
Julian Assange wins Martha Gellhorn journalism prize
WikiLeaks founder praised as ‘brave, determined, independent’ by judges
The annual prize is awarded to a journalist “whose work has penetrated the established version of events and told an unpalatable truth that exposes establishment propaganda, or ‘official drivel’, as Martha Gellhorn called it”.
“WikiLeaks has been portrayed as a phenomenon of the hi-tech age, which it is. But it’s much more. Its goal of justice through transparency is in the oldest and finest tradition of journalism,” Martha Gellhorn prize judges said in their citation.
“WikiLeaks has given the public more scoops than most journalists can imagine: a truth-telling that has empowered people all over the world. As publisher and editor, Julian Assange represents that which journalists once prided themselves in – he’s brave, determined, independent: a true agent of people not of power.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jun/02/julian-assange-martha-gelhorn-prize
More parents seeking transfers from private to Govt schools
The Ministry of Education is confirming a sharp increase in the number of parents who are seeking to transfer their children from prep to primary schools.
Harsh economic conditions are chiefly being blamed for the shift.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/more-parents-seeking-transfers-private-govt-schools
Then there is the white Mafia-planter-class dregs. When Bruce made the “fatal error” with Dudus, he placed their investment in the JLP at risk so they ordered him to turn 180 degrees as seen in car-chase movies. They don’t mind native party officers or ministers to puff, pout and pontificate, play in the sandbox, pockets bulging with marbles. What irks them is if their man consorts publicly with those of interest to the US and draws the interest of the RICO radar. These puppet masters benefit from deals which expand our sovereign debt and keep us poor. The 2007 debt was huge; check 2012! Am I bothered? I am fuming! The JDX three-card trick even confused our whiz kids! Should the US treat us as equals? Thanks to politicians we are as an errant tri- polar cousin who needs medication. In the US “Bill the worker” is at the centre from days when the French Statue of Liberty united them: “Liberté, égalité, fraternité”. What’s good for the worker is good for the US. Here it’s not so! The irony cannot be lost on Frenchman Dominique Strauss-Kahn who on his trip from Rikers to a luxury flat in Tribeca might see said statue and think, “Equality is a bitch! Watch me shackled like a hip-hop drive-by shooter because of a black Guinea chick!” One law for rich Madoff (600 pairs of shoes) and poor Malvo (bare feet)! Judge Dredd was born here – bless Prince Buster – but we do not give our miscreants Madoff’s 150 years’ hard labour!
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Regime-change-and-American-visas_8944949#ixzz1OCxJQ9FS
When it comes to “legitimacy”, most citizens and residents are gracious enough to not remind Clayton Greene and Doug Parnell EACH AND EVERY DAY that any day now the forty, yes 40, members of the SIPT are expected to indict IN OUR OPINION the top two tiers of the PNP political party and at least half the top tier of the PDM political party; and that chances are that shortly their senior members will no longer be able to run for elected office due to criminal records.
No one is reminding Doug Parnell that he still refuses to reveal how much money he and his associates have received from developers who will be indicted for massive bribery even when the developers themselves let it be known by email to the politicians that they are being disingenuous in their public statements!
http://www.tcijournal.com/newsite/june-3-2011-need-humility-and-logic-not-intimidation
John Edwards indicted over money used to hide affair
Federal grand jury indicts former US candidate over allegations he misused campaign funds
The case of USA v Johnny Reid Edwards contains six counts, including conspiracy, four counts of illegal campaign contributions and one count of false statements.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/03/john-edwards-indicted-money-affair
That page could not be found. Please use the navigation links above to locate the page you wish to view.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Regime-change-and-American-visas_8944949#ixzz1OFbOLwM3
Journalist forgot to read the memo?
Cached pages…
“Golding opened the debate and stated that the
opposition believes that the Trafigura controversy is enough
to cause the country to loose confidence in PSM and her
government. Golding suggested that the USD 500K “gift” from
Trafigura was carried out in a clandestine and surreptitious
manner and that the entire affair was sleazy and incestuous.
Golding argued that respectable democracies hold their
governments accountable and respectable Parliaments secure
that accountability.”
To: David smith
From: Bruce Golding (brucegolding@yahoo.com)
11/28/2006
David, I must express out thanks for your support in our efforts, especially toward the staging of our recent conference. It was a tremendous success and has significantly boosted our campaign. your assistance went a far way in making it possible. I had a brief word with Peter (Bovell) sometime ago and express the hope that we would be able to meet. i hope that we will be able to arrange to do that. Kindest regards, Bruce Golding.
The Prime Minister now, baring any further
revelations, will likely choose to delay elections and allow
this scandal to blow over and be forgotten by Jamaican
voters, as so many have in the past. End Comment.
http://www.wikileaks.is/cable/2006/10/06KINGSTON2065.html
Director of Elections Danville Walker
announced his immediate resignation.
Under Jamaican law, the post of Director of Elections may not have sworn allegiance to a foreign power.
In his official statement, he stated that he was unwilling to renounce his U.S. citizenship.
However he has been at the center of much
of the recent controversy of dual national elected as Members
of Parliament (MPs) in contravention of the constitution. Walker’s official proclamations, that all candidates for Parliament had been properly nominated, were cited in the Supreme Court hearings of MP Daryl Vaz of the Jamaica Labour
Party (JLP) in the election petition filed against him by PNP candidate Abe Dabdoub (Ref A). Walker later came under fire personally when his U.S. citizenship came to light in the media, since the Electoral Commission (Interim) Act prohibits
“allegiance, obedience or adherence to a foreign power or state.”
Thus, despite the controversy surrounding dual nationals serving in high government
offices, there appears to be no decline in demand for U.S. travel documents and citizenship determinations among the general population.
http://www.wikileaks.is/cable/2008/05/08KINGSTON398.html
– pay up or stay under British rule.
http://tcweeklynews.com/tci-must-have-m-fiscal-surplus-for-elections-p2420-1.htm
Blocking that one hard.
Will Dr. Franklin Jonston be appearing again?
The people want freedom
It’s up in a different place anyway…
The servers in Jersey, Miami and Texas lock long time…they have money and control media but not the brightest by any means…not even on the scales
Covered: North Street, HWT Road, Beechwood, Lyndhurst…and more…
Belmont, Old hope road..all Fagan…Duke Street…don’t make me laugh….COVERED…
Jack’s Hill? Name the road…Liguanea Ave…Stony hill?
Welcome to cyberspace.
Barbican Road…Tower Isle… Millsborough? Orator and specialist
Even Long Lane can be accessed….but that’s real heat…it’s a no no…
Paddington isa easy view….
Earle’s Court….eeeyyaahhh…Stillwell…
http://www.rjrnewsonline.com/business/govt-revise-imf-recommendations-concering-unauthorized-investment-clubs
http://www.olintja.com/Regime_change_and_American_visa_20110603.htm
US dipolomatic cable reveals major business leaders have lost confidence in the PM
According to the November 2009 cable, Embassy officials concluded that when the JLP was returned to power in 2007, the private sector was optimistic that the country would finally chart a course for positive growth.
But it says two years later the private sector was expressing panic in the market and the rising risk of capital flight.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=29148
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110603/business/business1.html
The public persona of every politician is that he/she is honest and straight, supports law and order, and has the best interests of the country at heart; but too many are in it only for themselves, and have their underworld connections. If WikiLeaks can help to expose two-facedness and duplicity, it will have served a good purpose.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110603/cleisure/cleisure2.html
Mark Shields threatened to resign
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=29162
Waiting on Wiki? You late.
The act of corruption was as entertaining to them as a football enthusiast scaling the high stadium wall to get into the facility when the event is free and the gates are all open.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110605/focus/focus6.html
On October 4, Opposition Jamaica Labor Party (JLP)
leader Bruce Golding announced in Parliament that his party
had uncovered “shady dealings” between the ruling People’s
National Party (PNP) and Trafigura Beheer BV. Golding
alleged that Trafigura had paid the PNP JMD 31 million
(approximately USD 475,000) through accounts belonging to
Minister of Information and Development ) and PNP General
Secretary – Colin Campbell. These monies, he continued, were
used to fund the lavish PNP National Convention (ref. B) held
September 21-24.
To: David smith
From: Bruce Golding (brucegolding@yahoo.com)
11/28/2006
David, I must express out thanks for your support in our efforts, especially toward the staging of our recent conference. It was a tremendous success and has significantly boosted our campaign. your assistance went a far way in making it possible. I had a brief word with Peter (Bovell) sometime ago and express the hope that we would be able to meet. i hope that we will be able to arrange to do that. Kindest regards, Bruce Golding.
466
dsmith@kasnet.com wrote:
Hi Mr Shaw,
Unfortunately I am just seeing your email, I will find out how you can get Information on the Australian Govts fx trading and let
you Know.
Also My schedule is a little crazy right now when I have a bit more time I will let you Know.
Also Congrats on the mother of all conferences.
God Bless
David
Golding called for the resignation of prominent PNP
officials, and for immediate elections. Private sector
organizations also have criticized the PNP’s acceptance of
the money.
From: Audrey Marks [apmarks@paymaster-online.com]
To: dsmith@kasnet.com
Subject: Better future
Sent: Tue 9/4/2007 4:45 P.M.
Dear David, just a quick note to say; so far ….. so good …. with the results, just waiting on the next two recounts to exhale. Regards, Audrey.
As post will report septel, PolEconCouns, PolOff and
EconOff met with JLP MP James Robertson on October 10.
Robertson indicated that he thought the JLP leadership had
made a mistake in bringing the issue into the public domain
too soon. He argued that the revelations have only served to
ensure that the ruling PNP will not call elections this year,
as many (particularly the JLP) had hoped. He opined that the
JLP’s party machinery “does not have a sixth gear,” and
worried that they would sputter due to lack of funds if the
PNP waited that long.
At issue is also the question of how the Opposition
came to uncover the scandal. Rumor and speculation abound,
but it is clear that the official of First Caribbean Bank,
Sonia Christie, who discovered the unusual money transfers is
the wife of JLP Deputy Mayor of Falmouth, Fitz Christie.
While JLP contacts maintain that, by virtue of her position
at the bank, she was duty-bound to report the suspicious
transfers of amounts over USD 10,000, PNP supporters clearly
see this as a partisan attack and a crime against privacy
laws, for which Christie should be prosecuted. First
Caribbean has put Christie on leave while it investigates the
matter.
Golding opened the debate and stated that the
opposition believes that the Trafigura controversy is enough
to cause the country to loose confidence in PSM and her
government. Golding suggested that the USD 500K “gift” from
Trafigura was carried out in a clandestine and surreptitious
manner and that the entire affair was sleazy and incestuous.
Christiana road project controversy deepens
However, the NWA CEO Patrick Wong told Parliament’s Public Administration and Appropriations Committee last week that the project will cost $800 million.
Contacted for an explanation this morning, Wong initially declined to provide an immediate response.
However, when pressed he said the JIS report was inaccurate.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=29185
Tax enforcement drive at business place linked to relatives of Govt official ordered halted
RJR News has learnt that an operation by a team from Tax Administration Jamaica, at a popular auto accessories establishment in the Corporate Area was hastily aborted today, after the team received instructions to halt the enforcement process.
The special enforcement team assigned to Tax Administration Jamaica had gone to Auto Traders 2000 Limited on Old Hope Road to conduct what is an ongoing drive by the agency to collect outstanding taxes.
The establishment is owned by businessman Ricky Vaz.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/tax-enforcement-drive-business-place-linked-relatives-govt-official-ordered-halted
The Tax Department must first deal with Audley Shaw.
http://www.olintja.com/blog/archivebookmark.aspx?ID=853
15 minutes only with Clinton. Time Reduced.
Oh Jamaica…
Hillary Rodham Clinton welcomes Bruce Golding at the State Department in Washington, Monday. The meeting took place amid The Gleaner’s ongoing publication of US Embassy cables to the State Department.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=29199
I’m not sure that I have ever witnessed a time in Jamaica of such widespread economic destitution as I am experiencing right now. Everywhere I go, the cry is the same – no money, no job and in some instances, no hope.
The pain is as palpable as it is pervasive, and Jamaicans who have always been accustomed to bearing their burdens silently are now being forced to speak to one another.
Jamaicans are hurting badly and hope is becoming an increasingly scarce commodity. While the poor have always suffered the greatest burden, the middle class is now under threat of extinction. The “tripartite tribulation” of Finsac, Cash Plus and Olint, has left the entrepreneurial class decimated.
Thousands of Jamaicans have been reduced to poverty on the cusp of old age, while others have succumbed to the pressures and have died, prematurely their friends say, leaving behind their families and loved ones broken, both financially and emotionally.
The convergence of Finsac, Cash Plus and Olint has left the country bare. Former homeowners are now living in rented premises, and grown men and women have gone back to being domiciled with their parents. There is a steady flow of Jamaican “re-migrants” – those of our citizens who have been forced to go back to living overseas – to re-earn and regroup at a time when they should be looking to retire.
Inner-city folks accustomed to “juggling” are having to find new and innovative ways to survive. Jerk pans that used to billow the sweet-smelling scent of half and quarter chicken, now deliver chicken neck with unending demand. It is interesting to see how the poor have to compete with the middle class for a regular supply of chicken parts, especially chicken foot. What I see is that the supermarkets can’t seem to stock enough of the item.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Hardships-and-hope_8972999#ixzz1OZaszhau
To: David smith
From: Bruce Golding (brucegolding@yahoo.com)
11/28/2006
David, I must express out thanks for your support in our efforts, especially toward the staging of our recent conference. It was a tremendous success and has significantly boosted our campaign. your assistance went a far way in making it possible. I had a brief word with Peter (Bovell) sometime ago and express the hope that we would be able to meet. i hope that we will be able to arrange to do that. Kindest regards, Bruce Golding.
High Level meeting? The time ‘allowed’ was reduced from 30 minutes to 15 minutes. Want to know what she talked about?
Madoff Payroll Manager Pleads Guilty
Lipkin also agreed to surrender any property related to the fraud, including his Ridgewood, New Jersey home and accounts held in the names of his wife and children. He also will pay a US$1.4 million judgment.
Lipkin became the third person who worked for Madoff to plead guilty to a crime in the massive fraud that cost thousands of people billions of dollars. Many of the victims were lured into a false sense of security by statements that indicated initial investments totalling about US$20 billion had tripled in size.
The 73-year-old Madoff is serving a 150-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in 2009. He has repeatedly claimed he acted alone.
“inner circle”
Picard’s lawsuit had labeled Lipkin a member of Madoff’s “inner circle,” saying he profited handsomely from the fraud and was an active part of attempts to cover it up.
Besides Lipkin, the other Madoff employees to plead guilty include his independent auditor and his long-time deputy. Five other people who worked for the firm have been charged but have pleaded not guilty.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110607/business/business2.html
Walker firmly believes that Trafigura derailed the November election and that had Golding waited, it “would have blown PNP out of the water.” He said there was a clear pattern among PNP supporters following the revelation: denial, disbelief, and, finally, outrage. He stated that if Golding had timed the revelation, the outrage would have hit as voters were going to the polls.
If Walker’s assessment of PNP reaction is correct, PSM may very well call an election as soon possible: in case Golding does have another scandal to reveal, a quick election would likely
catch PNP supporters in the “disbelief” stage of reaction. What is certain is that Golding is not going to make the same mistake again. He has remained tight-lipped about any other scandal and will surely not reveal anything until after an election date is set.
To: David smith
From: Bruce Golding (brucegolding@yahoo.com)
11/28/2006
David, I must express our thanks for your support in our efforts, especially toward the staging of our recent conference. It was a tremendous success and has significantly boosted our campaign. your assistance went a far way in making it possible. I had a brief word with Peter (Bovell) sometime ago and express the hope that we would be able to meet. i hope that we will be able to arrange to do that. Kindest regards, Bruce Golding.
466
JAMAICA Labour Party (JLP) Chairman Mike Henry is warning of the “danger to the national interest” from a threat by the Opposition People’s National Party (PNP) to orchestrate protest action against the report from the Manatt Commission of Enquiry if the report is flawed in favour of the JLP.
————————————————————————-
JLP ORCHESTRATES ISLANDWIDE DAY OF PROTEST AGAINST
On September 6, the opposition Jamaica Labor Party (JLP) carried out an island-wide demonstration against the People’s National Party government, on the same day that Prime Minister P.J. Patterson was hosting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Cuban President Fidel Castro, and senior delegations from CARICOM states, the Dominican Republic, and Montserrat for the signing of the PetroCaribe
agreement.
Delroy Chuck, JLP MP and shadow justice minister, told Pol/Econ Chief late on September 3 that the JLP leadership would meet the following day in the Stony Hill section of Kingston to finalize plans for the protest. Perhaps in a moment of unintended candor, Chuck cheerfully acknowledged that the JLP had been out of the news lately and needed to “remind” voters that it remains a force.
Iceland’s Geir Haarde becomes first world leader to face charges in relation to the global financial crisis
The former prime minister of Iceland has been formally charged over his part in the collapse of the country’s banks in 2008.
Geir Haarde was charged with failing to prevent the banking crisis and failing in his prime ministerial duty to manage the fallout. He could face two years in jail if found guilty.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/jun/07/iceland-former-premier-trial-banking-crisis
OCG rejects newspaper report
The Office of the Contractor General (OCG) has rejected a Jamaica Observer report that the OCG has approved the award of a government contract to American Firm Ernest Megginson, to manage a Liquefied Natural Gas project in Jamaica.
In the article carried in today’s edition, The Observer quoted a release from the contractor general as saying the contract is valued at US$426,000.
However, in a release today, the OCG said it does not endorse contracts.
Recently the contractor general recommended that the bidding process for an LNG project be scrapped because of irregularities.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=29236
“There is something about the Jamaicans abroad that I find to be outstanding. If I were to rank countries in terms of their commitment to their homeland, the Jordanians I think would have to be included in that top rank, but a special place would have to be given to Jamaicans,” Golding said.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=29276
Sharp increase in BoJ losses
There has been a sharp increase in year to date losses at the Bank of Jamaica.
The Central Bank’s balance sheet as at May 25 show losses at $1.95 billion.
This was up from $852 million in the previous month.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/business/sharp-increase-boj-losses
Dudus business partner cries foul
Justin Ogilvie, the business partner of former West Kingston strongman, Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke is challenging the sum reportedly seized from his office during the incursion last year May.
The police have reported that $2.9 million was seized from the office located at Passa Passa Plaza, but Ogilvie has challenged the figure in court documents.
He says the actual sum was $5 million and that he is also missing a Rolex watch from the office.
The claims are made in a court document opposing an application by the Asset Recovery Agency in the Corporate Area Civil Court.
The agency is seeking a forfeiture order in respect of the reported $2.9 million which was seized from Ogilvie’s office.
The agency is maintaining that the money was obtained through illegal means, but Ogilvie claims the money was obtained through legitimate business deals.
The case is set for continuation on July 14 before resident magistrate Sonia Bertram Linton.
In the meantime, Oglivie has filed a motion in the Supreme Court for the money to be returned to him.
The office was searched during the hunt for Coke who is now in the US awaiting trial on gun and drug-related charges.
From: David Lazarus dhplaz@gmail.com
To: dsmith@kasnet.com
2/6/2007
Barry,
Below is the names you asked for:
1. Neil Andradie
2. James Robertson
3. Charlene Robertson
4. Patricia Nicholson
5. Justin Ogilvie- plus any in his wifes’ name.
6. Gassan Azan
7. Andrea Hughsam
8. Patrick Tempral
9. Ansel Tempral. new & old.
10.Charles Condell. (Eric)
Hope this will do.
David
ATL execs accused of stealing pension money return to court
The accused; Patrick Lynch, the former Director of Finance for the Sandals Group; Dr. Jeffery Pyne, the former Chairman of the ATL Group Pension Fund; and Catherine Barber, a former trustee, appeared before the Corporate Area Criminal Court with a battery of top-notch attorneys, including Queens Counsel, K.D Knight.
Mr. Stewart alleged that the three caused his company, Gorstew, to pay out $351 million from the pension fund without his consent, from 1998 to 2008.
The cops, who seized computers and other items from the homes of the three accused as part of the probe, reported that an analysis of the computers did not unearth any evidence of value.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/atl-execs-accused-stealing-pension-money-return-court
Attorney General Says CLICO Operated Ponzi Scheme
Trinidad and Tobago Attorney General Anand Ramlogan said Wednesday that cash-strapped Colonial Life Insurance Company (Trinidad) Limited (CLICO) had been operating an ‘elaborate Ponzi scheme’ as the authorities move to make the directors of the company liable for its failure.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110610/business/business2.html
Court Reimposes Freeze On Howell, Mitchell
Published: Friday | January 14, 20110 Comments
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110114/business/business3.html
JLP cranks up election machinery
The Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) is set to crank its election machinery into full gear this weekend, as it looks towards the general elections.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=29306
Houston Managers (BVI) Limited.
BARRINGTON CHISHOLM – DIRECTOR
http://www.supremeventures.com/content/corporateprofile/profile_barringtonchisholm.html
Mr. Vaz insisted that $4 million was paid on the spot, with the understanding that negotiations would continue towards full settlement of the outstanding liabilities.
However, the man at the centre of the operation, Enforcement Team Leader Gladstone Turner is maintaining that Mr. Vaz is not telling the truth.
“I can clarify that monies were not paid on the spot as was indicated on the newscast. There was no money paid on the spot, however it is true that monies were paid. I saw a cheque the next morning when I went to the office for $4 million and another million dollars was paid during the day,” Mr. Turner said.
Mr. Vaz says the matter is now in his lawyer’s hands.
Meanwhile, Mr. Turner is disagreeing with the explanation given by tax officials for the halting of the exercise on Monday [June 6].
He says it was never the case in previous operations where the senior tax officials would contact him to abort a tax enforcement exercise.
“With respect to inequity, I think I consider what took place to be not equitable and I say that unequivocally and categorically because to me the action was curtailed prematurely,” Mr. Turner said.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/daryl-vaz-clashes-tax-administration-officials
Minister appoints Tourism Competitiveness Task Force.
The other members are President of the Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association, Evelyn Smith;
Tax Saga Deepens
FINANCE MINISTER Audley Shaw has distanced the Ministry of Finance and himself from alleged attempts to remove Gladstone Turner from his job.
Credible sources from the department have told The Gleaner that attempts are being made to remove the outspoken public servant from the unit and from his job.
Shaw, responding to questions on the matter from The Gleaner yesterday, distanced himself from any attempts to dismiss the public servant.
“I do not interfere with either the Tax Compliance Programme or staffing in any of the departments under my portfolio. Please direct your queries to the financial secretary, or the commissioner general, Tax Administration, Jamaica,” Shaw responded.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110611/lead/lead1.html
Politics and taxes? If a political tax attack is launched I think it is only proper that the politicos involved literally EAT the tax paper. And one particular case that is set to happen already. Get your ketchup and you mustard ready…
Murdoch sends in crack US lawyers to clean up News International
Staff at Wapping HQ sidelined as media mogul finally loses patience with phone-hacking scandal that is spiralling out of control
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/murdoch-sends-in-crack-us-lawyers-to-clean-up-news-international-2296116.html
THE EDITOR, Sir:
We unfortunately ascribe false power to politicians when the real power rest with the special interests in the corporate boardrooms and the criminal underworld that is inextricable linked with the Jamaican political landscape.
The higher shadow is the invisible hand that is at work that lobbies the Government to place their interests on the front burner because it is they who pay the piper, therefore call the tune! The higher shadow funds political campaigns with the view that when the objective of state power is achieved, any legislation that will be crafted must somewhat reflect their interests, which represent the real primary reason for funding an election campaign.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110611/letters/letters3.html
jlp stalwarts disappointed
According to the October 2009 cable, Seivright told US Embassy officials that JLP stalwarts and supporters were disappointed that Golding had not booted PNP supporters from their jobs and installed Labourites.
“Delano Seivright, a JLP party insider who works in the PM’s office, told (embassy official) that the general feeling within the JLP was that Golding had wasted valuable time pursuing elusive political consensus with an opposition party unwilling to accept its fate,” said the cable.
“As a result, Seivright explained, after years of toiling for the party, (JLP supporters) had expected to assume some of those posts held by known PNP operatives,” the cable said.
The diplomatic cable claimed that the Generation 2000 (G2K) president said some people who supported Golding’s return to the JLP after his about-face from the National Democratic Movement were becoming impatient with his leadership, which they felt was beginning to drive segments of the re-energised middle class back into apathy.
When contacted on Friday, Seivright refused to comment on the cable.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110612/lead/lead3.html
“Golding then claimed to have credible information from a virtually impeccable source that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez was providing US$5-6 million in cash to the PNP to influence the outcome of the upcoming national election,” a January 2007 diplomatic cable claimed.
According to the cable, Golding alleged that the money would be provided in US currency and “would be routed from Venezuela via Cuba using a diplomatic pouch”.
“Golding then suggested that the US could assist by either helping to intercept the Venezuelan money, or if it already had reached Jamaica, helping to expose it,” the cable said.
“He believed Chávez had taken on the role of ‘godfather with money’ and that Jamaica was ‘being sucked into an agenda not of our own making’,” a March 2007 cable allegedly quoted Golding.
Three months later, the embassy claimed that Golding reported to its officials that he had confirmed that the Venezuelan money, US$6 million, had arrived in Jamaica.
“He then said: ‘At the risk of being blunt, the question is whether the US is merely a spectator or is going to register serious concerns’,” a May 2007 cable said.
But shortly after taking office, Golding commended Chávez for his vision in creating PetroCaribe.
To: David smith
From: Bruce Golding (brucegolding@yahoo.com)
11/28/2006
David, I must express our thanks for your support in our efforts, especially toward the staging of our recent conference. It was a tremendous success and has significantly boosted our campaign. your assistance went a far way in making it possible. I had a brief word with Peter (Bovell) sometime ago and express the hope that we would be able to meet. i hope that we will be able to arrange to do that. Kindest regards, Bruce Golding.
666
In Opposition
He (Golding) believed Chávez had taken on the role of “godfather with money” and that Jamaica was “being sucked into an agenda not of our own making”.
In Government
Prime Minister Bruce Golding has described the Venezuelan-sponsored PetroCaribe Agreement as a model of cooperation.
The revocation of Mining Minister James Robertson’s US visitor’s visa had served to fuel the speculation about the PM’s US visit.
Marks conceded that diplomatic discomfort had emerged from the request by the United States to extradite accused drug don, Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.
Monday, November 17: National Commercial Bank will begin collecting the visa application fee of US$131 instead of Paymaster.
http://whois.domaintools.com/paymaster-online.com
Outspoken tax enforcer summoned to high level meeting
Gladstone Turner, head of the Special Enforcement Team of Tax Administration Jamaica, was called to a meeting with senior tax officials on Monday morning [June 13].
The meeting was originally scheduled for 10:30 Monday morning at the Shalimar Avenue office of the Financial Investigation Division in Kingston.
From: Shalimar (shalimar@kasnet.com)
To: David Smith
6/27/2007
David, Heard you were not feeling well. hope you feeling has passed, just spoke to the leader and our situation is as follows. We will be having a Mass meeting on Sunday in Mandeville presenting 60 candidates. We are mobilizing just as we did for the conference in 2006. We intend to make a statement in terms of the numbers. The cost for mobilizing the entire Island is expensive and as such we are requesting an advance on election commitment. this is due to the fact that most of the traditional corporate entity will not release funding until election has been announced. Please call me so we can disciss in details as time is of the essence. Thanks. Daryl.
The United States has promised to return the Defendant to the Turks and Caicos Islands immediately after his sentencing hearing, but no later than the end of August, 2011. There are court proceedings in September 2011 in the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Defendant’s presence is required for those proceedings.
Bloodclothhhhhhh……Not even me can believe I had it right from the very start…..could it be? could it be?
Rooar!! The Lion sleeps tonight?
Not an easy animal to romp wid…many have the scars to prove that….
Christie stands firm on LNG report
The contractor general said Wedderburn’s charges have sought to take advantage of the public’s general lack of knowledge of the extensive details and sworn evidence that is embodied in his report.
In addition, the OCG said the response has also challenged the truthfulness of the sworn written testimonies from former Permanent Secretary in the Energy Ministry, Marcia Forbes and Director General of the Office of Utilities Regulation, Zia Mian.
Weddderburn has, in essence, publicly accused the two of the commission of the serious criminal offence of perjury, and must now successfully defend his statements or face potential charges of libel, the contractor general said.
In response to Mr. Wedderburn’s demands for an apology, the contractor general said he has nothing to apologise for, and therefore will take no such action.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=29381
Manatt-Dudus report highly anticipated
Political Commentator Martin Henry said when the contents are revealed, he wants to see criminal liability assigned to individuals who have been found guilty of misconduct, in regard to the Coke’s extradition.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=29382
At his request, Opposition Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Leader
Bruce Golding met privately with Ambassador (accompanied by PolOff) the
afternoon of May 21 in his office at JLP Headquarters. Ambassador bega
by asking about Golding’s recent visit to New York; he said he had held
an excellent meeting with former Governor George Pataki two weeks ago,
and had discussed at some length the prospects for Jamaica’s impending
national elections. He had “now confirmed the arrival” in Jamaica of 4
to 6 million U.S. dollars in cash given by Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez to finance the upcoming election campaign of Prime Minister (PM)
Portia Simpson Miller (PSM)’s ruling People’s National Party (PNP)
(Reftel A). JLP supporters had “seen signs of this money at work on th
ground.” He then said: “at the risk of being blunt, the question is
whether the U.S. is merely a spectator, or is going to register serious
concerns.” The Ambassador reiterated Washington’s deep reservations
about Chavez’s political and economic influence throughout the region,
and assured Golding that we had expressed these concerns to the
Government of Jamaica (GoJ); however, the U.S. was unable to intervene
directly in the electoral processes of other countries.
To: David smith
From: Bruce Golding (brucegolding@yahoo.com)
11/28/2006
David, I must express our thanks for your support in our efforts, especially toward the staging of our recent conference. It was a tremendous success and has significantly boosted our campaign. your assistance went a far way in making it possible. I had a brief word with Peter (Bovell) sometime ago and express the hope that we would be able to meet. i hope that we will be able to arrange to do that. Kindest regards, Bruce Golding.
BRUCE WHEN WERE YOU GOING TO INFORM THE US EMBASSY ABOUT THE OLINT MONEY STOLEN DIRECTLY FROM THE PEOPLE OF JAMAICA HITTING THE ‘GROUND’ AND THE ‘AIRWAVES”
13 MILLION US DOLLARS PLUS.
Golding then noted that, historically, the JLP had relied on
corporate donors for 70 percent of the Party’s funding; however, the
“levels of money needed” had “grown beyond corporate donors’ ability.”
He estimated the election would cost 250 million Jamaican dollars
(3.7 million U.S.). Once the elections had been called, the JLP’s
donors would be “more forthcoming.” However, the most recent results
from pollster Bill Johnson, published in the Jamaica Gleaner newspaper,
purporting that the PNP currently enjoyed a seven-point lead nationally
were “not helpful” in raising donations. The JLP was “going after”
about nineteen constituencies normally held by the PNP, and money was
“key” in swinging the marginal constituencies.
From: Shalimar (shalimar@kasnet.com)
To: David Smith
6/27/2007
David, Heard you were not feeling well. hope you feeling has passed, just spoke to the leader and our situation is as follows. We will be having a Mass meeting on Sunday in Mandeville presenting 60 candidates. We are mobilizing just as we did for the conference in 2006. We intend to make a statement in terms of the numbers. The cost for mobilizing the entire Island is expensive and as such we are requesting an advance on election commitment. this is due to the fact that most of the traditional corporate entity will not release funding until election has been announced. Please call me so we can disciss in details as time is of the essence. Thanks. Daryl.
Golding then observed that there were “not many things in Jamaic
without a price tag: newspaper stories are for sale.” He described
corruption as “endemic,” and acknowledged its presence within the JLP.
Casting cold water on the Bill Johnson poll in the Jamaica Gleaner, he
said “if you want a poll, it’s for sale.”
To: David Smith
From: Don Creary (doncreary@gmail.com)
1/24/07
Hi David,
Please find attached 2 articles that were on the front of the respective business sections today. Mark Wignall will have another very interesting piece on Sunday bashing Bunting for a letter he wrote under a jumbled name on Friday last. He will also share with reader some of the feedback he has recieved. Ayesha emailed you a ltter that was in yesterday’s Observer. i tried to call you about some quotes from you and Wayne but i didn’t get you. The feedback nere on the letter yesterday and the stories today have been very positive. After Sunday we move into Phase 2 with the differentiation between OLINT and Cash Plus. Please Give me a call. Blessings. Don
In 1994, the GOJ embarked on a privatization program
which resulted in the purchase of the airline by the “Air
Jamaica Acquisition Group” (AJAG), led by prominent Kingston
businessman Gordon “Butch” Stewart. The GOJ retained a 25
percent stake.
At a meeting with DCM and EconOff on November 21,
Conway painted a bleak picture of the airline’s future. “It
could literally sink at any minute,” he said. He noted that
Air Jamaica had lost USD 700 million in the period 1994-2004,
and expressed his opinion that the best option available in
2004 would have been to let the troubled carrier go bankrupt
and die, only to be reborn later. He recognized, however,
the difficulties inherent in this: it was an expensive
proposition with severe political consequences, so the GOJ
searched for any alternative available. (Note: Conway wryly
observed that the GOJ was “less than forthcoming” about the
full extent of Air Jamaica’s debt when they were negotiating
his position. End note.)
[There is a David Smith email to insert here relevant to topic. All you readers should have learnt how to do it by now. It’s really simple]
In Conway’s opinion, however, the problem is as much
the endemic corruption in the country as it is the elections
or political will. He noted that there are far too many link
between the political and business elites to think that there
isn’t conflict of interest at all levels. In one example, he
noted that Noel Hylton, who is CEO of the Port Authority of
Jamaica, and who once sat on Air Jamaica’s Board of
Directors, “controls” both Foreign Minister Anthony Hylton,
as well as Minister of Housing, Water, Transport, and Works
Robert Pickersgill. Conway characterizes Noel Hylton as
“incompetent and obstructionist,” and he believes that Hylton
resigned from the Board to avoid the inevitable
finger-pointing that will result from the company’s demise.
The damage, however, has already been done.
Conway recognized that in the Caribbean, “anything
goes,” with regard to what is rumored, and what is printed in
the media. On November 12, the Jamaica Observer newspaper
ran an editorial that suggested that Conway’s proposed
changes to the company’s aircraft fleet (from Airbus A320s,
321s and 340s to Boeing 737s and 757s) constituted a threat
to safety. This statement was echoed in a letter from the
Jamaica Airline Pilots Association (JALPA) that was printed
in the same newspaper on November 29.
In response, Conway pointed out that “airlines around
the world that utilize Boeing aircraft would certainly be
surprised to hear about safety issues.” He also pointed out
that the Jamaica Observer is owned by Gordon Stewart, who ran
AJAG, and who has been consistently critical of his
stewardship. Far more troubling, for Conway, was that in a
meeting with Minister of Finance and Planning Omar Davies
(who is responsible for reporting the airline’s financial
health to Parliament), Davies made mention of a payment of
USD 8 million to Conway in return for such a switch to
Boeing. Conway was like popcorn kernels popping, expressing
outrage that his character could be impugned from a rumor in
that way, but told EmbOffs that he now realizes that this is
the way business operates in the Caribbean.
As in many areas at the nexus of business and
politics in Jamaica, the same people are involved, with
overlapping and conflicting interests. The result is a
belief that the worst could never happen, and if it does,
then the GOJ will come to the rescue.
http://www.wikileaks.is/cable/2006/11/06KINGSTON2314.html
Given Jamaica’s dire
economic situation, it is crucial for the GOJ to offload this loss
making albatross, which has bled more than USD 1 billion over the
last decade. Prime Minister (PM) Bruce Golding’s inability to
coordinate his Jamaica Labour Party (JLP)-led administration to
speak with one voice on such a vital issue is further evidence of
his questionable leadership skills. The GOJ is facing monumental
financial challenges including multiple rating agency downgrades,
sluggish IMF negotiations, and falling tax revenue; the inability
to get on message to ditch AJ is nothing short of mystifying.
Minister of Tourism Ed Bartlett has been vocal
about keeping AJ under Jamaican control to support the tourism
sector by guaranteeing airlift to the island. The ever politically
influential Gordon “Butch” Stewart, who owns the Sandals group of
resorts and for a few years actually ran AJ, also is keen to keep
the airline in Jamaican hands to bring a ready supply of tourists
to his all inclusive hotels (Reftel E).
On November 20 during an interview with The Gleaner
newspaper, Minister of Information Daryl Vaz indicated that the AJ
divestment was contingent on the signing of a Standby Agreement
between the GOJ and the IMF (Reftel A). Nobles tried to distance
the AJ sale from IMF negotiations by saying it was the first time
he had hear of this link, adding that he is busy running the
airline, and is not involved in discussions with the IMF. The week
before, Tourism Minister Ed Bartlett, who was at the World Tourism
Market in London, told the press that AJ was “now back on the
market for divestment.” Nobles, who also attended the event, said
he pulled Bartlett aside to clarify that his comment was incorrect,
as negotiations were still progressing with Indigo. Even after the
warning, Bartlett chose to repeat the comment to the press later
that day. Nobles told Emboff that Dennis Lalor, the chair of the
JAPC who is leading negotiations with Indigo, “went berserk” when
he heard Bartlett’s comments.
The report has not found any one culpable for the events surrounding the extradition of Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=29388
Now that’s a good a boy Emil, good boy, good boy.
Anyway, back to the cables. The OLINT cables coming up soon….
The PNP no
longer was aggressively canvassing the private sector,
apparently because their contributions no longer were needed.
Private sector companies which historically had contributed
to both major political parties no longer were being
approached by the PNP. He believed Chavez had taken on the
role of a “godfather with money,” and that Jamaica was “being
sucked into an agenda not of our own making. Chavez waves
cash, we’re mesmerized, and cave in to anything he wants.”
To: David smith
From: Bruce Golding (brucegolding@yahoo.com)
11/28/2006
David, I must express our thanks for your support in our efforts, especially toward the staging of our recent conference. It was a tremendous success and has significantly boosted our campaign. your assistance went a far way in making it possible. I had a brief word with Peter (Bovell) sometime ago and express the hope that we would be able to meet. i hope that we will be able to arrange to do that. Kindest regards, Bruce Golding.
‘No public official will face criminal sanctions’
The Manatt-Dudus commission of enquiry has ruled no public official should face criminal or other sanctions in the Coke extradition matter.
And in relation to the hiring of the US law firm, the commissioners say the evidence show Manatt was hired by the Jamaica labour Party and not the Government.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=29389
To this very day the FARA registration has the GOJ as the client of Manatt Phelps and Phillips. There is not and has never been ant ‘correction.’
Simple, seeing as Jamaica’s good name continues to be stained by this document on the internet: Let the learned Commissioners who say they they have found otherwise please have the stain removed with a full apology to the nation from Manatt Phelps and Phillips.
If the commissioners can NOY achieve that, then their ‘finding’ will quite simply…..speak for themselves….
PARTNERS
EMIL C. GEORGE, Q.C.,called to the bar 1955 Gray’s Inn, London; 1956, Jamaica; admitted, 1985,Dominica; 1988, Cayman Islands and St. Kitts-Nevis. Education: MagdalenCollege, Oxford University (B.A., Hons., B.C.L., Hons., M.A). DominicaIsland Scholar, 1948. Profumo Scholar, Gray’s Inn. Queen’s Counsel, 1970.Independent Member, Senate, Jamaica, 1984-1989. Honorary Consul, Dominica.Chairman: Wray & Nephew Group of Companies; CIBC Jamaica Limited; CarnaudmetalboxJamaica Limited; Jamaica Packaging Industries Limited. Director: NestleJamaica Limited; Seprod Group of Companies; Goodyear Jamaica Limited; CarrerasGroup of Companies; Kingston Ice Making Company Limited; Jamaica ProducersAssociation Limited. Former President, Jamaica Employers’ Federation.LANGUAGES: English and French. PRACTICEAREAS; Civil Litigation; Labour Law; Employment Law.
http://www.solomonharris.com/html/bio.html
Tuesday | March 4, 2008
ATTORNEY-AT-LAW Emil George, QC, is the new chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC).
His appointment took effect yesterday after Cabinet gave the former senator of the mid-1980s the nod for the job.
In a brief interview yesterday, economist John Jackson said George was suited for the job and his appointment speaks for itself.
The commissioners seem to state the parameters of their remit early in the report and the end step out of the boundaries that so constrained them to speak about discourtesy and rudeness.
No mention of the raid on Leys office whatsoever. Not so discourteous ehh? (wink)
Merica know what to do wid unno.
No mention of the charges against Brady and the fiat to allow counsel for the commission to prosecute.
Almost 25 pages are pure fodder and absolute rubbish (and that’s being conservative.
Sept 3 was mentioned…There was no pressure. Do the commissioners see something that was no there? (wink)
Anyhow, by lamenting the faulty memories and refusal to testify (refusal to answer by Karl Samuda was not on the menu) the commissioners have in fact made their own confession i.e. the report put forward is worthless.
Well worthless in respect to truth. But very valuable to certain elements.
The report reveals what has always been and unhidden truth to people with sense and understanding so take it as you wish.
Back to the Cables:
The cables report on a matter of fact (as opposed to opinion) that BG SAID polls can be bought in Jamaica. Now I am not going to dispute this ‘hidden truth’ as articulated by him.
What I ask though is will there be a response (of sorts) from these hitherto ‘esteemed’ pollsters or will it be silence means consent as per usual?
Would this revelation of lack of credibility mean they will still be contracted to do ‘accurate’ polls? hahaha
Interesting one here for sure.
Seems the cables also clearly demonstrate that our (from the legacy of slavery) sytem of ‘honors’ OD, CD, OJ DNYS (Dog nyam your supper) and the most common of the honors IRMOLLS (I recommended my own low -life self) etc. is not rated by the Americans who report based on the content of one’s character despite being ‘Lettered’ by overseer of the big house.
Dudus’ Lawyers Move To Have Wiretap Evidence Dismissed
In a motion filed in United States District Court, in The Southern District of New York yesterday, Coke’s lawyers argued that the use of the wiretap information would be a breach of the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution.
“In addition to a motion to exclude evidence on the basis of a violation of the Due Process Clause by the government, the defendant is also entitled to exclude this evidence on the basis that the government, knowingly and intentionally, obtained this evidence in violation of a treaty between the United States and Jamaica and in violation of Jamaican law,” the lawyers argued.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110615/lead/lead2.html
Speaking with RJR News on Tuesday night, Dr. Ashley said the report presented by the Commissioners is woefully lacking.
“First of all the size of the report, merely 58 pages when this enquiry lasted in excess of 44 days and had massive amount of evidence and paper work it is amazing that we have a report of merely 58 pages, very few recommendations, little or no reasoning, I find that very strange,” Dr. Ashely said.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/pnp-decide-next-move-regarding-manattdudus-report
PRESS RELEASE
TCIG successful in recovering Joe Grant Cay land: first judgment in major civil recovery case
TCIG has been successful in obtaining the recovery of Joe Grant Cay, following proceedings brought against the Star Platinum companies, controlled by Dr Cem Kinay.
In a judgment (enclosed with this press release) handed down by the Court on 14 June, in connection with the political donation of $500,000 made by Dr Kinay to Michael Misick on 9 January 2007, the Judge found (paragraph 33) “there to be a very strong probability that the money was paid as a bribe in order to ensure that the Defendant companies obtained the benefit of the proposed development”.
No satisfactory explanation has been put forward for not reporting Mr Hoza’s valuations to cabinet; or for the payment of $500,000 to Michael Misick. Not only did the Defendants get the development; they got it cheaply. There is a very strong probability that Michael Misick with the help of McAllister Hanchell secured the grant of these benefits to the Defendants as a result of this inducement.”
http://www.tcijournal.com/newsite/june-15-2011-tcig-tcig-successful-recovering-joe-grant-cay
That’s how it works outside Jamaica Greg Christie.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v. CASE NO. 6:10-cr-232-Orl-35DAB DAVID A. SMITH
The Defendant is present in the United States pursuant to a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty request to the government of the Turks and Caicos Islands. The United States has promised to return the Defendant to the Turks and Caicos Islands immediately after his sentencing hearing, but no later than the end of August, 2011. There are court proceedings in September 2011 in the Turks and Caicos Islands and the Defendant’s presence is required for those proceedings.
Has someone leaked the OLINT WIKLEAKS from Embassy Kingston to the untruthful ones?
Much is being said about the “report” of the COE. If you paid for a cover up you surely did not get two cents worth with that report. It lacks the finesse of a cover up…
Are the commissioners blatantly overloading your regular black coffee with a load of sugar? Trying to tell you something? Non verbal communication?
‘Dudus’ puts up a fight
J’can lawyers seek several declarations in Supreme Court to assist former Tivoli strongman
Former judge, Justice Priya Levers, who resides in the Cayman Islands, is working as consultant to the local team.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/-Dudus–puts-up-a-fight_9016622#ixzz1PQWMpN84
Wiretap evidence against “Dudus” Coke not thrown out
The earlier information had sent media houses into a frenzy.
The young professional arm of the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), Generation 2000 (G2K), had also circulated a statement saying that the wiretap evidence had been thrown out.
However the JLP affiliate subsequently issued a statement saying it was an error which was generated from New York.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/wiretap-evidence-against-dudus-coke-not-thrown-out
“When Cash Plus and OLINT were around, it was carte blanche for everybody…now, not so much anymore,” she readily admits as we chat in the living room decorated with coffee table books and a sea of portraits of her boys and family.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/lifestyle/Anna-Kay-Spreads-Her-Wings#ixzz1PRkEEDQY
Brady goes on trial
Brady was the front men in the hiring of the US law firm Manatt, Phelps & Phillips to lobby against the extradition of Christopher Coke.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=29420
Nicholson calls for diaspora to help Jamaica’s image
Senator AJ Nicholson, opposition spokesman on foreign affairs, claimed that a number of recent events have tarnished Jamaica’s image in the eyes of the international community.
He therefore challenged Jamaicans living abroad to lead the effort to repair this blemish.
While Nicholson did not single out the findings of the Manatt-Dudus Commission of Enquiry, he cited the “mismanagement” of the Christopher Coke extradition case and the revocation of former energy and mining minister James Robertson’s visa.
Speaking at the opening of the fourth biennial Jamaican Diaspora Convention at the Sunset Jamaica Grande in Ocho Rios, Nicholson said he understood the demoralising effect these events have had on Jamaicans abroad.
However, he argued that rebuilding the country’s image cannot succeed without their involvement and co-operation.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=29429
What happen to Worldwise how is it no chatter, no one going after them, Noel Strachan stole money from ppl how is he getting away with it and no media and no coverage or chatter
New date set for Brady trial
Prime Minister Bruce Golding had testified that Mr Brady was hired to approach the US law firm Manatt, Phelps and Phillips regarding Christopher Coke’s extradition, but failed to follow instructions given to him.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/new-date-set-brady-trial
Liquidator concerned about appointment of new judge in Cash Plus case
Hugh Wildman, the trustee in bankruptcy and liquidator of Cash Plus, is expressing concern over a change in the presiding adjudicator in the matter between his office and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
when he turned up, expecting to present his case against the PricewaterhouseCoopers appointment, to Justice Roy Anderson, Mr. Wildman noticed that Mr. Anderson was not present.
He was replaced with a new judge, who according to Mr. Wildman, is a former junior council in the law firm Dunn Cox, to John Vassel, who is the lead attorney for the PricewaterhouseCoopers’ defence team.
An obviously irked Mr. Wildman protested, expressing concern over what he claimed to be a conflict of interest in the matter.
He argued that an individual, who was working at Dunn Cox with Mr. Vassel should not preside over the case and asked that the judge recuse himself.
However, his request was rejected.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/liquidator-concerned-about-appointment-new-judge-cash-plus-case
From: Christopher Bovell Christopher.Bovell@dunncox.com
To: dsmith@kasnet.com
11/15/2006
Dear David,
Please do the cheque to Stock & Securities Ltd. and I will contact Wayne on Thursday to arrange collection or delivery.
Thanks again v. much for your help.
Best wishes, Chris B.
Yours sincerely
Christopher Bovell
DunnCox
48 Duke Street
Kingston
Jamaica, W.I.
Tel.: (876)922-1500
Fax.: (876)922-9002
Newspaper owner slain in northeastern Brazil
Friday, June 17, 2011
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) — Police say three gunmen shot and killed the owner of a small newspaper in northeastern Brazil.
Officer Angelo Xavier says Ednaldo Figueira was gunned down in the city of Serra do Mel on Wednesday.
Besides owning the ‘O Serrano’ newspaper, Figueira was also head of the local branch of the Workers’ Party in Rio Grande do Norte.
Xavier says police have not identified any suspects and are investigating possible motives.
He said today that the newspaper often published “controversial” reports regarding the city government. He declined to elaborate.
It was the second slaying of a journalist in the state this year. In February, a radio commentator was shot to death.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Newspaper-owner-slain-in-northeastern-Brazil#ixzz1PYtuny5v
It was claimed that 200 acres on Joe Grant Cay, worth an estimated $50m, were purchased for $3.2m in June 2008.
This was following the payment of a $500,000 political donation to the PNP just a year earlier.
He said that there was “no satisfactory explanation” for a $500,000 political donation made by Dr Kinay to former Premier Michael Misick on January 9, 2007.
The judge added that there was “a very strong probability that the money was paid as a bribe in order to ensure that the defendant companies obtained the benefit of the proposed development”.
“No satisfactory explanation has been put forward for not reporting Mr Hoza’s valuations to Cabinet, or for the payment of $500,000 to Michael Misick.”
Dr Kinay – bestowed with Belonger status by the former Government – has always denied allegations of corruption.
“The strategy is clear. Today it may be Mike or me. Tomorrow it can be any citizen of this country. You have been warned.”
http://tcweeklynews.com/joe-grant-cay-returned-to-government-p2426-1.htm
From: Drum Manley-Drummond
To: Peter Bovell
Wed 12/20/2006
Peter,
There is a concern that phones may be tapped. Be careful what you say over the phone – you should tell David and Wayne and Joe as well.
Drum
Attorney-at-Law
48 Constant Spring Road,
Kingston 10
Tel. (876)920-1002, Fax (876)920-1008
“I am aware of EDC LNG. I recall the Company was interested in undertaking an LNG Project at Port Esquivel. They were advised of GOJ’ s competitive tender policy.
a)-b) I do not recall c) I have no relationship with EDC LNG d) I do not recall the details e) I do not recall.”190
The Hon. Bruce Golding, on 2011 April 7, submitted to the Contractor General, a copy of two (2) Legal Opinions, which were dated 2011 March 24 and 29, respectively, and which were reportedly prepared by Attorney-at-Laws, Livingston, Alexander & Levy, with respect to the ‘procurement procedures for the LNG project’.
The first Legal Opinion, which was dated 2011 March 24, stated, inter alia, the following:
i. It is submitted that Mr. Fossella ought not to have participated in the evaluation of the rival bids so soon after working with Exmar in the alliance up to 2009 because he would not have been able to bring an independent and open mind.
ii. A review of Stephen Wedderburn’s statements concerning Exmar clearly shows that he ought not to have participated in the evaluation process, particularly the e-mail of the 6th September 2009 which clearly shows that he had a pecuniary interest in a project with Exmar.
It is trite law that a person who has the proprietary or pecuniary interest in a matter should not participate in a situation where a decision has to be made concerning a party in which the participants has such an interest.
iii. Consequently, it is clear that the decision is tarnished as the tender process could not be considered as transparent, fair or unbiased.
iv. It is manifestly clear therefore that the evaluation done by CH-IV International is incorrect as Excelerate Energy was not a part of the Exmar Consortium…The review having stated the relationship between Exmar and Excelerate, as joint venture partners, clearly shows that Excelerate ought to have been invited to tender. This certainly casts a very serious and grave concern on the tender process for Exmar to have been declared the preferred bidder, when its joint venture partner who the review determined as Exmar’ s strength was excluded.
The only reasonable conclusion that can be drawn is that the Request For Proposal was not sent to Excelerate so as to exclude them.
v. The tender…is flawed and could not withstand scrutiny under judicial review.
Jamaica included on S&P’s debtor’s list
At least one financial analyst says Jamaica’s inclusion in a list of 10 countries least likely to repay their debts should serve as a wake up call for the Government.
The list, published by ratings agency, Standard and Poor’s, ranked Jamaica at second place behind Greece.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/business/jamaica-included-sp’s-debtor’s-list
Jamaicans for Justice disappointed with Manatt-Dudus report
The human rights organization reiterated its position that the commissioners should have been selected after joint consultation.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=29523
Ben Ali sentenced to 35 years in jail
Former Tunisian president, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, found guilty of theft and possession of large sums of foreign currency
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/20/ben-ali-sentenced-35-years-jail
The Bahamas FA vice-president Fred Lunn said he had been given the cash in a brown envelope which he photographed before returning. Lunn said in his affidavit that the following day “Mr Warner stated that he had instructed Mr Bin Hammam to bring the cash equivalent of any gift he had intended to bring for the people attending this meeting. Mr Warner then stated that the money could be used for any purpose … for grassroots programmes or any purpose the individuals saw fit.”
The president of the Surinam FA, Louis Giskus, also confirmed earlier this month that he was given $40,000 in a brown envelope as a gift. A number of other associations have told investigators that they too were given the cash. Some kept it, others returned the money.
“It’s not unusual for such things to happen and gifts have been around throughout the history of Fifa,” Warner said. “What’s happening now for me is hypocrisy.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/jun/20/fifa-jack-warner-resigns
Thankfully the perpetrators seemingly made no effort to buy favors in Jamaica. Noting the ‘credibility’ of our COE’s the bribers thought against it and Jamaica was not offered a brown envelope by Fifa operatives and low life characters……(wink)…
The OCG, by way of its Statutory Requisition, which was dated 2010 December 16, and which was addressed to the Hon. James Robertson, Minister of Energy and Mining, posed the following questions:
g) Has Mr. Ian Moore contributed funds directly to you for any form of political activity? If yes, please provide full particulars of same; and
(g) I do not recall. Several persons or entities would have contributed to fund raising and community activities and I have no records relating to fund raising efforts or events during the election period of 2001/2002 and 2006/2007.
To: David Smith
From: Charlene Robertson (cer@mail.infochan.com)
9/20/2006
It was a pleasure meeting with you. I look forward to returning with my family for a weekend. The folowing is my banking information:-
National Commercial Bank
Swift Code: JNCBJMKX
54, Second Street
Newport West
Kingston 13
Beneficiary: St. Thomas Education & “Development” Foundation 126 Third Street, Newport West, kingston 13. Beneficiary account number 396482711. YOUR SUPPORT WILL MAKE A MEANINGFUL DIFFERENCE TO THE JAMAICA LABOUR PARTY’S SUCCESS, Regards, James.
Detailed email
However, Robertson yesterday categorically denied receiving funding from Smith or Olint.
“The St Thomas Education Development Foundation and my campaign in West St Thomas did not receive any funding directly from David Smith,” Robertson told The Gleaner last night.
In one correspondence, purportedly from Robertson and sent from a close relative’s email account, a request was made for Smith to provide “support” that would “make a meaningful difference to the Jamaica Labour Party’s success”. The email included a local bank account number.
“I can’t remember. I send hundreds of emails and I am not denying that I am aware or have knowledge or know David,” Robertson said.
“I am not denying that there was contact.I am denying nothing but in terms of that specific, I can’t answer that.”
Sterling Asset Management International Limited
30 DeCastro Street
Road Town, Tortola VG1111 BVI
Coverdale Trust Services Limited
Phone: 1 284 494 6727
Address: 30 DeCastro Street
PO Box 4519 Road Town, Tortola VG1111 BVI
Coverdale Trust Services Limited, the Corporate Secretary of Caribbean LNG (BVI) Limited, in its response to the OCG’s LOI, which was dated 2010 December 28, stated, inter alia, the following:
“…It is not required under BVI law to file a Register of Members. However, enclosed is an executed Certificate of Incumbency confirming same for your ease of reference…
Under BVI Law it is not required for a company to have audited financials. However, as Registered Agents Coverdale would not usually request financials for companies where no fiduciary services are provided…” (OCG’s Emphasis)
JCC blasts Manatt commissioners
The JCC said in complaining about the behaviour of Counsel, the Commissioners exposed their own shortcomings in failing to control the enquiry.
In relation to the commissioners’ recommendations, the JCC said attorney general Dorothy Lightbourne’s actions have shaken confidence in her and her credibility.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=29532
JCC accuses Manatt Commissioners of holding back
In a statement on Monday night [June 20] the JCC said in its view, the Commissioners abdicated their responsibility to determine the credibility of the major players in the process.
The Chamber said this explains why the Commissioners made no findings of misconduct as that would have required some assessment of motive and intention.
Additionally, it said they did not carry out their investigative duty nor did they exercise their investigative powers thoroughly.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/jcc-accuses-manatt-commissioners-holding-back
tci-weekly page 37
IN THE MATTER OF THE TCI BANK LTD. (IN LIQUIDATION) AND IN THE MATTER OF THE COMPANIES ORDINANCE CAP (122)
NOTICE TO CREDITORS
The creditors of the above named company are required on or before August 15th 2011 to send their names and addresses and the particulars of their debts or claims and the names and addresses of their attorneys if any to messers Anthony S. Kikivarakis and Mark E. Mullings the joint liquidators for the said company at Butterfield Square, Providenciales, TCI
The creditors may be required by notice in writing from TCI said joint liquidators by their attorneys or personally to come in and prove their said debts or claims at the office of the joint liquidators at such time as shall be specified in such notice. If in default thereof they will be excluded from the benefit of any distribution made be for such debts are proved.
Anthony S. Kirkvakaris and Mark E. Mullings (joint liquidators)
TCIG successful in recovering outstanding Stamp Duty on Emerald Cay case: second judgment in major civil recovery case
It is on the basis that at least three of the additional agreements (the Option Agreement, the Consultancy Agreement and the Works Agreement) were fraudulent devices to hide the true consideration being paid”.
The Judge also said (paragraph 32): “On any assessment of the facts this was a carefully crafted scheme of tax evasion. It would not have been possible without the assistance of attorneys. Rule 9 of our Code of Professional Conduct makes it clear that
“An attorney must never knowingly assist or encourage any dishonesty, fraud, crime or illegal conduct nor advise his client as to how to violate the law.”
It is disappointing that any attorney should so far neglect his professional obligations as to become involved. I invite the Attorney General to investigate and if thought appropriate to consider making a formal complaint to the Bar Council under section 24 of the Legal Profession Ordinance.”
http://www.tcijournal.com/newsite/june-23-2011-tcig-successful-recovering-outstanding-stamp-duty-emerald-cay-case-second-judgment-majo
Gangster James ‘Whitey’ Bulger captured after 16 years on run
Boston crimelord and FBI informant was inspiration for Jack Nicholson character Frank Costello in Scorcese’s The Departed
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jun/23/james-whitey-bulger-arrested-fbi
Gov’t wins $1.25m in evaded taxes
The cash is for outstanding stamp duty for the sprawling Emerald Cay estate in Chalk Sound in what was dubbed a “carefully crafted scheme” to defraud TCIG.
The debacle has once again called into question the integrity of the local legal profession with the two lawyers who facilitated the deal facing investigation.
http://tcweeklynews.com/govt-wins-m-in-evaded-taxes-p2432-1.htm
He continued: “On any assessment of the facts this was a carefully crafted scheme of tax evasion. It would not have been possible without the assistance of attorneys.”
He quoted the Code of Professional Conduct which states: “An attorney must never knowingly assist or encourage any dishonesty, fraud, crime or illegal conduct nor advise his client as to how to violate the law.”
Mr Martin added: “It is disappointing that any attorney should so far neglect his professional obligations as to become involved.
The prime minister said he was “devastated” by his friend’s death, which came just hours after Shale was quoted in a Conservative strategy document leaked to a Sunday newspaper as saying the Tories had come across over the years as “graceless, voracious, crass, always on the take” and needed to radically change.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jun/26/tory-christopher-shale-dead-glastonbury
Mullings fuels speculation he’s stepping down
“I’ll soon take my seat and I’ll soon leave it,” Mullings said cryptically when House Speaker Delroy Chuck, who apparently thought the attorney-at-law was through making his point, called on Central Manchester member of parliament Peter Bunting — who had indicated a wish to speak — to make his contribution.
But one party insider, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Mullings had made it clear that his sojourn with the ruling party was near the end.
Other JLP insiders have also told the Sunday Observer that Senator Dennis Meadows, the party’s current caretaker for North Trelawny, might be vying for Mullings’ seat.
Regarded as one of the JLP’s brightest minds, Mullings was named mining and energy minister in the Golding administration in September 2007 and scored many successes, including the introduction of sugar cane-based fuel ethanol for use in motor vehicles and factories.
He also led the charge which resulted in the PNP’s former junior minister for energy, Kern Spencer, now being before the courts on corruption charges in the Cuban light bulb case.
Mullings was, however, dropped from the executive in April 2009…
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Mullings-fuels-speculation-he-s-stepping-down_9074658#ixzz1QPy1DD00
An unlikely hero battling India’s corruption
A 74-year-old rural activist is uniting rich and poor against graft
Whereas Gandhi wanted an India free from Britain, Mr Hazare’s wish is for an India free from corruption, and his target is the Indian government itself. He has termed it the country’s second struggle for independence.
“Nowadays, whether people are poor or rich, they are all very angry and have had enough of corruption,” Mr Hazare tells The Independent on Sunday, in his first interview with the international media. “That is why they have supported our campaign.”
Perhaps like the man whose principles he seeks to follow, Mr Hazare is something of an unlikely hero for the countless millions of Indians whose lives are soured every day by corruption, whether that means being forced to pay bribes to obtain basic services or to observe the scandals that surrounded last year’s Commonwealth Games or the kleptocratic nature of many politicians. His solution is the establishment of an official ombudsman, or Lokpal, with the power to investigate not just the alleged misbehaviour of low-ranking officials, but senior bureaucrats and politicians up to the Prime Minister.
When, earlier this year, Mr Hazare’s campaign saw thousands of people pour on to the streets, the government agreed to establish such an office. Since then, it has been arguing about the breadth of powers the ombudsman should have. Mr Hazare has also seen a campaign to undermine him, both openly by government ministers and in media reports.
In the simple government guesthouse in the capital where he is staying, amid meetings with ministers before returning to his home in Maharashtra, Mr Hazare acknowledges India already has several bodies designed to tackle corruption. But he says none is truly independent. “The problem arises because they are under the government. If they try to do something against the government, they have to deal with government officials,” he explains. “Not once in 62 years has the Central Bureau of Investigation been able to put any minister behind bars.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/an-unlikely-hero-battling-indias-corruption-2302863.html
Christopher Shale, David Cameron’s constituency chairman, was warned by Downing Street officials that a sensitive memo written by him had been leaked to a Sunday newspaper shortly before he died at the Glastonbury festival.
One senior party source said the heart attack was “just a dreadful coincidence”, adding: “The story in the Mail on Sunday did not concern us that much.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jun/26/christopher-shale-glastonbury-festival-memo
“It matters not if you are a Labourite, it matters not how hard you worked to help us to win the election. If any of you is caught in any corrupt activity, expect the full force of the law and do not look to me or the Government for any sympathy or protection,” Golding said then.
To: David smith
From: Bruce Golding (brucegolding@yahoo.com)
11/28/2006
David, I must express our thanks for your support in our efforts, especially toward the staging of our recent conference. It was a tremendous success and has significantly boosted our campaign. your assistance went a far way in making it possible. I had a brief word with Peter (Bovell) sometime ago and express the hope that we would be able to meet. i hope that we will be able to arrange to do that. Kindest regards, Bruce Golding.
OCG concerned about China Harbour contracts under JDIP
In a release issued this morning, Christie raised concern that the Government awarded the major road works rehabilitation contract to a single contracting entity, without the contract being put to tender.
Christie said the matter is further compounded by the fact that China Harbour was allowed to offer subcontracts to other companies, without the usual checks and balances, to ensure transparency in the process.
The OCG has also published a list of the local subcontractors who have been engaged by China Harbour to work on the JDIP.
The list also shows that the company YP Seaton and Associates has received 11 contracts totaling close to $4 billion.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=29683
Bermudan Gov’t negotiates loan with Butterfield Bank
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/regional/bermudan-gov’t-negotiates-loan-butterfield-bank
US Embassy fires back
2011-06-28 12:44:04
Prime Minister Bruce Golding at the Manatt-Dudus Commission of Enquiry. (File photo).Gary Spaulding, Senior Gleaner Writer
The United States Embassy in Kingston has finally responded to allegations that its officials were among other things, belligerent and aggressive in diplomatic talks relating to the extradition request for Christopher “Dudus” Coke.
The embassy broke its three month silence with a note declaring that it was affronted by the characterisations; “aggressive”, “belligerent” and “harassing,” all of which were used by Prime Minister Bruce Golding as he gave testimony to the Commission of Enquiry three months ago.
Golding had charged that Lightbourne was being harassed by Parnell to sign the authority to proceed with the extradition process against Coke, an ardent JLP supporter and former don of the Tivoli Gardens community in Golding’s West Kingston constituency.
The public statement sounding off the US Embassy’s displeasure, comes at a time when the Jamaican authority is at pains to convince the populace that the relationship between the two countries was anything but strained.
“The Embassy takes exception to this characterisation and affirms that its communications with all members of the Government of Jamaica were professionally courteous throughout,” the statement declared.
In September 2010, Golding suggested that Jamaica was being stonewalled by US officials at the embassy in Kingston during talks over the Coke extradition request, which prompted the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) to engage the services of US law firm, Manatt’s, Phelps & Phillips.
But it was during one of his fierce verbal clashes with the senior attorney for the People’s national Party that Golding employed the offending adjectives.
The Prime Minister said that he had formed the view between August 25, 2009 – when the extradition request came – and the first week of September that the United States would have had taken an inflexible position on the issue.
As a result, he said he accepted the proposal from attorney Harold Brady to seek outside assistance on September 6, 2009.
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA CALLS BRUCE GOLDING, PRIME MINISTER OF JAMAICA (Illegal) A LIAR.
Commissioners missed it in their “rigorous” un spelt checked report….
Visa applicants may have to sign affidavit as to whether they believe Bruce Golding or the United States versions of events….
The sentencing hearing for defendant(s), DAVID SMITH, has been set for August 11, 2011, 10:00 AM at Orlando Courtroom 5 B, George C. Young U.S. Courthouse & Federal Building, 401 West Central Boulevard, Suite 1200, Orlando, Florida 32801-0120 before Judge Mary Scriven.
To: David smith
From: Bruce Golding (brucegolding@yahoo.com)
11/28/2006
David, I must express our thanks for your support in our efforts, especially toward the staging of our recent conference. It was a tremendous success and has significantly boosted our campaign. your assistance went a far way in making it possible. I had a brief word with Peter (Bovell) sometime ago and express the hope that we would be able to meet. I hope that we will be able to arrange to do that. Kindest regards, Bruce Golding.
Charges have been filed against defendant(s) DAVID SMITH. The lead prosecutor for this case is BRUCE S. AMBROSE. The main charge is categorized as Money Laundering/Structuring (Other).
S&P raised Jamaica’s rating to ‘B-‘ from ‘SD’ (selective default) in February 2010 after the Golding administration secured the IMF deal which resulted in Government restructuring its domestic debt under the Jamaica Debt Exchange (JDX).
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/golding-reshuffles-his-cabinet
Reality One: Cem, when your pals were in charge and your money bought you Belongership (which to me will forever have a negative connotation when granted by the PNP regime) that government’s “set political agenda” was all fine and good with you. Back during the PNP Misick heyday, when the ability to get property for little or nothing, development perks, buyers throwing money at you and then the funding to pay for your lifestyle from lenders was way okay. All it took was reportedly the old “payola” to the Miscreants Ministries. Now, as everyday TCI Islanders pay the price of those Misick years, the likes of you scream “unfair” and “foul”. My violin is in the shop Cem or I’d play you a miserly tune.
Reality Three: This is twice now you have walked away from the court challenge. Here and when you sued the Journal and made a big deal of it, then crawled off into the night when your subpoena got squashed and your law suit in California fell apart. Your attorneys quit in that case too according to the online court record and you defaulted on the lawsuit when the Journal filed a cross-action against you and your companies. Oops. You were free wheel spending, yet word was you didn’t pay those attorneys either. Your credit with law firms may be in the tank Cem.
Lastly, it was written in an online Sun article about the at-large seats being bantered about town, or the local bars, that “Now, the list of prospective political candidates who are interested in the At-Large seats, run the entire gamut of the social spectrum; from crack-heads, or cocaine addicts to clerics and college graduates, contractors, barbers, fishermen, businessmen, Civil Servants, Haitians, Dominicans, Jamaicans, Americans, Canadians, Brits, even persons who are serving time in prison; you name it, and they all are now expressing interest in running At-Large.”
So, clearly, Tin Mickey must want an At-Large seat if he can’t be king. Can the dear Lord hold two parliamentary seats in two countries under the Crown? Does Tin Mickey have a Dominican wife or girlfriend he wants to install in the Assembly?
But then don’t get me started on the news reporting in the TCI. Last week one online paper reported, almost gleefully, that the SIPT lost the case of the Blixseth-Emerald Bay Stamp Duty case. Oops, another blunder trying to make the SIPT unit look like the Three Stooges Go to The Beach.
http://www.tcijournal.com/newsite/june-29-2011-what-are-you-smoking-cem-–-diana-de-gara
These are the kinds of statements that tend to lead to a loss of confidence and I think Ms Simpson Miller must now become more mature in her utterances, that is my advice to her…”
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Shaw-raps-Portia-over-IMF-statement#ixzz1QexlbVAm
In the meantime, Golding also announced that the liquefied natural gas project which was taken from the energy portfolio while James Robertson headed that ministry and placed in the office of the Prime Minister, is to be returned to the ministry under Clive Mullings.
Keith Collister, a respected economist
and journalist, is being touted as a possible addition to the
Ministry of Finance and Public Service (MFPS). Both
Collister and Zacca currently work for Jamaican business
mogul Gordon Butch Stewart; thus the transfers would enhance
Stewart,s already robust leverage within the GOJ.
Wiki
PM Golding
removed former Energy Minister Clive Mullings and his
Permanent Secretary Jean Dixon in April, (Reftel B).
Mullings was replaced by James Robertson as Minister and
Marcia Forbes was brought in as Permanent Secretary.
9. (C) PM Golding,s suspected concerns with Shaw,s
leadership could also set the stage for a third round of
political reshuffling. Since taking office, Shaw has been
aggressive in pushing for a tax amnesty and in reaching out
to the multilaterals such as the World Bank and the IADB.
These measures initially won him public support; however, he
appears to have slowed down in more recent months and does
not always follow through on implementation after grand
announcements. Furthermore, he backed Crooks for too long
even after it become clear that she lacked the capacity to
serve in the FS position. Golding already has moved
economist Wayne Henry from the Ministry of Agriculture to the
Ministry of Finance to serve as an advisor to Shaw. There
are rumors that Golding may possibly be looking to replace
Shaw down the line.
In addition to serving as President of PSOJ, Chris
Zacca is also Deputy Chairman of the Sandals Group of
Companies owned by Gordon &Butch8 Stewart. Zacca is set to
take a major position in the JLP-led government, either in
the MFPS or the Office of the Prime Minister. (NOTE: Stewart
is the owner of Sandals resorts, Appliance Traders Limited, a
Honda dealership, the Observer newspaper, and one time
majority shareholder of Air Jamaica. He has several other
investments, and is possibly the most powerful player in
Jamaican society. END NOTE). Zacca could be joined by the
respected economist and Observer journalist Keith Collister.
A silent supporter of the JLP, Collister told Emboffs on
August 12 that he is not aware of his imminent appointment to
a GOJ position, but Delano Seiveright, an important JLP
strategist, confirmed that both Zacca and Collister are being
recruited for GOJ positions. He elaborated to say that
Collister should have been a first choice by the JLP for a
Ministerial-level position in the MFPS when they took power
in September 2007.
The Butch Is Back
—————–
¶11. (C) The possible Zacca/Collister two-pronged appointment
could be Stewart,s attempt to gain even greater influence in
the JLP-led government. He held a similar level of influence
in the previous PNP-led administration until he fell out of
favor following his mismanagement of Air Jamaica after taking
it over from the GOJ. It has been alleged that Stewart sold
discount airline tickets on the national carrier to fill his
hotel rooms and was less concerned with the profitability of
the airline. After the GOJ took control of the airline back
from Stewart, his level of influence in the PNP party
dropped. In response he used his influence to campaign
against the PNP, helping to facilitate the JLP,s historic
victory in the 2007 national elections. Stewart continues to
use the pages of the Observer to criticize the opposition PNP
as well as economic rivals such as the Spanish-owned hotels
on the North Coast and John Issa-owned SuperClubs, both of
which have created greater competition for Sandals,
all-inclusive resorts.
Wiki
On November 16, Emboffs met with Patrick Hylton, Managing
Director of National Commercial Bank (NCB), who voiced a rising
level of concern regarding the grave economic challenges facing the
country. NCB is Jamaica’s largest financial institution and the
largest holder of GOJ debt. Hylton said he already has seen a
movement to U.S. dollar assets, as investors fear greater troubles
on the horizon. (NOTE: Other key Emboff contacts have expressed
similar views while admitting that they themselves are moving into
U.S. dollar denominated assets, some even taking their resources
out of the country entirely. END NOTE). Hylton commented that
Jamaicans are still skittish after watching the collapse of
financial institutions such as Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers in
the United States, and are fearful of something similar occurring
locally.
http://www.olintja.com/blog/archivebookmark.aspx?ID=648
The private sector appears to recognize that an IMF deal
that is not combined with robust measures to address the exorbitant
debt overhang will merely stave off an inevitable default.
Private Sector Has Lost Confidence In Golding
———————————————
¶4. (C) Byles said that PM Golding lacks the leadership to address
the current crisis facing the country, and that the private sector
has lost faith in him and Shaw. Hylton echoed Byles, noting that
his confidence in PM Golding and his administration had fallen
significantly in the past year and that the private sector no
longer sees him as able to manage through this crisis. This is
particularly troubling because, according to Byles, PM Golding has
said he intends to personally take the lead in the current IMF
negotiations. Golding has a history of making numerous personnel
changes in key leadership positions over the past two past years
(Reftel A). Byles describes the PM as articulate in discussing the
issues, but noted that he has a tendency to make knee jerk
decisions when the situation requires a calm and steady hand.
¶5. (C) Hylton also expressed disappointment in the manner in
which the GOJ handled the recent dismissal of Derick Latibeaudiere,
the Governor of the Bank of Jamaica, who had been leading the IMF
negotiations (Reftel B). Hylton called Latibeaudiere’s removal
during the middle of a visit by the IMF delegation very poor
timing, adding that it sends the world the wrong message about
stability.
Both Hylton and Byles mentioned that at least three smaller
financial institutions in Jamaica are at risk of failing.
Speculation is that the three are Capital and Credit Merchant Bank,
Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB), and possibly Barita
Investments. Each holds a disproportionate amount of GOJ debt
compared to other assets, and would not likely survive a move to
significantly restructure the debt. JMMB announced on November 18
that it was acquiring 80 percent of a Dominican Republic savings
and loan in order to reduce its investment portfolio in certain
areas until the markets improve. Hylton said the Bank of Jamaica
has had to intervene to support these (unnamed) institutions, and
appears to be pushing for a merger among them in order to
strengthen their position and stave off a collapse.
Business Confidence Stalling, Panic Could Follow
——————————————— —–
¶9. (C) Any collapse of a financial institution, regardless how
small, would send shockwaves throughout the financial services
sector and panic through an already skittish economy (Reftel C).
(NOTE: Jamaica is still recovering from a collapse of several
Ponzi schemes, most notably Olint and Cash Plus (Reftel D). Olint
once held an estimated USD 220 million in deposits while Cash Plus
held close to USD 45 million. As liquidators work through the
records of these schemes, it appears that investors will recover
only pennies on the dollar in compensation, if anything at all.
END NOTE). Both Byles and Hylton said the fallout from the
collapse of these schemes is still making its way through the
economic system. This could lead to higher loan defaults following
a surge in consumption spending, as investors anticipated outsized
returns from the schemes.
The Government of Jamaica (GOJ) appears on the verge of
pursuing a selective default with local debt holders in order to
secure a much needed Standby Agreement with the International
Monetary Fund (IMF). Prime Minister Bruce Golding has been adamant wanting to avoid any blemish on the country’s flawless credit
history, but necessity has forced him to accept harsh realities.
Electric in Jamaica
Peak demand occurs in the evening, which is an
inverse to developed countries where demand occurs during the day
when offices are full and most production occurs.
hehehehe…
A Government of Jamaican
(GOJ) delegation led by Don Wehby, Minister Without
Portfolio in the Ministry of Finance, visited Washington
the week of July 6 to intensify negotiations with the
International Monetary Fund (IMF). The GOJ’s failure to
reach most of its economic targets for the first three
months of the fiscal year is adding a sense of urgency to
the negotiations. The situation is becoming so dire that
in May, for the first time in over a decade, Jamaica did
not generate a primary surplus; the GOJ had to borrow
funds just to repay interest on its debt.
Wiki
(NOTE: Stewart
is the owner of Sandals resorts, Appliance Traders Limited, a
Honda dealership, the Observer newspaper, and one time
majority shareholder of Air Jamaica. He has several other
investments, and is possibly the most powerful player in
Jamaican society. END NOTE).
The Butch Is Back
—————–
¶11. (C) The possible Zacca/Collister two-pronged appointment
could be Stewart,s attempt to gain even greater influence in
the JLP-led government. He held a similar level of influence
in the previous PNP-led administration until he fell out of
favor following his mismanagement of Air Jamaica after taking
it over from the GOJ. It has been alleged that Stewart sold
discount airline tickets on the national carrier to fill his
hotel rooms and was less concerned with the profitability of
the airline. After the GOJ took control of the airline back
from Stewart, his level of influence in the PNP party
dropped. In response he used his influence to campaign
against the PNP, helping to facilitate the JLP,s historic
victory in the 2007 national elections.
Wikileaks
PNP says it should accept some blame for Manatt/Dudus Commisison of Enquiry
The PNP is blaming itself and society for allowing Prime Minister, Bruce Golding, to independently choose the Emil George QC led Commission, as well as the Terms of Reference.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/pnp-says-it-should-accept-some-blame-manattdudus-commisison-enquiry
**%^&%
From: Christopher Bovell Christopher.Bovell@dunncox.com
To: dsmith@kasnet.com
11/15/2006
Dear David,
Please do the cheque to Stock & Securities Ltd. and I will contact Wayne on Thursday to arrange collection or delivery.
Thanks again v. much for your help.
Best wishes, Chris B.
Yours sincerely
Christopher Bovell
DunnCox
48 Duke Street
Kingston
Jamaica, W.I.
Tel.: (876)922-1500
Fax.: (876)922-9002
(*&%%
From: Drum Manley-Drummond
To: Peter Bovell
Wed 12/20/2006
Peter,
There is a concern that phones may be tapped. Be careful what you say over the phone – you should tell David and Wayne and Joe as well.
Drum
Attorney-at-Law
48 Constant Spring Road,
Kingston 10
Tel. (876)920-1002, Fax (876)920-1008
The 51-year-old, who has a 23.3% stake in the Championship club and is the chairman of its parent company, Birmingham International, was charged with “dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of indictable offences” totalling about HK$721m (£58m). The trial was adjourned until 11 August.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/jun/30/birmingham-city-carson-yeung-charged
The assets of Michael Misick, the former Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands, have been frozen world-wide.
The court document said Misick must, within 28 days of the order, file and serve and affidavit setting out with “full particularity, the nature and extent of all of the assets in which he has any interest wherever they may be situated in the world and whether held directly or indirectly by him and whether held on his behalf by others as nominees or trustees or as the recipients of tainted gifts”.
Misick must also include in that affidavit, an account of all transfers out and receipts by him of greater than $10,000 in value since July 1st, 2005.
http://www.suntci.com/index.php?p=story&id=1792
Ian Burrell: Brooks has some explaining to do now
The NOTW’s readers may no longer be so sympathetic to the paper’s peccadilloes
When Rebekah Brooks edited the News of the World, her time at the helm of Britain’s biggest tabloid was characterised by one issue above all others.
Those actions, including the deleting of messages, gave false hope to Milly’s parents that she was still alive and hampered the police’s investigation.
The News of the World’s readers, who until now have remained largely loyal despite the damning of the newspaper in certain other sections of the media, may no longer be so sympathetic to its peccadilloes. “Heinous” was the Dowler family’s description of the News of the World’s actions and the paper’s readers will, no doubt, agree.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/ian-burrell-brooks-has-some-explaining-to-do-now-2306965.html
‘World Class’ driver’s Robbery Attempt Thwarted by Police?
Thanks be to GOD, no physical injuries. Later freed by police. Store owner not pressing charges.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=29871
Motty, if it was Singapore you would be in jail tonight. That’s not how to go about “Producsian”
A leading credit ratings agency warned on Monday that Greece would be considered to be in default if banks rolled over their holdings in the country’s debt as proposed recently in a French plan.
Standard & Poor’s said in a statement that two proposals by an association of French banks “would likely amount to a default” under its criteria because both options offer “less value than the promise of the original securities.”
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110705/business/business1.html
default because…offer “less value than the promise of the original securities.”
JDX, JDX JDX
offer “less value than the promise of the original securities.”—-DEFAULT.
The GG and Ponzi
Who authorized Governor-General Sir Patrick Allen while he was head of the Seventh-day Adventist Church to invest US$700,000 of the church’s fund with a foreign exchange trader, which from all indications, was one of several unregistered traders operating in Jamaica at that time. The deal signed by Sir Patrick between the St Andrew based dealer and the West Indies Union Conference was inked on April 21 2008.
Responding to questions, the church’s communications director, Nigel Coke said it was against church policy for an individual to enter into any investment agreement on behalf of the church. However, he changed his tune after consulting with other officials saying that the document in the Sunday Herald’s possession was a private document and the Sunday Herald would be sued if it were published.
Up to press time Friday, Kings House remained silent on a list of questions from the Sunday Herald seeking answers on the outcome of the investment worth close to J$60 million at current exchange rate.
Under the agreement the principal was invested for eight months between April 21 and December 21, 2008 with the trader undertaking to “pay over the client a rate of return guarantee of seventy five to one hundred percent,” as interest at the end of the contracted period.
It was agreed that the accrued interest and principal would be paid over on December 21, 2008. In the event that the trader failed to fulfill his obligation it was agreed that a couple residing in eastern St Andrew community would take on the responsibility to pay back the full sum.
In January of the same year the church invested another US$800,000 with another FE trader based in Hatfield, Manchester for a period of 24 months. In that agreement the trader agreed to pay 150 per cent as interest at the end of the contract period. It was not clear who signed on behalf o the church in that deal.
Last June Northern Caribbean University board member Dr Witford Reid raised the red flag over how the church’s fund was being invested.
“When one considers that US$1.5 million was removed from the WIU bank account for investment in risky financial schemes without the approval of the full membership of the WIU administrative committee, then one has to conclude that the leadership of the Union lacks the capacity to adequately address issues of impropriety…that may arise,” Dr Reid said in a letter to the board in June 2010.
The church is still reeling from a $1 billion investment in Intertrade Finance Corporation, which was shuttered by the Financial Services Commission last month. Coke had said that this issue was in the hands of its lawyers.
In his letter Dr Reid warned his colleagues, “All of us have a fiduciary responsibility to protect the institution and its stakeholders from abuse.”
To: David smith
From: $ly Man Bruce (brucegolding@yahoo.com)
11/28/2006
David, I must express our thanks for your support in our efforts, especially toward the staging of our recent conference. It was a tremendous success and has significantly boosted our campaign. your assistance went a far way in making it possible. I had a brief word with Peter (Bovell) sometime ago and express the hope that we would be able to meet. I hope that we will be able to arrange to do that. Kindest regards, Bruce Golding.
The bare-faced truth about big fat liars
Men with wide faces are more likely to lie and cheat than narrow-faced men but they seem to make better businessmen, according to a study that links facial features with a tendency to engage in unethical behaviour.
Scientists believe they have evidence to show that the width of a man’s face relative to his facial height is an indicator of how powerful he feels and of his willingness to surreptitiously break social rules to achieve his goals.
The findings suggest that the width-to-height ratio of the face could be an ancient evolutionary signal of a man’s aggressiveness when dealing with competitors, said Professor Michael Haselhuhn of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, who led the study.
“Men’s facial width-to-height ratio is generally a positive signal, evolutionary speaking. Specifically, when men compete for resources with other men, relative facial width is a strong sign of aggressive, self-interested behaviour,” Professor Haselhuhn said.
“Importantly, we found evidence that the link between men’s facial ratio and their unethical behaviour is caused by a sense of power. Men with larger facial ratios feel more powerful, and this sense of power then leads them to act unethically,” he said.
The studies involved testing a group of 192 business students to see how readily they were prepared to either lie or cheat in order to gain an advantage over a competitor. Men with wider faces were about three times more likely to lie and about nine times more likely to cheat compared to narrow-faced men, according to the study published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
“Our findings suggest that some men are simply predisposed to act unethically in order to achieve their goals. This has important practical implications, for example someone in the market for a new car may wish to peruse photos of salesmen online before visiting the dealership in person to increase the chances of finding an honest negotiator,” Professor Haselhuhn said.
The Independent.
WHEN PRIVATE INTERESTS ARE SO WEALTHY AND POWERFUL THAT THEY POSE A REAL DANGER TO THE CONCEPT OF DEMOCRACY – BRITAIN AND THE TCI
Britain has been in an uproar during the last 36 hours as revelations continue to surface about even more repulsive illegal behaviour by those employed by News International in Britain. News International is a subsidiary of News Corp, the multinational media empire of Rupert Murdoch. News Corp. also owns the Fox News network in the United States.
Meanwhile here in the TCI, the two most powerful private interests are Lord Michael Ashcroft, and Butch Stewart, with the HAB Group in a less high profile but still powerful third position. Various business and family groups round out the top ten but are an order of magnitude in size smaller than the top three [Butterfield, Clive Stanbrook, Provident, Blanchards (TCU, WIV, IBG), Coxco, etc.]
Lord Ashcroft controls the destiny, through his 74% ownership of British Caribbean Bank Holdings Ltd., of perhaps between $2- $3 Billion dollars worth of TCI land and businesses.
Butch Stewart through his ownership of Beaches and the Sandals resort group is believed to control somewhere between one-half and one billion dollars in TCI assets and employs somewhere between 1 – 2,000 persons out of a total workforce of 15-20,000 persons in the Turks and Caicos Islands. After the right-sizing exercise underway by the TCI government is completed, he will probably be the largest employer on these islands; as large as, or larger than, the TCI government.
[Both of these gentlemen are represented in the TCI by the law firm of Misick and Stanbrook]
Lord Ashcroft’s influence in local matters is well known. The many years of controversy in Leeward and the alleged alliance with or control of Johnston’s International (hospitals construction, leeward hwy construction, etc.) is a matter of public record and ongoing investigation. The public continues to demand answers about the nature of the financial transactions between his bank and the members of the previous Michael Misick administration who are under investigation for corruption by the special prosecutor Helen Garlick.
Local concern about the concentration of power with respect to Butch Stewart has always centered around allegations that at one time Butch Stewart when involved with a disagreement with the TCI government, threatened to close down Beaches and lay off his entire staff. He allegedly got his way in that disagreement!! The various disagreements, some believed to be ongoing, with the government over the years have centered around employment practices and/or interpretation of financial concessions on government duties or fees amounting to millions of dollars.
Just as in Britian, here in the TCI there is deep concern that neither of the two main political parties has ever shown any interest what-so-ever in limiting or even questioning the actions or influence of the top power players for fear of losing their financial support.
http://www.tcijournal.com/newsite/july-6-2011-when-private-interests-are-so-wealthy-and-powerful-they-pose-real-danger-concept-democra
EDITORIAL
It is widely accepted that Jamaica’s justice system, if not in shambles, limps creakily along and is in real danger of collapse.
There is, for instance, a backlog of nearly half a million cases in the courts. It often takes a decade, or more, for matters to be resolved.
This rickety justice system contributes to Jamaica’s dysfunctional social arrangements and our high level of crime. If people can’t count on the formal system to work, they may be inclined to seek their own justice.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110706/cleisure/cleisure1.html
Jamaica said to have one of the worst economies in the world
Influential business magazine, Forbes, has ranked Jamaica as one of the worst economies in the world.
Forbes says Jamaica has the 5th worst economy in 2011
It’s a claim which flies in the face of official statistics which indicate that even though, tourism bookings were tempered, growth in that industry was realised through the throes of the recession.
Another questionable assertion Forbes made is that poverty in the country has been halved to 10 percent.
Official data however show the true figure is closer to twice that level.
But incorrect assertions or dated information doesn’t matter, the rankings are sold to people who may not know.
And what Forbes has told them, is that Jamaica is the world’s fifth worst economy, behind only Madagascar, Armenia, Guinea and the Ukraine.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/business/jamaica-said-have-one-worst-economies-world
News of the World shutting down amid scandal
LONDON (AP) — News International announced Thursday it is shutting down the News of the World, the best-selling tabloid at the center of Britain’s phone hacking scandal.
James Murdoch, who heads European operations for the paper’s parent company, said the 168-year-old weekly newspaper would publish its last edition Sunday. The scandal has cost the Sunday-only paper prestige and prompted dozens of companies to pull their ads.
Murdoch said in a memo to staff that all revenue from the final issue, which will carry no ads, would go to “good causes.”
The announcement took British media-watchers — and the newspaper’s staff — by surprise.
“Wrongdoers turned a good newsroom bad,” he said, “and this was not fully understood or adequately pursued.”
“While we may never be able to make up for distress that has been caused, the right thing to do is for every penny of the circulation revenue we receive this weekend to go to organizations — many of whom are long-term friends and partners — that improve life in Britain and are devoted to treating others with dignity,” he said.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=29946
Andy Coulson to be arrested over phone hacking tomorrow
Second former senior News of the World journalist to also be arrested after leaks from NI force police to speed up plans
The Guardian understands that a second arrest is also to be made in the next few days of a former senior journalist at the paper.
Leaks from News International forced police to speed up their plans to arrest the two key suspects in the explosive phone-hacking scandal.
The Guardian knows the identity of the second suspect but is witholding the name in order to avoid prejudicing the ongoing police investigation.
Coulson, who resigned as David Cameron’s director of communications in January, was contacted on Thursday by detectives and asked to present himself at a police station in central London on Friday, where he will be told that he will be formally questioned under suspicion of involvement in hacking.
The arrest will be embarrassing for David Cameron who consistently defended his decision to hire the controversial former journalist amid mounting evidence of his involvement in the hacking scandal.
Coulson is one of three News of the World journalists whose evidence to the trial of Scottish MSP Tommy Sheridan is being examined after doubts were cast on his claim that he was unaware of any wrongdoing by News of the World journalists.Evidence leading to the two imminent arrests has come from a cache of emails recently uncovered during NI’s internal investigation into phone hacking.
The arrests had been planned to take place before August 8th, when Operation Weeting had agreed to pass all the relevant material in their possession to lawyers acting in the civil cases against NI for victims of phone hacking – thereby giving suspects the opportunity to discover what evidence the police hold against them.
The Guardian understands that NI had promised the police not to reveal the existence of evidence identifying Coulson and the other journalist, but that detectives began to fear the information would be leaked, after reports appeared suggesting that Coulson approved payments to police officers.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/07/andy-coulson-arrest-phone-hacking
News of the World: the denials –
videoEditors and executives at the News of the World – including Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson – address parliamentary select committee hearings on phone hacking
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/video/2011/jul/07/news-of-the-world-denials-video
Phone hacking: two separate inquiries will look at police and press
David Cameron and Ed Miliband will meet next week to agree the terms of the official inquiries, including one led by a judge
The phone hacking inquiries are no less necessary after the closure of the News of the World, David Cameron’s office indicated.
David Cameron will meet Ed Miliband next Wednesday to agree terms of two official inquiries into the phone-hacking scandal, including a judge-led inquiry into the conduct of the original police investigation, and an inquiry into the future of the media and its regulation.
Labour continued to call for Rebekah Brooks to stand aside, a call that Cameron – who allowed her to become close to him personally – is not willing to match.
The first inquiry into the police investigation is likely to be led by a judge, and to be held in public with witnesses answering under oath, government sources said. It may not be able to start for up to a year since it will have to await completion of the current police investigations as well as the subsquent court trials.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/07/phone-hacking-separate-inquiries-police
News of the World: shock, tears and anger as staff fear a conspiracy
Many of tabloid’s 200 staff understood to perceive closure as move to protect Rebekah Brooks
He added: “People are just standing round in the office looking dazed. They just can’t believe what’s happened. All I am concerned about is that 200 professional people who have done nothing wrong have lost their jobs because of what’s happened five or six years ago.”
Many of the staff are understood to perceive the Sunday red-top’s closure as a move to protect Brooks, who was editor of the News of the World when some of the alleged phone hacking took place and who has come under increasing pressure to resign over the scandal. Brooks, who continues to be supported by James Murdoch, maintains that she had no knowledge of any wrongdoing at the paper.
Michelle Stanistreet, general secretary of the National Union of Journalists, said the move showed the “contempt that the Murdoch empire has for its loyal staff”. She added: “This is an act of damage limitation to salvage Murdoch’s reputation and that of News International, both of which are now tarnished beyond repair …
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/07/news-of-the-world-staff
Tommy Sheridan lawyer urges robust investigation
Sheridan was ultimately jailed for three years in January after being found guilty of perjury during his 2006 defamation action against the newspaper.
Mr Coulson, then Downing Street director of communications, told the trial in December that he had no knowledge of illegal activities by reporters while he was editor of the newspaper.
He also claimed: “I don’t accept there was a culture of phone hacking at the News of the World.”
“The Crown Office claimed the prosecution was in the public interest and that nobody was above the law.
“We now demand a similar robust investigation of the serious allegations facing those who gave evidence at the trial.
“If people lie in the High Court then it strikes at the heart of the administration of justice.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/tommy-sheridan-lawyer-urges-robust-investigation-2308503.html
Andy Coulson has been arrested
Andy Coulson, David Cameron’s former director of communications was arrested today, shortly after a press conference in which the prime minister took “full responsibility” for his appointment but refused to apologise for it.
He said he was not warned about Coulson’s links with a private investigator accused of murder before his appointment, as has been claimed, or at least that he did not remember [Canna Recall] being warned. The prime minister announced two inquiries. The first will be led by a judge and will investigate why the why the original police investigation failed and what was was going on at the NoW and other papers. The second, by a panel of experts, will look at the “culture, ethics and practices of the British press”. In response to a question about James Murdoch’s admission that he approved payments that were wrong, the prime minister said police should question anyone “no matter how high or low”. He said the Press Complaints Commission had failed and should be replaced by a new body, independent of the press and politicians.
• The Labour leader, Ed Miliband, said the prime minister should apologise for the error of judgement in hiring Coulson. He called for a judge-led inquiry into the scandal to be established “immediately”. Miliband described the PCC as a “toothless poodle” but said his instincts were that it should be replaced by another self-regulation body. The leader of the opposition said closing the News of the World was not enough: “Instead those who were in charge must take responsibility for what happened.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/blog/2011/jul/08/news-of-the-world-phone-hacking-scandal#block-25
Phone hacking: Police probe suspected deletion of emails by NI executive
• ‘Massive quantities’ of archive allegedly deleted
• Emails believed to be between News of the World editors
News International’s claims of cooperating with police over phone hacking scandal brought into question.
Police are investigating evidence that a News International executive may have deleted millions of emails from an internal archive in an apparent attempt to obstruct Scotland Yard’s inquiry into the phone-hacking scandal.
That came amid the first signs that Rebekah Brooks’s grip on NI was weakening on a dramatic day when David Cameron all but called for her resignation. It also emerged that Brooks was no longer in charge of the company’s three-person in-house standards committee that is tackling the hacking issue, and that Rupert Murdoch is planning to fly into London on Sasturday to confront the crisis.
Earlier on Friday, the prime minister told reporters at an emergency press conference on the crisis on Friday morning: “It’s been reported that [Brooks] had offered her resignation, and in this situation I would have taken it.” Although NI denies that she offered to resign, Cameron’s meaning was clear as he tried to distance himself from a person with whom he has a close social relationship.
The scandal brought a number of arrests on Friday, with the prime minister’s former PR chief Andy Coulson held under suspicion of involvement in phone hacking. As he was released on bail, he told reporters: “There is an awful lot I would like to say, but I can’t at this time.” Clive Goodman, the NoW’s former royal reporter, was also arrested in relation to the alleged payment of bribes to police, and subsequently bailed. And last night an unnamed 63-year-old man was also arrested in connection with alleged corruption.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/08/phone-hacking-emails-news-international
Hacking scandal: is this Britain’s Watergate?
Saturday, 9 July 2011
David Cameron distances himself from Rebekah Brooks, Andy Coulson has been arrested and Murdoch has flown to the UK
David Cameron was forced to cut Rupert Murdoch and his newspaper empire loose from the heart of government yesterday as he tried to deflect public anger about his failure to tackle the phone-hacking scandal.
Mr Cameron turned on Mr Murdoch’s son James, saying there were questions “that need to be answered” about his role during the phone-hacking cover-up, and criticising him for not accepting the resignation of News International’s chief executive Rebekah Brooks.
He also admitted that his desire to win support from the company’s newspapers had led him to turn “a blind eye” as evidence grew of widespread illegality at the News of the World.
With a newspaper closed, five arrests and more to follow, 4,000 possible victims, a media empire shaken to its foundations and the Prime Minister reeling, the escalating scandal has become a controversy comparable to the US Watergate saga, with ramifications for Downing Street, the media and police.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/hacking-scandal-is-this-britains-watergate-2309487.html
Last night the media regulator Ofcom announced it would contact police about the conduct of Mr Murdoch’s empire in covering up phone-hacking allegations, to determine whether it was a “fit and proper” owner of the broadcaster BSkyB, which Mr Murdoch is attempting to buy outright.
At a Downing Street press conference, Mr Cameron defended his decision to appoint Mr Coulson but admitted his relationship with senior members of the Murdoch empire had been too close.
“The deeper truth is this… because party leaders were so keen to win the support of newspapers we turned a blind eye to the need to sort this issue, get on top of the bad practices, to change the way our newspapers are regulated,” he said. “I want to deal with it.”
Mr Cameron was also asked whether James Murdoch remained a fit and proper person to run a large company, following his admission yesterday that he personally approved out-of-court payments in a way which he now accepted was wrong. The Prime Minister replied: “I read the statement yesterday. I think it raises lots of questions that need to be answered and these processes that are under way are going to have to answer those questions.”
But the Labour leader, Ed Miliband, said Mr Cameron was still failing to restore confidence in the Government’s handling of the scandal: “This is a Prime Minister who clearly still doesn’t get it. He is ploughing on regardless on BSkyB. He failed to apologise for the catastrophic mistake of bringing Andy Coulson into the heart of government.
“His wholly unconvincing answers of what he knew and when he knew it about Mr Coulson’s activities undermine his ability to lead the change Britain needs.”
Watergate Parallels
The Watergate and phone-hacking scandals had small beginnings – a break-in at a hotel, and a single “rogue” reporter and private detective. The News of the World scandal is not just about phone hacking. It is also about statements made to Parliament, personally to David Cameron, and in a court of law which – as James Murdoch has now admitted – were not true. As with Watergate, which brought down Richard Nixon’s presidency, the cover-up could have bigger implications than the original offence.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/hacking-scandal-is-this-britains-watergate-2309487.html
Murdoch’s malign influence must die with the News of the World
The scandal over phone hacking has exposed a rotten empire and the urgent need for stronger press regulation
Suddenly, Rupert Murdoch seems much less a global mogul, much more a diminished man of glass. He flies into London this weekend from Sun Valley, Idaho, in time for the last rites of the most successful Sunday newspaper in Britain, the News of the World. One hundred and sixty-eight years ago, it pledged: “Our motto is the truth, our practice is fearless advocacy of the truth.” After today, the tabloid will appear no more, felled not by one royal rogue reporter but by the arrogance, ambition and apparent tolerance of systemic criminal behaviour by members of the senior News International management.
The death of a paper in such rude health is unprecedented and unwanted in the media. The individuals who are to blame are, as yet, unwilling fully to admit culpability. Rebekah Brooks, the chief executive, still in post, has warned that worse revelations are to come. The shameful saga stretches back over five years. Arguably, it would not have come to light but for the sterling and stoic persistence of the Guardian, some diligent lawyers and a handful of MPs such as Tom Watson and Chris Bryant.
On Thursday, Murdoch’s son, James, deputy chief operating officer of News Corp, the ultimate owner of News International, which also owns the Times, the Sunday Times and the Sun, possibly opened himself up to criminal charges on both sides of the Atlantic. He admitted he had misled Parliament, although he stated that he did not have the complete picture at the time. He went on to give an extraordinary admission of negligence, describing what he called “repeated wrongdoing that [had] occurred without conscience or legitimate purpose” on his watch. He admitted that, without apparently much questioning, he had signed cheques for £1.7m for two individuals among dozens more celebrities, whose phones have been hacked. Why did the young Murdoch authorise the payments? They paid out £700,000 to the chief executive of the Professional Footballers’ Association, Gordon Taylor. One of the conditions was that Taylor didn’t speak about the case. News Corp also persuaded the court to seal the file on Taylor’s case to prevent all public access, even though, as the Guardian revealed, “it contained prima facie evidence of criminal activity”. Did alarm bells not sound for him, that he was having to spend such vast sums of money to keep his company’s victims quiet?
So what kind of an organisation provides a home for such a culture? Over 40 years, Murdoch convinced the establishment that he can make or break political reputations and grant or take away electoral success. In doing so, he has come close to gelding parliament, damaging the rights of citizens and undermining democracy. It is legitimate to ask how a naturalised American, domiciled in New York, born in Australia, and who pays next to no UK tax, holds so much sway. What right exactly did this man have to exert such influence over our political life? Freedom of information requests reveal that he spoke to prime minister Tony Blair three times in the 10 days that led up to the Iraq invasion in 2003. This was a perversion of our politics, orchestrated by a man whose power the establishment failed to check. Then they had to live with the demeaning consequences.
And what did Britain get in return for gifting this man the back keys to political power? (Literally in Murdoch’s case, as he swept into Downing Street days after last year’s election and then left by the back door). In return, a swaggering, bullying, crassly ineffective News International treated British citizens with contempt by hacking their phones and treated the media, police and politicians investigating the affair with wilful disdain and barely concealed threats. Let this never happen again on our watch.
Prime ministers have danced fast and furiously to Murdoch’s tune. In 2001, for instance, Murdoch’s newspapers supported Blair in the general election. Blair in turn backed a communications bill that loosened restrictions on foreign media ownership. More recently, News International bosses are reported to have told Ed Miliband that there would be “repercussions” if he continued to call for Rebekah Brooks’s resignation. Miliband, belatedly, has broken out of the cocoon of fear that is Murdoch’s speciality. He is on the offensive against the power of Murdoch and that’s to his credit. It’s hard to conceive that there’s any going back.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/10/observer-editorial-murdoch-phone-hacking
In the spirit of media plurality, it is essential that Murdoch’s control of BSkyB is rejected, as we have argued consistently in these pages. The spectre of the old Murdoch, whose demise was signalled last week – voracious and threatening – must not rise again from the ashes of the News of the World. To comment on this story or any other about phone hacking, please visit our open thread
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/10/observer-editorial-murdoch-phone-hacking
John O’Connor: The suspects are in charge of the case
News International and the Metropolitan Police are looking into corruption at Wapping. But face-saving is their priority
Each day reveals more details of misconduct by the press and the police.
This extraordinary state of affairs has its roots back in the Eighties, in the days when News International was dependent on the police to protect its new premises in Wapping.
The culture of police officers mixing with journalists was encouraged, and little thought was given to the potential of misconduct. Crime writers were expected to know lots of police officers, and there was great competition to get the inside story. If only things could have stayed the same.
Some private detective agencies realised that there was money to be earned from celebrity stories and confidential crime stories. Some of these detective agencies were run by former Metropolitan Police officers who maintained good contacts with serving officers.
Short cuts adopted by the News of the World put them closer to the coalface. The strategy of using several intermediaries was abandoned and they employed private detectives such as Jonathan Rees of Southern Investigations and Glenn Mulcaire. This was clearly cheaper but the drawback was that if the private detectives came unstuck so did those who hired them.
It is with breathtaking cheek that News International announced its own investigation. It is quite clear that getting to the truth is not a goal, its real objective is damage limitation and face-saving. It is quite clear that any number of junior staff will be sacrificed in order the save the skins of the real decision-makers.
They must accept their responsibility for what has happened. It is astonishing that with so many resources being spent on anti-corruption, they could not see it when it was right under their noses.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/john-oconnor-the-suspects-are-in-charge-of-the-case-2309778.html
in the
course of a lengthy private meeting with Ambassador on July
21 (septel), PM Golding confirmed that he does not plan to
call an election anytime soon. End Comment.))
PM Golding is
likely to call a snap general election this year only if at
least one, and preferably both, of the following conditions
hold:
— an unanticipated court ruling imperils the narrow JLP
parliamentary majority;
— the leadership struggle between PSM and Phillips so badly
fragments a weakened, polarized PNP that the ruling JLP could
be confident of gaining a significant number of parliamentary
seats.
After all, Golding does not have to call elections for
another four years, and would be taking a real risk in doing
so.
All over the world the media have become more central to democratic politics, and the latest and biggest storm to hit British politics concerns politicians’ relationships with Rupert Murdoch and his media empire and, in particular, the fate of a famous Sunday scandal sheet the News of the World.
To understand the scandal you have to appreciate how long and how fervently politicians in Britain have genuflected at the feet of Mr Murdoch and his media empire. Successive political leaders including Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown and the current Prime Minister David Cameron, have been desperate for his favour. They believed that without his support (and in particular the support of his tabloid the Sun) they could not hope to win elections.
So great was the outcry that Rupert Murdoch has been forced to close down the 168-year-old News of the World altogether. Nobody knows what fresh scandals this weekend will bring. But the police, media and political establishment are quivering with fear.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/editorial/Political-expediency-threatens-economic-recovery_9166201#ixzz1RiBZm9L4
Getting The Facts Wrong
Published: Sunday | July 10, 20115 Comments
After costing the country millions of scarce dollars, the Manatt-Coke commission of enquiry handed in its report. The prime minister has said we must now accept the report and move on. Some of us have taken to reading the report before moving. Sadly, the report started off with some basic inaccuracies that lead one to wonder how much, if any, of the report should be taken seriously. These inaccuracies included non-controversial matters.
They could have been cured by paying attention to details and a demonstrated commitment to getting everything right. Too much was at stake in this commission, including, according to some people, the reputation of the commissioners and key leaders of our country. Carelessness should, therefore, be eschewed. From as early as page three, the commissioners and their secretariat simply got the facts wrong.
In their report, they had Mrs Valerie Neita Robertson’s surname (representing the People’s National Party) down as Robinson. We could have forgiven them this single error as a typographical one done in the haste of producing the report, but there were other things.
On television, we saw a handsome young man appearing with Mr Frank Phipps as his deputy. His name is Mr Marlon Roberts. Somehow the commissioners were able in their report to change his gender from male to female by declaring him in their report as Ms Marion Roberts.
No mention of the colonel
Worse, the report failed to acknowledge among the legal representatives the lawyer for three key witnesses who appeared before them. We knew that Lt Col Linton Gordon represented Rear Admiral Hardley Lewin, Major General Stewart Saunders and Lt Col Patrick Cole. No one should forget Colonel Gordon, given the poignant interventions he made on behalf of not only his clients, but all of Jamaica.
How could the commissioners have forgotten the man who hinted at the “real busybody” in the “web of deception”? How could the commission have forgotten the man who spoke of the Shower Posse, One Order and other gangs holding the country to ransom? How could the commissioners have forgotten the lawyer who declared he was probably the only one there not on any side? Certainly, I hope not because he exposed the danger to Rear Admiral Lewin’s wife.
For me, the commissioners getting the facts wrong was not just about form. Fundamentally, it is about substance. If they cannot get non-controversial things right, how can their report be trusted on the controversial issues? While witnesses may declare that they “can’t recall”, that is not a luxury available to the commissioners. They had stenographers taking verbatim notes, audio recordings, as well as television recordings at their disposal. What else did they forget? What else did they get wrong?
Mind-boggling statement
On page 42 of their report, the commissioners made a most astonishing statement, which continues to boggle the minds of many. They said: “It must be remembered that the PM did not send Mr Brady and Dr Robinson to MPP.” Really, Messrs Commissioners, PM Golding never sent those gentlemen to see Manatt, Phelps & Phillips (MPP)? Is this really true? From the evidence available to the commissioners, Dr Robinson said he was sent by the prime minister to see MPP. This, he said, was in his capacity as minister of government to give credence to Mr Brady.
Information Minister Daryl Vaz admitted to the commission that on the instructions of Mr Golding, he provided money for the trip of Mr Brady and Dr Robinson to visit MPP. Mr Golding admitted to sending Dr Robinson to see MPP, but in his capacity as deputy general secretary of the Jamaica Labour Party. The evidence was that both men returned from the trip to MPP and briefed the prime minister at Vale Royal. Robinson and Brady were commended by the prime minister. Is it that these independent commissioners are telling us that they cannot recall such evidence?
The commissioners are entitled to their own opinions, no matter how much such may be at dissonance with the majority opinion. What they are not entitled to is their own facts. Here again they have got the facts wrong. While Mr Brady did not give testimony before the commission, his lawyer’s letter to the PM, dated September 15, 2010, was available to the commissioners. This is what it said, in part: “He was instructed by you to use his international contacts to try to resolve the political issues raised by the extradition request for Christopher Coke, which you asserted was flawed evidentially but which you anticipated would result in adverse political pressure were the Government to be forced to refuse the request on that ground.
“Our client used his international political contacts, who unanimously referred him to the firm of MPP, who agreed to take on the matter of the treaty issues but pointed out to our client that this could only be done as a government representative and under a paid retainer. Our client reported in full to you, at a meeting at which Minister Daryl Vaz was present, and you instructed him to agree to MPP’s terms but to ensure, as best as possible, that the Government did not appear to be involved. At that meeting, you delegated all the financial implications to be handled by Minister Vaz. … Thereafter, all expenses relating to the conduct of the MPP matters were dealt with by Minister Vaz … .”
Also available to the commissioners were comments by the PM made to Power 106 reporter Damion Mitchell on September 14, 2010. “When he went, whoever he spoke with at Manatt said, ‘Look, we’re prepared to assist in this matter, but it would have to be on a professional retainer basis’, and, as I said, as I’ve acknowledged before, when that was reported to me by Brady, that’s when I should have pulled up the stumps. That’s when I should’ve said, ‘Absolutely no.’ Regrettably, I said, ‘All right, go ahead, but be very clear in your mind that this is the party that is doing it, not the Government’.”
“All right, go ahead … .” That was the PM’s instruction. With the commissioners getting the facts so wrong on these and other issues, their report is not worth the paper it was written on. Maybe they should donate their earnings therefrom to the families of those who suffered death arising from the “inappropriate” handling of the Dudus extradition matter.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110710/cleisure/cleisure5.html
Met police boss to apologise for ‘institutional’ failures on phone hacking
Scotland Yard’s most senior officer is expected to admit blanket shortcomings in the Met and the Crown Prosecution Service
But the mea culpa is being seen by some as a cynical attempt to distance himself from his increasingly embattled assistant commissioner, John Yates, the officer he appointed to review the original inquiry.
Stephenson has stood by Yates until now, and is understood not to have questioned his initial assessment of the case two years ago. “They are in this together,” said a police source.
But the admission by Stephenson that the police were deeply at fault for not stopping the hacking is seen by some as implicitly cutting loose the man who was once his closest friend and ally.
In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, Yates said Scotland Yard’s reputation had been “very damaged” by its repeated failures to hold News International to account over the scandal.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/10/met-police-apologise-institutional-failures
As one international media tycoon was flying to London to deal with the crisis in his empire, another cut short a visit to the Mediterranean island of Lampedusa and hastened to Rome after being dealt the heaviest blow yet in his controversial business career.
Silvio Berlusconi learned on Saturday that judges in Milan had ordered his company Fininvest to hand over more than half a billion euros to his deadliest rival.
The money is compensation for bribery of a judge to rule in Berlusconi’s favour in his struggle with the industrialist Carlo De Benedetti for control of Mondadori, Italy’s biggest publishing house.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/10/silvio-berlusconi-firm-bribery
News International: The cover-up and the cops
Dismissive statements by two senior police officers let the company off the hook and might have discouraged investigation
The company was able to point to Mr Yates’s remarks to suggest there was nothing new to report. NI gained further comfort from another former assistant commissioner, Andy Hayman, who by then was on the payroll, working for the Times.
In a remarkable Sunday Telegraph interview, Mr Yates described his actions on the day as “pretty crap”. Indeed he admitted: “I did not do a review.” He conceded he had failed the victims of the NoW intrusion and that the Met’s reputation had been extremely damaged by it all. Mr Yates knows that, during private meetings with the Guardian in the intervening period, we tried to convince him that his original statement was at error in both judgment and fact. So we welcome his belated admission of regret. It will be for a judicial inquiry to establish his and Mr Hayman’s motivations and to challenge the latter on whether his employment by NI coloured his views in any way. Given that his role at the CPS will now be under scrutiny, it is surprising that Ken – now Lord – Macdonald should feel it appropriate to be retained by News International to advise them on their dealings with the police.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/10/news-international-cover-up-police
Enter Ashcroft?
“Tory grandee Lord Ashcroft said he would produce evidence that the former Times journalist engaged in unethical practices”
Privately Tory officials were blunt that the Sky deal has been politically damaging to the Prime Minister.
‘We always knew we were going to have to eat a s*** sandwich over the BSkyB deal,’ said one Government source. ‘But we didn’t know it would turn into a three-course dinner.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2013299/Cameron-ready-sink-BSkyB-deal–10bn-takeover-delayed-PM-finally-signals-break-Murdoch.html#ixzz1RlSXylhM
Anyway, how was your dinner Deacon, game of cards later?
Can’t get over this one.
Coulson does not look like *** but with photoshop and a few changes this brooks could be a replica.
These people make it to the pinnacle and leave the back door wide open…Amazing. Absolutely amazing phenomenon.
“Quite simply, we lost our way”.
Vernacular “Dawg nyamed yu suppa”
Police: Someone sabotaging UK newspaper inquiry
2011-07-11 09:57:47 | (0 Comments)
LONDON (AP) — British police said Monday that they believe someone is trying to sabotage its investigation into the widening phone hacking scandal by leaking distracting details of the inquiry to the media.
In an unusual statement, Scotland Yard said that a story that appeared on the front page of London’s Evening Standard — which claimed that police had sold personal details about the queen and her closest aides — was “part of a deliberate campaign to undermine the investigation into the alleged payments by corrupt journalists to corrupt police officers and divert attention from elsewhere.”
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/I-m-not-the-X6-suspect_9173333
Scotland Yard has declined to specifically address the claims, but in a statement directly referencing the Standard’s story they said that they were “extremely concerned and disappointed that the continuous release of selected information — that is only known by a small number of people — could have a significant impact on the corruption investigation.”
News International papers targeted Gordon Brown
Newspapers obtained information from the former prime minister’s bank account, legal file and family medical records
Brown was targeted during a period of more than 10 years, both as chancellor of the exchequer and as prime minister. Some of the activity clearly was illegal.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/11/phone-hacking-news-international-gordon-brown
• David Cameron made his strongest comments about Andy Coulson, the News of the World editor who became his director of communications. He said he would be “incredibly angry and incredibly let down” if Coulson’s assurances that he did not know about phone hacking turn out to have been untrue. Miliband said Cameron needed to explain why he ignored warnings about Coulson before making him No 10 director of communications and the issue came up repeatedly in the Commons.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/blog/2011/jul/11/phone-hacking-scandal-live
As the scandal grows, could Murdoch exit Britain altogether?
A faction within the tycoon’s empire has long wanted him to shed News International. Now they smell blood, says Ian Burrell
Will Rupert Murdoch abandon British newspapers entirely? After the dramatic demise of the News of the World, speculation was rife last night that the News Corp media empire might seek to sell off News International to protect the rest of its business from the fallout of the hacking scandal.
Pressure increased yesterday with news that a group of American institutional investors had brought new charges against the company over the phone-hacking affair. The investors, who are critical of Rupert Murdoch and his son and deputy, James, accused News Corp of “rampant nepotism and failed corporate governance”
Despite the efforts of executives with responsibility for the London operation, such as James Murdoch and News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, the scandal has crossed the Atlantic, being seized on by the US media and threatening to infect other prestigious News Corp brands.
Brian Cathcart, professor of journalism at Kingston University, agreed that it was getting harder to maintain a business case for News Corp retaining its interests in the British press. “If you were a stakeholder in News Corp you might be looking at it and thinking: ‘This is just a small limb of the organisation, we want this BSkyB deal, how can we have allowed this to screw it up?'” he said. He added that people who had purchased shares in News Corp had essentially made a decision to back the judgement of one man. “News Corp is not a normal business, it has grown on the genius of one businessman and if you are a shareholder you are just someone who is betting on Rupert Murdoch.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/as-the-scandal-grows-could-murdoch-exit-britain-altogether-2312102.html
Brown accuses two more Murdoch titles
The crisis engulfing Rupert Murdoch’s global media empire dramatically worsened last night when it was claimed that private investigators working for The Sun and The Sunday Times targeted the former prime minister Gordon Brown.
In another extraordinary day in the phone-hacking scandal, News International’s denials that illicit newsgathering techniques stretched beyond the News of the World came under strain in the face of well-sourced claims that two of its other best-selling titles were also involved in serious wrongdoing.
As Scotland Yard launched a fierce attack on News International for undermining its new inquiry into the alleged bribery of police officers by reporters, it was claimed that private investigators for Britain’s largest newspaper group attempted to access Mr Brown’s phone, medical records and bank account.
In a statement, the Browns said: “We are shocked by the scale of law-breaking and intrusion into our private lives.”
The Culture Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, executed his U-turn in the face of public revulsion sparked by claims that Mulcaire had deleted emails from the mobile phone of the missing schoolgirl Milly Dowler, giving her family false hope she was alive. After visiting Nick Clegg in Downing Street yesterday, Milly’s parents, Robert and Sally Dowler, called for Ms Brooks to resign. Mark Lewis, the family’s lawyer, said: “They don’t see why she should stay in the job. They see this as something that went right to the top.”
As the cosy relationship between Scotland Yard and News International collapsed, the police took the extraordinary step of accusing Mr Murdoch’s company of undermining Operation Elveden, its new inquiry into alleged payments by the NOTW to corrupt officers. Scotland Yard said an agreement by NI not to make public details of internal emails outlining the claimed payments had been breached by the “continuous release” of information, which is known to only a handful of individuals. They said it threatened to hamper the operation, which last week arrested the NOTW’s former editor Andy Coulson.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/brown-accuses-two-more-murdoch-titles-2312095.html
Cameron weakened by UK phone hacking scandal
2011-07-12 18:14:20 | (0 Comments)
LONDON (AP) — He’s looked defensive. He’s looked outraged. He’s looked scared. But recently, Prime Minister David Cameron has rarely looked like he’s in charge.
The British leader has lost his confident aura as his friendships with figures central to the tabloid hacking scandal hand his government its biggest crisis since he entered No. 10 Downing Street. Questions are mounting about whether the scandal will poison his premiership.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=30068
Rupert Murdoch will today face the humiliation of the Commons issuing a unanimous all-party call for his scandal-ridden News Corporation to withdraw its £8bn bid for BSkyB, the great commercial prize he has been pursuing to cement his dominance of the British media landscape.
In an extraordinary volte-face, David Cameron will disown the media tycoon by leading his party through the lobbies to urge him to drop the bid. Murdoch can defy parliament and press ahead with the bid, prompting a Competition Commission inquiry, but he risks finding himself ostracised by a political class that once scrambled to bend to his wishes.
Cameron will also announce today that a judge is to oversee a full-blown inquiry into phone hacking, and that a panel will examine the future regulation of the media. The judge – who will be named today – will lead the main inquiry into the hacking allegations, which is expected to be modelled on the Hutton inquiry into the death of Dr David Kelly in 2003.
It is understood that the inquiry will also examine the relationships between police and the press, and politicians and the press. The inquiry will not sit in public until the criminal investigation has completed its course.
A spokesman for the deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, said the vote represents “an extraordinary unified statement of the will of the people. It is unimaginable that any public corporation or public figure will want to ignore such a strong statement by the legislature of this country.”
Privately, Downing Street is frustrated at the way Miliband has shaped the political agenda in the past week, and Cameron is hoping to regain the initiative today when he sets out the terms of reference of the inquiry into the crisis.
The prime minister held discussions yesterday with John Whittingdale, the chairman of the culture select committee, and Keith Vaz, the chairman of the home affairs select committee. Vaz’s committee criticised John Yates, the assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan police, on Tuesday for his handling of the investigation into phone hacking.
Cameron is also expected to announce plans to strengthen transparency rules over meetings between ministers and media figures, including for the first time private social meetings. Until now, ministers have declined to publish details of meetings with senior media figures, bar those that are defined as business meetings.
Ministers are also looking at new rules designed to oversee the future employment of former senior police officers. Andy Hayman, the Met’s assistant commissioner in charge of the investigation into News International in 2005-6, ended up working for them.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/12/rupert-murdoch-bskyb-news-international
John Yates evidence on phone hacking mocked by MPs
Scotland Yard chief urged to quit after select committee greets his account of failed initial inquiry with laughter
John Yates was forced to deny he had lied during a previous appearance before the commitee. Photograph: Reuters
MPs investigating the police’s response to the hacking affair yesterday derided the evidence of one of Scotland Yard’s most senior officers, fuelling calls for his resignation.
Assistant Commissioner John Yates, who was recalled to appear before the home affairs committee, faced 50 minutes of hostile questions over the force’s failings in the initial investigations into allegations of hacking at the News of the World.
The officers and ex-officers insisted their efforts had been thwarted by the failure of News International (NI) to divulge evidence – with one of them accusing the firm of telling “lies”.
“It is shameful that John Yates found time to have five lunches with the News of the World and News International, but after just a few hours decided there was no additional evidence to justify a further investigation into phone hacking”
The former Lib Dem leader Lord Ashdown also said Yates, with a reputation as the Yard’s troubleshooter, should go: “This is a man employed for judgment and it is plain by his own admission that he has made a very serious error of judgment.
During the hearing, MPs passed notes to the chair containing one-word descriptions of Yates’s evidence.
Some MPs wrote “evasive” but when Yates finished, committee chair Keith Vaz MP said he and his colleagues found his testimony “unconvincing” and he could be recalled.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jul/12/john-yates-evidence-mocked-mps
“NI descended from the gutter to the sewer”
Gordon Brown.
LNG project retendered, Paulwell wants answers
The OCG had said there appeared to be a bias towards Exmar in the bidding process.
On June 27, just three days before Clive Mullings was reappointed to the energy portfolio, the Cabinet decided to re-do the bidding process.
Paulwell has also questioned the timing.
This morning, minister with responsibility for information, Daryl Vaz, confirmed that the project has in fact again been put to tender.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=30087
SOMEONE challenged me. Why, he said, is the local media taking such interest in international matters while there is so much at home needing attention? I began to explain that the drama of Rudolph Murdoch and the wire-tapping scandal which ended in the death of the News of the World holds lessons for all in media.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Anecdotal-mutterings-and-BB-messages_9220922#ixzz1SAHevaHZ
Many people see double standard on the part of the police in their action in this case, given how they, in other circumstances, have named persons who could help in their investigations. The police’s critics conclude wealth and/or social and political connections, or lack thereof, as accounting for the difference.
We make no comment on these assumptions, preferring, at least for now, to take Mr Ellington at his word.
What, however, concerns us is how Mr Ellington seems to have glossed over the raid of the home of a senior police officer in connection with this case, about which we have previously commented.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110715/cleisure/cleisure1.html
No simple matter
It is not a simple matter for the home of a senior officer of the constabulary to be searched in relation to an egregious crime and the public hears nothing more.
First, Mr Ellington implied that this search was based on credible information. Second, we assume that it would have been sanctioned by a senior officer, if not Mr Ellington himself.
If that is the case, and an investigation is ongoing, we would expect, as we said previously, that the officer, who remains unnamed, would have been suspended from his job – because it is the ethical thing to do, as well as to limit his ability to interfere with the investigation.
US want to question two prominent Jamaicans
The Sunday Herald understands that the US has sent a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) request to the Jamaican government seeking information from two prominent citizens on allegations of bribery, against Michael Misick, the former Premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands. The alleged bribery is said to have been routed through a US company.
During his reign Misick was said to be at the behest of powerful private interests who were the beneficiaries of sweetheart land deals. The public in Turks and Caicos continue to demand answers about the nature of the alleged financial transactions between Misick‘s administration and a number of the power brokers, which is under investigation for corruption by the special prosecutor Helen Garlick.
As part of the probe Chief Justice His Lordship Gordon Ward made an order to freeze all of Misick’s assets, including bank accounts here and overseas, his personal residence in Providenciales, parcels of land throughout the Turks and Caicos Islands, two condominiums, a cinema in Providenciales, which still carries a variation of his ex-wife Lisa-Raye McCoy’s name, and several credit cards.
The freezing order, which was made by Special Prosecutor Helen Garlick, clearly states: “This Order prohibits you Michael Misick, the alleged offender, from dealing with all of your assets wherever they may be situated in the world and in whosever name the same assets may be held.”
It goes on to state: “This Order prohibits all of the persons, real or otherwise, named…from dealing with all or any of the assets in which the alleged offender has an interest whether directly or indirectly wherever they may be situated in the world and in whosever name the said assets may be held.”
“Credible allegations of serious breaches of the law by persons holding high office appeared to attract inept investigation and/or no prosecution from the police and Attorney General’s Office, the two critical components of law enforcement in the TCI.
“No effective remedial action appeared to follow from either the Governor’s office nor the Secretary of State to whom he reported.”
The report blames “political loyalties”, “kinship relations” and “fear of reprisals and victimisation” for a collective failure to blow the whistle on wrongdoers.
It goes on to discuss “money in politics” which researchers claim was a “huge factor” in allowing corruption to run rampant.
The prospect of vastly improved living standards for Islanders was offset by “underhand deals with foreign investors”, “bribe-taking by officials” and a “get rich quick mentality” among the population in general.
The report goes on to make a number of recommendations to prevent the TCI being marred by a third constitution suspension.
They include beefing up laws, particularly regarding those dealing with the way political parties are registered and financed; boosting the capacity of law enforcement bodies; and staging an education campaign to highlight the damaging effects of corruption.
TI (Transparency International) defines corruption as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain.”
http://www.olintja.com/blog/archivebookmark.aspx?ID=466
Three people have been charged with conspiracy to traffic women into prostitution in the UK as part of a suspected vice ring that operated from addresses including the former Gloucester home of serial killers Fred and Rosemary West.
Simultaneous raids in Gloucester, south London and Bradford followed an investigation by the Metropolitan police’s human exploitation and organised crime command and Czech authorities into a suspected organised prostitution ring, which saw women trafficked into the UK and forced into prostitution and sham marriages. A further three people were arrested in the Czech Republic.
The three men arrested in the Czech Republic, aged 35, 28 and 41, are currently subject to extradition proceedings.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jul/15/fred-rosemary-west-home-sex-traffickers
Rupert Murdoch’s righthand man Les Hinton has resigned in the latest shock development of a saga still threatening to engulf the newspaper and TV mogul’s empire.
“When I left News International in December 2007, I believed that the rotten element at the News of the World had been eliminated.
“That I was ignorant of what apparently happened is irrelevant,” he wrote in a letter to staff adding: “I feel it is proper for me to resign from News Corp.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/15/les-hinton-rupert-murdoch
Margaret Drabble: Now we have the chance to purge ourselves of insidious shame
The Murdoch press has infected our public discourse. Rival newspapers have been forced to competein lurid headlines, fake scandals and celebrity gossip
I knew, everyone else I knew knew, and we weren’t surprised at all. So how is it conceivable that they didn’t? The hypocrisy was breathtaking, or would have been had it not been exactly what we cynical and hitherto powerless citizens had expected.
We have watched, over decades, the erosion of press standards, the remorseless selling of sensational celebrity junk, the intrusion into deep grief and harmless adulteries, the inflammation of false indignations, the courting of Murdoch power and the Murdoch vote by prime minister after prime minister, and then we say we are surprised? Those of us who haven’t been seduced by News International can sit back and say “I told you so” as we watch the danse macabre around its once omnipotent but now dying body. We always knew that parent company whose name we didn’t know how to pronounce was bad, bad news. News Corp, News Cor, News Corpse. Rest in Peace.
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/editorial/Political-parties-and-the-press_9202800
Rupert Murdoch’s empire must be dismantled – Ed Miliband
Labour leader urges for new media ownership rules saying News Corporation chief has too much power in the UK
Ed Miliband has demanded the breakup of Rupert Murdoch’s UK media empire in a dramatic intervention in the row over phone hacking.
In an exclusive interview with the Observer, the Labour leader calls for cross-party agreement on new media ownership laws that would cut Murdoch’s current market share, arguing that he has “too much power over British public life”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jul/16/rupert-murdoch-ed-miliband-phone-hacking
‘Rupert Murdoch’s only the start, the psyche of British politics has changed’
Two weeks is a very long time in politics, as Ed Miliband has discovered. After a faltering start, he is now leading the attack over phone-hacking scandal and questioning PM’s judgment
Five weeks on, Miliband has done what the Times demanded and raised his game – thanks to his swift and firm response to the News International crisis. Suddenly, he is in the ascendancy, having identified the mood of public outrage over phone hacking, and led the attacks on the Murdoch empire. By contrast, Cameron, whose close links to “team Murdoch” have left him exposed to heavy criticism, is looking shakier than at any time in his premiership.
“Politicians have been talking about the responsibility of the powerless,” he said, referring to Tory attacks on benefit cheats. “It is important that there is a responsibility of those on benefits, but frankly it’s the powerful who also need to show responsibility. And we’ve seen gross irresponsibility in my view.”
The lesson of the phone-hacking scandal, he insisted, was that when too much power had been held by too few people, ordinary citizens had been left voiceless and trust had broken down. The same argument applied to all pillars of the establishment. Politicians and bankers as well as the media – all had had too much power which they failed to exercise responsibly. “We’ve seen it in politics with the expenses scandal, we’ve seen it in banking. We have got to be willing to speak out because it is damaging the fabric of the country, the ethic of the country. We can’t have the responsible country that I think we need if this is going on among the most powerful people in the country.”
For too long, he argues, politicians, both Labour and Conservative, had feared Murdoch. “So many people have believed that you can’t win without Murdoch, you can’t win without the Sun,” he said. But now the reverse might be the case. “I think the endorsement of Murdoch will be a pretty double-edged one at the next general election,” he predicted.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jul/16/ed-miliband-rupert-murdoch-phone-hacking
Scotland Yard’s finest called to account over ‘culture of collusion’ with the press
Friendship between John Yates and Neil Wallis, once treasured by both men, is at the centre of the hacking firestorm
In an extraordinary twist, it was revealed that Wallis, abruptly awoken at dawn that morning to be arrested, had worked the previous year for Scotland Yard as a PR consultant, at a time when Stephenson and Yates were trying to persuade the Guardian that its coverage of the phone-hacking scandal was exaggerated and unwarranted.
Moreover, the Observer has learned that Stephenson dined with Wallis eight times between 2006 and 2009 – meetings which he formally registered – but also, crucially, met him up to five times privately in the last two years.
“The obvious question is why we were not told about this previously,” Winnick told the Observer. Another MP added: “We were assured that Yates and Stephenson weren’t taking money from the journalists. What we didn’t know was that the journalists were taking money from the cops.”
The answer, say sources, is that they may have been blinded by friendship. “Yates thought Wallis was a fantastic guy and really one of the very best journalists around,” said one source. “The strange thing is that Wallis was regarded as a monster by lots of people in the newsrooms he worked in, but Yates had the utmost respect for him.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/16/scotland-yard-collusion-john-yates-neil-wallis
Vaz read the assistant commissioner his rights in relation to misleading the committee, bawled “order, order” when he felt the officer was wasting time with overlong answers and ultimately concluded, peering over his glasses like a disappointed headteacher, that Yates’s evidence was “unconvincing”.
There is little in the makeup of Vaz to suggest he will give Stephenson an easier or more civil time when he appears before him . On Friday, Vaz recalled Stephenson, citing his serious concerns that Yates did not mention “the fact they were employing in their press office the [ex-]deputy editor of the newspaper they were investigating”.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/16/scotland-yard-collusion-john-yates-neil-wallis
Murdochs ‘in family fallout’ over crisis
Biographer claims Elisabeth Murdoch’s outburst was directed not just at Rebekah Brooks but also her brother James
Tensions at the heart of Rupert Murdoch’s empire are threatening to explode into the open amid claims that the media mogul’s children are turning on each other.
A biographer of Murdoch, Michael Wolff, claimed that the tycoon’s daughter, Elisabeth, had said her brother James had “f***** the company”.
Wolff, who stood by his claims on Saturday, said: “What we are seeing is an enormous amount of frustration. James absolutely cannot survive. Whether or not he is legally culpable, he certainly mishandled this entire situation and has done for a long period of time.”
“The fascinating thing now is that whatever the brand stood for earlier this year has been shot to pieces. News Corp is a world-class company in terms of how it is run and who it employs – it employs the brightest and the best throughout. Now it could be all over, if they find any evidence of hacking of 9/11 victims.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/16/elisabeth-james-murdoch-family-crisis
“Wrongdoers turned a good newsroom bad and this was not fully understood or adequately pursued. As a result, the News of the World and News International wrongly maintained that these issues were confined to one reporter.”
A series of News International figures had previously appeared before the committee to insist there was no evidence of widespread phone hacking at the paper, including Les Hinton, former chief executive; Stuart Kuttner, then managing editor; former editor Andy Coulson and then editor Colin Myler; and Tom Crone, then its senior lawyer.
“Our inquiry is not going to end on Tuesday,” said Paul Farrelly, a Labour MP on the committee. “We are going to ask James Murdoch which of the people who have come in front of us, as far as he knows, told us the truth or not.”
“He must have realised he would be summoned.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/16/elisabeth-james-murdoch-family-crisis
Revealed: Senior MP’s secret links to Murdoch
Culture chairman, who will this week quiz media moguls, is friends with Les Hinton and Elisabeth Murdoch
The MP who will lead the attack on Rebekah Brooks and Rupert and James Murdoch this week over their roles in the phone-hacking scandal has close links with the media empire, it is revealed today.
While there is no suggestion of impropriety on the part of the Tory MP – an aide to Margaret Thatcher when she was Prime Minister – the disclosure will fuel the sense that all the key players in the scandal are inextricably linked as members of the Establishment.
It is understood that the committee came under pressure from Conservative Central Office before last year’s election over its investigation of the phone-hacking scandal, suggesting that the MPs soft-pedalled on the issue.
Committee sources are furious at the suggestion that Ms Brooks will try to close down questioning of her knowledge of hacking while she was News of the World editor by saying she cannot prejudice an ongoing police investigation.
A source said: “If she tries to close down the questioning, the whole world will be watching.”
A regular Brady…
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/revealed-senior-mps-secret-links-to-murdoch-2315111.html
Has the old boy finally lost the plot?
At last, he says sorry, and loses his key lieutenants. But is it all too late for an ageing Rupert Murdoch
Or is it true, as the Telegraph’s former owner Lord Black said last week, that while Murdoch is quite an agreeable chap, he has no loyalty to anyone, has betrayed all his friends and political leaders and cares only about his company? It certainly seemed so as the 80-year-old then made no attempt to apologise for hacking the phones of vulnerable families, making payments to police officers or closing the UK’s biggest selling newspaper. If it was an attempt to fight back, it was pathetic. One thing is sure – he didn’t have any spin-doctors telling him what to say then.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/has-the-old-boy-finally-lost-the-plot-2314922.html
Leading article: On the press, let’s pause and think
The crisis of the Murdoch empire is a cautionary tale of hubris. A tycoon whose vast media company seemed the most powerful in the world has been reduced to taking grovelling full-page advertisements in the British press saying “Sorry” and: “I realise that simply apologising is not enough.”
Suddenly, Rupert Murdoch seems old and close to broken. A few days ago, all British leaders, and many politicians in America and Australia, were in awe of him, eager to pay their respects to him or to anyone who claimed to represent him.
Not only has the emperor no clothes, it would seem, but he is in danger of having no empire either.
The arrogance of the Murdoch court was matched by the cowardice of the politicians and the over-confidence of the police. We do not condemn political leaders for trying to gain a fair hearing from Mr Murdoch’s newspapers. It was understandable that Tony Blair should fly to Australia to give a speech to News Corp executives in 1995. We would expect David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg to speak to Mr Murdoch, his executives, editors and journalists now. While we welcome openness about such contacts, the – incomplete – lists published by the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister last week raise many questions of definition. What about social contacts? Telephone calls? Should every email or text to or from any journalist be logged? Where to draw the line?
These are distractions from the problem, which is that politicians went too far in their attempts to appease the Emperor, who was not as well-dressed as they pretended. Jeremy Hunt’s “quasi-judicial” role as Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in assessing the terms of News Corp’s bid for BSkyB had a flaky feel to it. But the important failing was in politicians’ reluctance to force a thorough investigation of the phone-hacking scandal. Gordon Brown’s speech last week was a feeble excuse for his own failure to order a judicial inquiry. Ed Miliband deserves credit for his role in blowing that deference wide open.
The police, too, have been found wanting by the sudden spotlight on their relationship with parts of the press – not just News International – which casually crossed the line into corruption. Money for tip-offs, in the absence of a strong public interest defence, ought to be unacceptable, yet it seems to have become accepted because it had been the way of the world for two or three decades.
The lesson of this cautionary tale of arrogance must not be to restrict the freedom of the press.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-on-the-press-lets-pause-and-think-2314913.html
The only Jamaican paper with balls–The Sunday Herald
In Jamaican media, media bias, murder, whistleblowing on July 10, 2011 at 6:22 pm
http://anniepaulose.wordpress.com/2011/07/10/sunday-herald-names-names-the-owner-of-the-x6/#comments
Official Shuns Lie Detector Test
AWikileaks cable has quoted US diplomats at the Kingston embassy saying a top official in the finance ministry had failed to take a lie detector test.
The Sunday Herald was unable to ascertain if all candidates for top positions at the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service were required to undergo this process.
http://www.sunheraldja.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1198:official-shuns-lie-detector-test&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=671
There have long been suspicions about favours by business people to public officials and how this influences government decisions relating to award of contracts and waivers. Too often, information regarding trips by ministers and their families on private jets of wealthy businesspersons leak out, heightening concerns about the efficacy of such relationships.
In the interest of transparency personal trips of this nature by public officials ought to be ruled out, a guideline now being instituted by the American government.
While questions continue to be raised about Mr. Golding’s bird-shooting trip, this newspaper has received information that the Commissioner of Police and his daughter recently spent a vacation at the Beaches (a high profile) resort in the Turks & Caicos Islands. According to our sources, they arrived in the territory on July 9 and departed on the 13th. The question as to how this trip was paid for could well be asked although we would expect that the Commissioner acted consistent with proper protocol.
http://www.sunheraldja.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1187:public-officials-must-be-transparent&catid=101:editorials&Itemid=684
David Cameron is damaged goods. It’s time for Nick Clegg to lead the crusade to oust him
Roy Greenslade
Profiles
Rebekah Brooks
Sir Paul Stephenson
John Yates
Comment
The Murdochs, the Met, and the government were warned of trouble over phone hacking – but they did nothing
Michael White
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
Iain Dale
“Is it conceivable that David Cameron could be the next scalp in the phone hacking scandal?”
Steve Richards: Everything has changed, but most politicians don’t realise it
There is a deep divide with the past. The common theme is that concentrations of power – in banking, the media, the police or politics – must be held to account
There are a growing number of public figures, or former public figures, who must be utterly bewildered as they try to make sense of what is happening to them. Their bewilderment is a consequence of tumultuous events that leave them stranded. The most senior politicians in the land, police officers and media executives felt they were doing what was required to thrive in modern Britain only to discover that they have been left behind, their outlook dangerously outdated, while they assumed that they were the clever, agile modernisers.
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/steve-richards/steve-richards-everything-has-changed-but-most-politicians-dont-realise-it-2315939.html
During Yates’s previous “cash for honours” investigation the newspapers regularly obtained stories from police sources and he was hailed as a wise, courageous officer in the media for taking on the powerful – a dynamic that raises profound questions about where power really lies. The duo seemed, at the very least, to have enjoyed their easy rapport with journalists and presumably assumed they would flourish as a result of positive news coverage. Now, both are gone, no longer the media’s heroes, but exposed because of their failure to investigate evidence in relation to a media organisation, and trapped by a naïve, insulated view of what matters most in modern Britain.
Murdochs in the dock
By Ian Burrell, Media Editor
The phone hacking scandal that has claimed the jobs of Britain’s two most high-profile police officers, caused the closure of one of the country’s most famous newspapers, prompted 10 arrests so far and led to calls for the resignation of the Prime Minister reaches a critical juncture today with a moment of high drama to rival anything that the British media has produced before, either in real life or fiction.
Rupert and James Murdoch will sit before a panel of MPs and face questions that the company over which they preside was involved in phone hacking on an “industrial scale”, made illegal payments to police officers and sought to corrupt the democratic process by “owning” politicians. In their answers, for which they have been carefully drilled by a team of lawyers and media trainers, the pair will attempt to rescue a tarnished reputation and distance themselves from serious criminality.
The hearing
Rupert Murdoch, Chairman and Chief Executive, News Corp
What would represent a victory?
He emerges as an honourable tycoon who was kept in the dark about the scale of the scandal. He demonstrates that he had no knowledge of the out-of-court settlements to Gordon Taylor and Max Clifford in 2008; that it was at his insistence that News International co-operated with the police; and that he does not exercise undue influence in the police, media and government. He apologises.
And defeat?
He admits he had knowledge of widespread phone hacking prior to January 2011. Yet it becomes apparent that he failed to take charge of the crisis and ensure News International co-operated fully with police. He comes across as arrogant or [Pathologically] mendacious and/or appears to be vague or doddery, casting questions over his ability run a global multimedia giant in the digital age.
And a score draw?
He avoids implicating himself in any direct knowledge of phone hacking prior to January 2011 but seems out of touch and acknowledges that he has made mistakes in handling the affair
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/murdochs-in-the-dock-2315871.html
Hahhaa
GOLDING
He admits he had knowledge of widespread phone hacking prior to January 2011. Yet it becomes apparent that he failed to take charge of the crisis and ensure News International co-operated fully with police. He comes across as arrogant or mendacious and/or appears to be vague or doddery, casting questions over his ability run a global multimedia giant in the digital age.
hahaha..guess who?
He comes across as a management-speak dalek devoid of empathy. He admits that he knew wrongdoing extended to beyond a single reporter but yet failed to inform the Metropolitan Police. He puts up spurious legal arguments for not giving straight answers to straight questions. He shows his temper
Brady?
She is defiant, haughty or arrogant and refuses to give straight answers. Fails to explain how she could not have known about phone hacking and payments to police officers on her watch, nor the out-of-court settlements to Gordon Taylor and Max Clifford. Trapped by a skilled inquisition.
Skilled Inquisition? Or sellout of Jamaica by the Manattgate Commissioners?
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/murdochs-in-the-dock-2315871.html
In England:
(Jamaica “motherland”…cash for honours etc)
Worldwide investigations, resignations, chief of police, executives, powerbrokers, arrests , immediate parliamentary actions, hearings…paper shut down, apologies…public pressure, FCPA USA…Australia….WORLDWIDE
In Jamaica:
Over 70 people killed, blood, destruction, a $77 million 58 page “letoff” with grammatical errors for good measure…..nothing….
And a ponzi Governor General to boot……
Happy 50th Jamaica….
What a slap in the face to those who perished in 400 years of slavery by their ancestors…..
Rupert Murdoch: I knew nothing about phone hacking
News Corp chief gives hesitant performance in front of MPs, but son admits firm contributed to private investigator’s legal fees
Rupert Murdoch has revealed the full extent of his ignorance of the phone-hacking scandal at his UK newspaper empire that led to the closure of the News of the World.
In a hesitant performance in front of MPs on Tuesday, punctuated by long pauses before many of his answers, the News Corporation chairman and chief executive said it was “the most humble day of my life”.
He appeared to have little knowledge of key events and figures who played a prominent part in events that have consumed his company.
Murdoch also shed further light on the nature of his relationship with David Cameron, saying that he had been invited to No 10 but had been told by the prime minister’s staff to go in by the back door.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/19/rupert-murdoch-phone-hacking
Phone hacking: emails show Cameron aide ‘stopped’ briefing
John Yates names Downing Street chief of staff as official who told Met ‘not to compromise’ PM by raising phone hacking
Ed Llewellyn, David Cameron’s chief of staff, has been named in the phone-hacking hearing as the official who asked the Met not to compromise the PM.
John Yates, the Met assistant commissioner who was in charge of the review of evidence into phone hacking in 2009 and who quit on Monday, told MPs that Cameron’s chief of staff told him it was not appropriate for him to brief the prime minister on the hacking investigation, adding: “And I’d be grateful if it wasn’t raised”.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jul/19/phone-hacking-emails-cameron-aide
Phone hacking: emails show Cameron aide ‘stopped’ briefing
John Yates names Downing Street chief of staff as official who told Met ‘not to compromise’ PM by raising phone hacking
Ed Llewellyn, David Cameron’s chief of staff, has been named in the phone-hacking hearing as the official who asked the Met not to compromise the PM.
John Yates, the Met assistant commissioner who was in charge of the review of evidence into phone hacking in 2009 and who quit on Monday, told MPs that Cameron’s chief of staff told him it was not appropriate for him to brief the prime minister on the hacking investigation, adding: “And I’d be grateful if it wasn’t raised”.
Pressed by chair Keith Vaz to name the official, Stephenson said during a 90-minute grilling that Yates should be able to name the official.
Later giving evidence to the panel of MPs for a second time in eight days, Yates said when asked to name any official who had said the prime minister and home secretary should be protected from information relating to the phone-hacking scandal, that officials are “always trying to protect their principles from these things.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jul/19/phone-hacking-emails-cameron-aide
News Corp board shocked at evidence of payments to police, says former DPP
Lord Macdonald tells committee it took him ‘three to five minutes’ to decide NoW emails had to be passed to police
“Blindingly obvious” evidence of corrupt payments to police officers was found by the former director of public prosecutions, Lord Macdonald, when he inspected News of the World emails, the home affairs select committee was told.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/19/news-corp-police-payments-macdonald
Jamaica imported English police but no English DPP.
Historians may well judge the events of Tuesday to be Britain’s official resignation from international life. We do not know if the foam-thrower who targeted Rupert Murdoch was acting alone, or if there was a second pie man on the committee room knoll. But if the spectacle of a pink-jacketed consort throwing herself across her under-fire husband was not history replaying itself as farce, it was certainly tragedy replaying itself as slapstick.
Yet it says something about the banquet of horrors on offer that Tuesday’s most exquisite irony did not even occur in a Westminster committee room. That honour surely belonged to David Cameron, literally sweating in Lagos as he was forced to address the growing perception of Britain as a banana republic. The prime minister wasn’t accompanied by the Nigerian president – presumably the latter declined to share the podium with him on the basis that doing so could appear to tacitly legitimise the corruption that appears to be systemic in his opposite number’s country.
The humiliation of failing to secure pay-per-view rights to the event must have hit the old guy hard, and though he tried to chuck in the odd zinger – “I wish they’d leave me alone”, he lamented stagily of a succession of fawning British prime ministers – it was clear that enhancing the viewer experience out of the goodness of his heart was anathema to him.
The undercard began shortly after Big Ben chimed midday. Ask not for whom the bell tolls – it appears to be tolling for a senior public figure hourly at present – with the rapidly-shrinking ranks of senior Met officers grilled by the home affairs select committee. Chaired by wildly miscast Atticus Finch figure Keith Vaz, the cops passed the buck so many times it was like a game of find the lady.
This was reality TV for people who in many cases regard themselves as too grand for reality TV.
What did we learn? Well, the takeout, to use the management speak so beloved of Rupert’s nerdy robot sidekick James, is that the Murdochs had been kept cruelly out of the loop.
Yet perhaps the most telling vignette came shortly after Rupert had confused Alastair Campbell with David Cameron – possible confirmation that the change of prime ministers is to Murdoch Snr the mere shuffling of junior personnel – when he revealed insouciantly that he always went in the back door of Downing Street because Cameron and others insisted on it. As Rupert put it with a studiedly powerless smile: “I just did what I was told.”
And if that little detail doesn’t betray the arse-about-titness of the way this country has been doing business for decades, then heaven knows what will.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/19/rupert-murdoch-sidekick-steal-show
Fresh links to former NOTW executive pile pressure on PM
It emerged last night that Neil Wallis, the former News of the World deputy editor who was arrested last week, worked for the Conservative Party before last year’s election. He gave “informal” advice to Andy Coulson, his former boss at the NOTW, who resigned from the paper over the hacking affair but was later appointed Mr Cameron’s director of communications.
Mr Cameron returned last night from a trip to Africa he was forced to cut short by a growing crisis which some Tory MPs fear is in danger of destabilising his premiership.
Loyalists believe the Prime Minister looks increasingly isolated and are concerned that cabinet members, including the Chancellor George Osborne and the Tory chairman Baroness Warsi, have failed to rally behind him while he has been away. But one backbench leader said: “The feeling is that this is a crisis of his own making – he employed Andy Coulson.”
The Prime Minister’s plan to go on the offensive today during a Commons statement on the affair suffered a setback with the disclosure that his party had links to two people arrested during the current police investigation – Mr Coulson and Mr Wallis.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/hacking-crisis-edges-closer-to-cameron-2317214.html
From ruthless boss of his media empire to frail octogenarian
Rupert Murdoch has a reputation as a ruthless corporate boss feared by employees and politicians alike. But after yesterday’s appearance he could as easily be described as an old man seemingly losing control of his empire.
Media pundits were united in their surprise at how frail the head of News Corporation looked when MPs faced down both the 80-year-old tycoon and his son James, 38. “What was really remarkable was the way Rupert came across as something of a doddery octogenarian rather than the giant corporation boss that he is usually portrayed as,” said the publicist Mark Bukowski. “It was like watching Mr Burns [from The Simpsons] and the illegitimate son we never knew he had.”
Geoffrey Robertson, QC, added: “Rupert claimed to have seen, heard and known no evil – a strategy that made him appear too doddery to run an international corporation. He refused to take responsibility. Everyone else is to blame for keeping him in the dark.”
Ms Cooper said: “The Labour MP Tom Watson had Rupert on the ropes and showed how little he really knew about what was going on at the News of the World. Those critics of corporate governance at News Corp have been given plenty of ammunition.”
Last night, there was further speculation about whether Rupert Murdoch or his son would also be forced to step down. Michael Woolf, a biographer who knows the family well, told the Bloomberg news agency he believed James to be particularly vulnerable.
“I think [James] is finished,” he said. “Cooked. Over. Toast. He has no credibility. You don’t go through this whole period saying one thing, then have the other proved to be true and have any credibility at the end. James … was in charge of the management of the scandal, in charge of the people who committed these crimes. He is the directly responsible executive.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/from-ruthless-boss-of-his-media-empire-to–frail-octogenarian-2317222.html
News International ‘deliberately’ blocked investigation
Rupert Murdoch’s News International company has been found by a parliamentary committee to have “deliberately” tried to block a Scotland Yard criminal investigation into phone hacking at the News of the World.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/20/news-international-deliberately-blocked-investigation
Oowch…
Wannabe a Murdoch? Canna be a Murdoch…?
In greed the “advisors” advised badly…costly…
The report from MPs on the all-party home affairs committee will be released on Wednesday morning and its publication has been moved forward in time for today’s statement by prime minister David Cameron on the scandal.
The full report will be published Wednesday morning. Among its findings are:
• Police failed to examine a vast amount of material that could have identified others involved in the phone hacking conspiracy and victims.
• John Yates made a “serious misjudgement” in deciding in July 2009 that the Met’s criminal investigation should not be reopened. He resigned on Monday.
• The new phone hacking investigation should receive more money, from government if necessary, so it can contact potential victims more speedily. A fraction have been contacted so far.
• The Information Commissioner should be given new powers to deal with phone hacking and blagging.
The central conclusion about NI’s hampering of the police investigation comes after the home affairs committee heard evidence from senior Met officers who were involved in the case that News International obstructed justice.
Last week the man who oversaw the first Metropolitan police investigation into phone hacking, Peter Clarke, damned News International: “If at any time News International had offered some meaningful co-operation instead of prevarication and what we now know to be lies, we would not be here today.”
How News International worked towards its own downfall
A culture of telling the boss what he wanted to hear could be behind the faltering fortunes of Murdoch’s empire
How did Brooks impress Rupert, then? The only possible conclusion is that Brooks was “working towards the Führer”. The phrase is borrowed from the historian Ian Kershaw, who coined it to explain how Hitler motivated others to formulate policies without considering anything at all except how they would play with him.
She presumably spent her energies on telling him what she thought he wanted to hear, and did that very well. Nothing suggests that Rupert’s belief in her other abilities was in any way justified. All of Brooks’s so-called journalistic achievements have been crude, populist and repellently sentimental. Rupert’s faith in her speaks badly of him as a man who clearly loves nothing more than to be “worked towards”. His whole empire can be viewed as a vast machine for underpinning his awesome ego.
The degree to which the Metropolitan police, the political and much of the media establishment currently appear also to have been “working towards the Führer” truly is staggering.
All of News International, including his son and his doted-upon surrogate daughter, would have been straining their every sinew to ensure that he did not get wind of the lengths to which they were going to please him.
It seems logical to contend, as well, that this culture prevailed throughout News International. Brooks and James, it is possible, may have had sub-Führer status themselves, with everyone under their command working towards them too.
Rupert admitted as much when he suggested that the people he had trusted had been let down by the people they had trusted. It’s an interesting viewpoint, in which the more lowly you are, the greater a moral responsibility you bear.
So, in many ways, the careless-stupid-vainglorious theory explains matters in the most credible fashion. It casts the triumvirate as ridiculously susceptible to belief in their own powers, and faith in the self-reinforcing rectitude of a corporate structure that “worked towards” nothing but Rupert’s wants, which were their wants too.
I’m no fan of David Cameron. But I don’t want to see any British government brought down by News Corp, even indirectly, even as News Corp crumbles itself. In hiring Andy Coulson, Cameron displayed his own keen desire to “work towards the Führer”, for sure. But it’s actually dangerous, this belief that a few individuals can be purged and everything can get back to normal.
Only when the failure of the British establishment to resist the influence of Rupert Murdoch has been fully explored and understood can any normality worth getting back to be established. Few have time for his claim that “a few bad apples” started a limited rot within his organisation. Yet the same goes for the nation itself. His influence was endemic. The resignation of “a few bad apples”, or worse, of a few low-hanging fruits, will sort out the problem no more than the jail time Glenn Mulcaire and Clive Goodman did. This is big, bigger than all of us. The kind of adversarial squabbling that is going on in the Commons, avidly followed by a mesmerised press, suggests only that our parliament is too small-minded even to grasp the scale of this event.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/20/deborah-orr-murdoch-downfall
Governor-General Sir Patrick Allen has admitted that the US$700,000 invested while he was head of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, was not recovered up to when he demitted office in January 2009.
In an apparent reference to another US$700,000 investment the GG pointed out that “later, one of our pastors recommended another foreign exchange trader, a church member, as a suitable person to manage some of our funds.” The church , Sir Patrick said, did its due diligence in terms of character reference and “checked with a high official in our organisation who knew members of the family of this recommended foreign exchange trader.” He said, “We were satisfied that this was a person of character who was operating according to high ethical standards, and that our funds would be safe in his hands.”
“No such scheme, guaranteed to fleece the unwary and vulnerable, could ever be in the will of God,” the Governor-General noted.
He said there were some well-known and highly touted local schemes suspected to be Ponzis and offering high rates, “but we never considered them. We were interested in legitimate investments, as foreign exchange trading was considered.” “Your question, therefore, as to whether as a leading Christian I would ever sanction investing church funds in Ponzi schemes is a categorical no.
“The out-turn of these investments must in no way be linked with the sincerity and integrity of the decision to make those investments.”
http://www.sunheraldja.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1276:church-unable-to-collect-60m-invested-by-gg&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=671
Vince Cable also told the BBC’s Andrew Marr show that big questions remained over the Murdoch empire’s suitability to run a UK broadcaster.
“Certainly that is a big question to ask in view of what has happened, but fortunately it’s not for politicians to come to a definitive judgment on that. It is for the regulator,” he said.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/24/phone-hacking-vince-cable-murdoch-influence
New York Times columnist Joe Nocera, who has previously written in support of Murdoch ownership, said: “The Journal was turned into a propaganda vehicle for its owner’s conservative views. That’s half the definition of Fox-ification. The other half is that Murdoch’s media outlets must shill for his business interests. With the News of the World scandal, the Journal has now shown itself willing to do that, too.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/25/murdoch-interview-could-have-been-tougher-wsj
Democratic lessons on public debt from developing countries
Decades of bitter experience of financial crises have produced several lessons. One is that engagement with multilateral organisations, principally the IMF, is to be avoided
http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2011/jul/26/debt-lessons-from-developing-countries
Biographer: Murdoch talked to his editors more than he admits
Rupert Murdoch had far more frequent and hands-on contact with his London tabloid editors than he admitted in his evidence to MPs last week, his biographer claimed yesterday.
Michael Wolff, who recorded more than 60 hours of interviews with Mr Murdoch for his semi-authorised biography, said the News Corp chairman and chief executive would spend “up to half his day” involved with his newspapers and would speak regularly to London-based editors about stories they were planning to run.
“His involvement with the papers is total,” Mr Wolff said. “Rupert sat up there [in front of the committee] and they [his advisers] said, ‘You have got to say you are not involved with the newspapers’. And that’s what he said and that’s a lie.”
He added: “I sat with the man for hours. There was not a time when he would not take at least one call, and often many calls, from London. And they were the set of editors – James [Murdoch] and Rebekah [Brooks].
“We are in an end game now. There is no putting the toothpaste back in the tube,” he said.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/biographer-murdoch-talked-to-his-editors-more-than-he-admits-2326520.html
Murdochs were given secret defence briefings
Ministers held meetings with media mogul’s people more than 60 times
The extraordinary access that Cabinet ministers granted Rupert Murdoch and his children was revealed for the first time yesterday, with more than two dozen private meetings between the family and senior members of the Government in the 15 months since David Cameron entered Downing Street.
In total, Cabinet ministers have had private meetings with Murdoch executives more than 60 times and, if social events such as receptions at party conferences are included, the figure is at least 107.
The Chancellor, George Osborne, has had 16 separate meetings since May 2010 with News International editors and executives, including two with the Murdochs within just a month of taking office. He also invited Elisabeth Murdoch as a guest to his 40th birthday party last month.
But the minister who sees Rupert Murdoch the most frequently is the Education Secretary, Michael Gove, a former News International employee. Mr Gove has seen the mogul for breakfast, lunch or dinner on six occasions since last May. Overall, Mr Gove has had 12 meetings with Murdoch executives since becoming a minister.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/murdochs-were-given-secret-defence-briefings-2326517.html
One wonders which Minister in Jamaica most frequently…..forget it….know the answer already…
Government plans ‘tougher approach to organised crime’
The Government believes around 38,000 people are involved in organised crime in the UK, as part of 6,000 criminal gangs.
It said about half of of those are involved in drugs, while gangsters also use human trafficking, fraud and money laundering.
Mr Brokenshire said he wants to crack down on the “dodgy accountants and bent lawyers” who make it easier for criminals to ply their trade and look into “front companies” by working with the tax authorities and insolvency authorities.
Mr Brokenshire refused to go into detail about which nations the Government was most concerned about, but he said it is seeking to improve its coordination with international partners.
“It’s about ensuring we are tasking things more effectively, that we’re understanding the problem more significantly, and by so doing bearing down on those criminals, ensuring that their assets are taken, that they’re denied the proceeds of their ill-gotten gains.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/government-plans-tougher-approach-to-organised-crime-2327458.html
NY trustee: Almost half of Madoff losses recovered
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The Associated Press
Published: Thursday, Jul. 28, 2011 – 12:46 pm
Read more: http://www.sacbee.com/2011/07/28/3801168/ny-trustee-almost-half-of-madoff.html#ixzz1TR4VVqUZ
An Overview
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, 15 U.S.C. §§ 78dd-1, et seq. (“FCPA”), was enacted for the purpose of making it unlawful for certain classes of persons and entities to make payments to foreign government officials to assist in obtaining or retaining business. Specifically, the anti-bribery provisions of the FCPA prohibit the willful use of the mails or any means of instrumentality of interstate commerce corruptly in furtherance of any offer, payment, promise to pay, or authorization of the payment of money or anything of value to any person, while knowing that all or a portion of such money or thing of value will be offered, given or promised, directly or indirectly, to a foreign official to influence the foreign official in his or her official capacity, induce the foreign official to do or omit to do an act in violation of his or her lawful duty, or to secure any improper advantage in order to assist in obtaining or retaining business for or with, or directing business to, any person.
http://www.justice.gov/criminal/fraud/fcpa/
It has even been thought that really big overseas investments, that is, those over, say, US$1 billion, are not that favoured by Jamaican politicians. Months ago a businessman/ex-politician explained it to me: “Once the project gets the description “mega” it invites more than the usual level of scrutiny, national and international. For one key minister, or if you may “purchasing officer” to strike a deal there, it could eventually blow up in his face because he doesn’t really know where the traps are being set.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Kickback-as–business–or-corruption_9318648#ixzz1TWJmQbDj
Glenn Mulcaire: I acted only on News of the World’s orders
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/29/glenn-mulcaire-news-of-the-world
PCC confirms Baroness Buscombe is to step down
Chair will not seek to extend her three-year term, after criticism of her handling of the News of the World phone-hacking affair
The Press Complaints Commission has confirmed that its chair, Baroness Buscombe, is to step down following mounting criticism of the press watchdog’s handling of the News of the World phone-hacking scandal.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/jul/29/pcc-baroness-buscombe-to-step-down
Tabloid newspapers fined for contempt
After the hearing, Mr Grieve said the two newspapers “lost the plot”.
“I have rarely seen a level of vilification to an individual of this type.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/press/tabloid-newspapers-fined-for-contempt-2328381.html
David Cameron faces growing pressure over Andy Coulson hiring
Labour leadership demands answers about Andy Coulson’s access to national security documents inside No 10
David Cameron is facing growing pressure this weekend over his hiring of Andy Coulson after the Labour leadership demanded to know if the former News of the World editor ever saw documents inside Downing Street that should have been available only to staff with the highest level of security clearance.
No 10 has refused to answer the same questions posed by the Guardian this week after it emerged Coulson was not put forward for rigorous “developed vetting”, a process involving detailed interrogation by trained investigators aimed at uncovering lies and anything that could make an official susceptible to blackmail.
On Wednesday the spokesman said he did not intend to go into further detailed questions. “To repeat, vetting is about access to paperwork, not meetings.” That appeared to contradict the Cabinet Office’s earlier explanation that Coulson did not require direct vetting as he did not attend cabinet, the cabinet’s crisis committee – Cobra, – or national security council meetings. The Guardian told Downing Street it understood that, “officials and advisors without high-level security clearance are regularly excluded from discussions about highly sensitive issues, including intelligence.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/jul/29/david-cameron-pressure-andy-coulson
Lawyers say they have made 29 separate recoveries of land and cash since being enlisted in December 2009 to help return pilfered millions to the treasury.
And they expect the “many tens of millions of dollars” clawed back so far to become “several hundred millions” by the end of the process.
The majority of the salvaged land is on eco haven Joe Grant Cay. The tiny island was recently handed back to the Government after judges ruled there was a “strong probability” developer Cem Kinay bribed former Premier Michael Misick for a heavy discount.
Mr Harris said he expected the programme to be “very busy” over the next 12 to 18 months.
“Trials will likely have taken place on all the major cases within this timeframe, and we would hope to have completed work on many of the smaller claims.
We revealed in May that investigations into the massive ‘secret’ land deal in Middle Caicos had also intensified with dozens of people being questioned across the island.
http://tcweeklynews.com/acres-of-crown-land-recouped-p2451-1.htm
The government says its revenue target was off by more than 3 billion dollars at the end of June.
The glum news comes as Finance Minister, Audley Shaw, prepares to tell the nation how he will finance 10 billion dollars of new spending, to pay public sector workers.
Already, the government has slashed spending up to the end of June by 10 percent, which is equivalent to the 10 billion dollars that must be found. Importantly, the government is running a bigger primary surplus than planned.
http://www.olintja.com/blog/archivebookmark.aspx?ID=853
Lawyers ‘furious’ over criticism in hacking scandal
Law firm to ‘explain its position’ to police after Murdoch accuses it of making a ‘massive mistake
News International (NI) has used the Harbottle letter of exoneration as a shield to fend off allegations that it covered up the widespread nature of illegal activities which continued to be practised by News of the World staff.
It later emerged that the emails did contain evidence of illegal payments to the police, though seemingly not of hacking. When NI recently obtained a second opinion on the emails from Lord Macdonald, the former director of public prosecutions, he concluded within minutes that there was possible evidence of criminal activity and advised NI to call the police.
Yesterday, The New York Times (NYT) reported that both NI and Harbottle were clearly aware of the contents of the emails when the exculpatory letter was written. According to the paper, in one email Clive Goodman warns that those involved could “go to prison for this”.
Tomorrow, Labour leader Ed Miliband will attempt to step up pressure on the coalition about its role in the hacking scandal. Mr Miliband will send letters to David Cameron, George Osborne, Jeremy Hunt, Nick Clegg and Vince Cable asking about the Government’s links to News International, the handling of the BSkyB bid and the employment of Andy Coulson.
“The signs are that David Cameron still does not get it,” said Ivan Lewis, Labour’s culture spokesman. “A tangled web of their own making will not go away until they and their Cabinet colleagues give full and frank answers to legitimate questions.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/lawyers-furious-over-criticism-in-hacking-scandal-2329295.html
The future of mankind should be bright, with tomorrow’s generations set to be healthier, wealthier and better educated, but the planet could become a far more unstable and dangerous place if urgent action isn’t taken to fight organised crime, corruption and climate change, that’s according to a major new report published tomorrow.
“The magnitude of the problem of crime seems to be beyond the control of any agency acting alone because many – if not most – governments are corrupt and have tight links with international crime organisations,” says the report by the Millennium Project think tank, formerly part of the World Federation of United Nations Associations.
The internet is credited with helping the Arab Spring and social media is seen as “part of a historic transition from many pockets of civilisations barely aware of each other’s existence to a world totally connected”. It predicts a new civilisation will emerge from the convergence of minds, information and technology. But the internet presents threats, with states in an “an intellectual arms race to defend themselves from cyber attacks”.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/politics/bright-tomorrows-ndash-but-only-if-we-fight-crime-and-learn-to-get-along-2329181.html
The 10 best newspaper scoops – in pictures
http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/gallery/2011/jul/31/10-best-newspaper-scoops-in-pictures
Incestuous relationships between media and politicians
The picture unfolding in Britain is one of an incestuous relationship between leading executives of News Corporation, politicians from the major parties, and even the hierarchy of Scotland Yard. This has allegedly frustrated investigations of journalistic dirty tricks for several years. It has also come out how closely aligned were some of the News Corporation executives to the Conservative Party, the support the Murdoch empire gave to the party’s election bid, and its influence in the government of Prime Minister David Cameron.
What we find most striking in this whole affair is the scandalous lack of transparency between owners of the media, politicians and business. By their cynical manipulation of the media, these owners have set themselves up as powerbrokers exercising control over politicians for their business interests and personal gain.
A fundamental principle of so-called democratic societies is, however, that the media’s primary duty is to be the defender of the public’s interest and watchdog of the powerful.
In elevating personal gain above this duty News Corporation has undermined this hallowed principle and seriously damaged its credibility with the British public. Jamaicans have seen and American diplomats have commented, in communications revealed by WikiLeaks, on how powerful interests have manipulated the local media to influence recent election campaigns.
http://www.sunheraldja.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1309:incestuous-relationships-between-media-and-politicians&catid=101:editorials&Itemid=684
Met still holding Brooks laptop found in the rubbish
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/met-still-holding-brooks-laptop-found-in-the-rubbish-2329684.html
HCL has sent the letter to the home affairs select committee chairman, Keith Vaz , revealing it had been involved in nine separate episodes of email deletion.
Separately, a firm of solicitors drawn into the News International phone-hacking scandal is expected to reply shortly to the home affairs select committee as to how it came to write a key letter to the newspaper group that was then used by the company to contend that phone hacking had not been widespread.
The firm, Harbottle and Lewis, is consulting the Metropolitan police before deciding how to reply to requests from the select committee to spell out how it came to write a letter taken to mean that only one reporter was aware of phone hacking at the paper.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/aug/01/phone-hacking-news-international-emails
THE real heroes of the world are those who refuse to be distracted by bad news and “‘bad mind”. We got a well needed charge from a roomful of heroes last weekend – not just their boss Gordon “Butch” Stewart (owner of this paper) but each manager who took the stage at the unveiling of Sandals Resorts International US$500-million expansion plan.
What is more, Adolf Hitler would have been quite frustrated if he had come here searching for “racial purity” in our multi-ethnic population.
Let us therefore look at the Jamaica we live in today and redefine the kind of emancipation we need to take us forward, even as our proud history reminds us that it is only heroism that can break us out of this grip of gangs, that can shake us out of this desperation that puts power above righteousness.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Emancipation-for-today_9333287#ixzz1TojdeDIU
OLINT INVESTORS AWAIT SMITH SENTENCING
Pursuant to US Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the wire fraud counts each carry a maximum penalty of twenty years in federal prison, a fine of $250,000, and a term of supervised release of not more than three years.
The money laundering counts carry a maximum penalty of twenty years in federal prison, a fine of $500,000 or twice the value of the property involved in the transaction (whichever is greater), and a term of supervised release of not more than three years.
Smith is likely to receive a shorter sentence, however, because of his plea deal and overall level of cooperation. US prosecutors indicated that they would not oppose Smith’s request that any sentence imposed in the US run concurrently with his six-and-a-half year sentence in the Turks and Caicos.
The Jamaican native is likely to return to Turks after his sentencing, although he could remain in United States custody going forward.
http://www.caribjournal.com/2011/08/01/olint-investors-await-smith-sentencing/
How I was hired – and fired – by Rupert Murdoch
In the late 1990s, Murdoch experienced one of his first abject failures in American television.
He pointed this large uncoordinated cache of slingshots at the giant of sports media, ESPN, and purchased from NBC News for $1m the contract of the largest rock he could find.
For once, Murdoch’s mafia failed him.
It was a great story – and a great journalistic quandary. My bosses suggested we should run it past Murdoch’s personal public relations department, and the answer came back that provided I made it clear that none of the sources were from inside the company, and provided I run the official Murdochian denial, I should report my scoop. Mr Murdoch, we were told, never interfered in the news.
Silly me: I believed him.
Nothing was ever printed suggesting that Murdoch had fired one of his own people for reporting the truth about his own business with his own publicity man’s personal approval.
Nobody ever offered any explanation … that is, until seven years later, when Rupert Murdoch claimed personal responsibility for firing me. From my vantage point, the most important fact remains that, after my exit, Rupert had to keep paying me not to have to work for him: $800,000 over the next eight months.
It was the best job I ever had.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/aug/01/rupert-murdoch-keith-olbermann
Phone-hacking scandal: Key figure at News International arrested
Unnamed man, believed to be former NoW managing editor Stuart Kuttner, taken into custody for questioning
The development is the latest in a scandal that has already caused the closure of a 168-year-old newspaper, the News of the World, and the resignation of two top police officers, as well as 10 arrests.
Others arrested and bailed have included Brooks, ex-NoW editor Andy Coulson, ex-NoW assistant editor Ian Edmondson, ex-NoW chief reporter Neville Thurlbeck, senior ex-NoW journalist James Weatherup, freelance journalist Terenia Taras, an unnamed 63-year-old man, and ex-NoW royal editor Clive Goodman.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/aug/02/phone-hacking-scandal-new-arrest
Phone-hacking scandal: Stuart Kuttner is latest NoW exec to be arrested
Former managing editor and one-time public face of the News of the World taken into custody
Stuart Kuttner, the public face of the News of the World and its most vocal public defender for 22 years, has been arrested by police investigating allegations of phone hacking and of bribing police officers to leak sensitive information.
As managing editor until his resignation in July 2009, Kuttner was in charge of finances at the now-defunct tabloid.
Kuttner is believed to have been arrested on suspicion of conspiring to intercept communications, contrary to section 1 (1) of the Criminal Law Act 1977, and on suspicion of corruption contrary to section 1 of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1906.
In February 2008, he appeared on Radio 4’s Today programme and claimed the News of the World was a “watchdog” which guarded against corruption among those in positions of power.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/aug/02/phone-hacking-stuart-kuttner-arrested
Crimestoppers said fraud cost the UK an estimated £38 billion last year.
Lord Ashcroft, founder and chairman of Crimestoppers, said: “This is not a victimless crime. Every single one of us is paying higher taxes, bank charges and insurance fees because of fraud.
“The amount of fraud against the public purse is around £27 billion a year. This is equivalent to 30% of the estimated national education budget for 2011/2012.”
He added: “Serious fraudsters often operate as part of gangs and fraud is just one of their business streams. This can result in the funding of drugs and people trafficking, which causes real harm to many.”
Lord Ashcroft urged anyone with information about fraudsters, or the whereabouts of the 10 people featured on the list, to call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or to visit its website http://www.crimestoppers-uk.org and fill in an online form.
“We guarantee that no one will know your identity,” he said.
“Help us take these criminals out of circulation.”
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/photos-of-fraud-suspects-released-2330594.html
Stuart Kuttner’s arrest: a statement of intent from a humbled Met
It is impossible to underplay the importance of the managing editor of the News of the World for 22 years
Stuart Kuttner’s arrest – leading to hours of questioning before he was bailed – demonstrates the determination of the now humbled Metropolitan police to comprehensively investigate the phone-hacking affair.
His arrest is a clear statement that the Operation Weeting team, led by the deputy assistant commissioner Sue Akers, intend to be thorough.
News International did its best to appear uninterested on Tuesday – with insiders arguing that Kuttner was no more than an “ex-employee” – as the Rupert Murdoch company tries to ruthlessly distance itself from its chequered past. The company also believes that it is now increasingly on top of the ongoing criminal inquiry, in that it is aware of what information has been handed over to the Weeting team
But that thinking also depends on the notion that there are no other sources of revelations – and it is far from certain how individuals under arrest, or even just pressure, will behave.
A sign of what may be to come can be seen in the conflict between James Murdoch and News of the World’s last editor, Colin Myler, and the title’s former chief lawyer Tom Crone, none of whom have been arrested.
Anxious to protect their reputation, Myler and Crone accused the junior Murdoch of providing misleading evidence to the culture, media and sport select committee last month.
The stakes for Murdoch, Myler and Crone are considerable, but for those who have been arrested, they are clearly higher still.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/aug/02/stuart-kuttner-arrest-metropolitan-police
Greece in panic as it faces change of Homeric proportions
Fear is driving a silent bank run in Greece
Worried about whether the banks will stay in business, Greeks have been taking their life savings out of accounts and sticking them in metal slits in basement vaults.
Official figures back him up. In May alone, almost €5bn (£4.4bn) was pulled out of Greek deposits, as part of what analysts describe as a “silent bank run”.
One senior investment banker is more blunt: “People are scared that the government doesn’t know what the f*** it’s doing.”
Bags of money in garages, frightened savers fleeing banks and even the country: these aren’t the sort of stories you associate with a comparatively-prosperous European country, but with a developing one facing a life-or-death economic crash.
In an echo of the days of Jim Callaghan, the International Monetary Fund is back in Europe, doing what it is more accustomed to doing in Buenos Aires or Brasilia: making emergency loans and telling the government how to run its economy.
The other big problem is in the private sector, with few industries that are able to pay their way in the world. Jason Manolopolous, who is author of a new book called Greece’s ‘Odious’ Debt, says that for years Greece was buying more from the rest of the world than it was selling. “We were buying BMWs from the Germans and selling them tomatoes.”
“In this crisis, the middle classes have been hollowed out.”
Pater Daniel laughs, then holds up five fingers: there are five priests in Piraeus, and soon there will only be one. He’s pondering taking a second job.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/01/greece-panic-change
Jamaican born pastor to speak at David Smith’s sentencing
MIAMI, FLORDIA:
Jamaican born, US based Windermere pastor, Reverend Ainsley G. Blair has been invited to speak at the sentencing of David Smith, head of Olint Corporation in Orlando Florida, next Thursday.
Blair, who invested US$15 million with Olint, said the funds were intended to construct a well-needed hospital at the former Forum Hotel in Portmore, St Catherine.
The project has been stalled since the pastor lost his investment to the Ponzi scheme.
Smith, who faces up to 20 years in prison, pleaded guilty to 23 counts of fraud on March 30 and also signed a plea bargain with the US Federal Government.
His sentencing is rescheduled for 10 am in Orlando, before Judge Mary S. Scriven, in the US District Court.
“I can now see the light of day, for my dream to come through for the hospital, with the ending of this case,” Blair told The Gleaner.
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=30651
Will Audley Shaw appear as a character witness for David Smith at the sentencing hearing in the U.S.A.?
From : Audley Shaw[mailto:fitzalbert_2@yahoo.com]
Sent : 11/11/2006 11:01:13 AM
To : dsmith@kasnet.com
Cc :
Subject : RE: fx trading
It was a pleasure meeting you and your dear wife. I’m glad that you shared your knowledge and concerns with me. A friend of
mine is keen on investing and would like to talk with you or better yet, he wants to meet with you if possible. He has asked me
to fly over with him to see you when it is convenient to you. Please let me know.
http://www.olintja.com/blog/archivebookmark.aspx?ID=853
Finance Minister reveals another setback to IMF quarterly review
In a subsequent interview with our news centre, the Finance Minister said he’s trying to address the situation:
“The sale of the Clarendon Alumina production shares is an issue ….many of these things are historical in nature and are inheritances that I have to deal with’ said the Finance Minister.
4. Some say the FBI and IRS are now on the case and more arrests are coming in the Olint Ponzi matter. They say the charges range from money laundering to tax evasion and even racketeering.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110804/ent/ent3.html
AUG. 3, 2011
IS IT SAFE TO INVEST IN THE TCI? – BY JOHN WILDISH
The truth is TCI FX Traders was associated with David Smith who at the time was a very well known currency trader who had a long & successful track record at Jamaica Money Market Brokers, and I was told had suffered political persecution in Jamaica and I could relate to him in this area as I too have suffered political persecution in Jamaica when standing up for the Truth. Mr. David Smith also operated another fund (Olint TCI) in conjunction with Hallmark Bank and Trust.
[See: Peter and the Wolf (Russian: Петя и волк, Petya i volk), Op. 67, is a composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936 in the USSR. It is a children’s story …]
I did further investigations and I did find out that Mr. Smith had not been honest with us, statements were provided to those in authority and we all know that Mr. Smith has now done the right thing and stood up and admitted his sins, and accepted the punishment.
[??????? You are as unaware of Smith’s punishment as he is. In other words the rhetoric of your second paragraph, ‘Seiverightsonian’ as it is, “Canna cross it.”]
I turned to the court as soon as possible so as to get the investors their money back…
[Prescription “Sea Bath and the scriptures and fasting…” See: Pinocchio is a fictional character that first appeared in 1883, in The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, and has since appeared in many adaptations … Not even Bruce would try go there Mr. Wildish.]
Now the good book says, “do onto others as you would have them do onto you for in the same way you treat others so too shall you be treated”, I would humbly ask that my reader put himself into the shoes of one of our investors and how they have been treated in this manner by those in authority …
[“A friend of mine is keen on investing and would like to talk with you or better yet, he wants to meet with you if possible. He has asked me
to fly over with him to see you when it is convenient to you.”]
4) Would you invest your precious money into this nations financial system?
[Deep question there Wildish See: Who is true to ja?
2. Word is: more and more of the nation’s political and private-sector leaders are now acquiring homes in South Florida, The Bahamas, and London, causing some to question their commitment to Jamaica.]
The reason I humbly write this fine publication is out of total and utter frustration at the way that this liquidation has been and is being handled by those in authority and I appeal for help and assistance….
[See: Parable of the Lost Coin.Or what woman, if she had ten drachma coins, if she lost one drachma coin, wouldn’t light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she found it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost.’ Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting.”]
If I the foreign investor cannot find justice, I ask the citizens of the TCI who do they turn to find justice & judgment as it is not accessible through your justice system, and you have no elected representation to turn to.
[See: To: David smith
From: Bruce Golding (brucegolding@yahoo.com)
11/28/2006
David, I must express out thanks for your support in our efforts…]
I hope and pray that by bringing this situation to light, action will be taken so that the innocent investors can PROMPTLY have their frozen funds released and repaid to them, and then may God bless this nation once again.
[See: Church Unable to Collect $60 m Invested by GG. Governor-General Sir Patrick Allen has admitted that the US$700,000 invested while he was head of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, was not recovered up to when he demitted office in January 2009.]
[Confession…for the soul…better EARLIER THAN LATER.]
http://www.tcijournal.com/newsite/aug-3-2011-it-safe-invest-tci-john-wildish
The FCO must realize that this outrage, anger, and the public’s demands for transparency on this project will not go away.
[“Naw wash whe dung a St. Thomas pond”]
http://www.tcijournal.com/newsite/aug-4-2011-outrage-and-anger-details-begin-leak-out-about-secret-shore-club-agreement
A French court has ordered a formal investigation into whether the IMF head Christine Lagarde abused her position when she was finance minister in allowing a huge state settlement to a businessman friend of President Nicolas Sarkozy.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/04/christine-largarde-bernard-tapie-imf
The conventional wisdom is that August is a sleepy month for markets, with politicians, policymakers and investors all at the beach rather than at their desks. The conventional wisdom is wrong. The credit crunch really kicked off on 9 August 2007, when the French bank BNP Paribas suspended three of its investment funds that had been dabbling in US sub-prime mortgages. Within a week, the Bank of England’s Mervyn King was getting warnings that Northern Rock was in grave danger if the squeeze in money markets dragged on (not that it had any effect on Threadneedle Street’s policies). Over the course of that month, the interest rate that banks charged each other for loans – the London inter-bank offered rate (Libor) – surged. Investors and commentators began talking about a credit crunch. Traders and fund managers who were catching some sun found themselves glued to their BlackBerrys and on the phone to their offices. These were the first steps that led to the collapse of Northern Rock in September, and ultimately to a near-death experience for the world financial system. And yesterday you could have been forgiven for thinking that it was happening all over again.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/aug/04/financial-markets-state-of-emergency
Alex Salmond accused of pandering to Rupert Murdoch
Scottish first minister has met with media mogul or his News International executives 25 times since taking office
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/aug/04/alex-salmond-accused-pandering-murdoch
FBI widens News Corp inquiry after alleged computer hacking by subsidiary
US authorities reportedly looking into ‘larger pattern of behaviour’ by Murdoch companies following claims of strong-arm tactics
Time suggests that the FBI inquiry has been extended from a relatively narrow look at alleged malpractices by News Corp in America into a more general investigation of whether the company used possibly illegal strong-arm tactics to browbeat rival firms.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/aug/04/fbi-news-corp-investigation
A murky $1 million donation to a pro-Republican committee has reignited a debate over transparency in politics, underscoring the expanded role that wealthy donors are likely to play in the 2012 elections.
The episode marks a new twist in efforts by wealthy donors and corporations to cloak their political expenditures, which have accelerated in the wake of court rulings allowing corporations to spend unlimited amounts of money on elections.
Some campaign-finance experts and Democrats also said Thursday that this particular donation could run afoul of federal rules banning the use of a third party to hide the source of a contribution.
The case represents the latest flashpoint in a long-running battle over disclosure of political contributions.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/short-lived-firms-1m-donation-to-gop-fund-raises-concern-over-transparency/2011/08/04/gIQAvczruI_story.html?hpid=z3
The tradition of polygamy began with the mainstream Mormon Church, whose founder Joseph Smith decided that, to make it into heaven, a man needed at least three wives. But it was abandoned by the organisation in the late 19th century, after Smith’s death, so Utah could be allowed to join the United States.
At the time, Mormon elders claimed to have experienced a “revelation” in which God told them to revert to “normal” marriages.
Today’s Mormon Church, whose members include the Republican presidential front runners Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman, vigorously condemns polygamy, and this week launched the Mormon Defense League, to counter what it calls widespread misperceptions about its social practices.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/end-of-the-road-for-the-high-priest-of-group-sex-with-minors-2332701.html
And that’s all I ask for, because believe you me, the problems are so enormous, the demands are so great, the resources are so limited, the options are so few, that not even a magician can deal with the problems that we face,” said Shaw.
“We have reached a point in time in our politics when not only must we lift the level of the debate, but we mustn’t, when we speak, think that people are fools, and we mustn’t take Jamaicans for granted,” said Shaw, who is member of Parliament for NW Manchester, which includes Christiana.
“Let us not crowd all of our decisions by a certain event next year. Let’s put Jamaica first, really put Jamaica first,” he said.
To: David Smith
From: Audley Shaw (fitzalbert_2@ yahoo.com)
7/30/07
David, as promised, I’m sending you the JLP Manifesto for 2007. Thanks for everything including your companionship yesterday. Regards and compliments. Audley.
http://www.olintja.com/blog/archivebookmark.aspx?ID=853
Coulson vetted by investigator linked to News International
Man who cleared the former editor for Downing Street was once paid by Murdoch
James Hanning, Jane Merrick and Matthew Bell
Sunday, 7 August 2011
The revelation is certain to renew controversy about Mr Cameron’s 2007 decision to appoint Mr Coulson months after the former journalist’s resignation as editor of the paper when two men were sent to prison for phone hacking.
The vetting process, which took place around the time of last year’s election, gave Mr Coulson the green light to work alongside the Prime Minister in Downing Street and to see certain secret documents.
Now the IoS has learnt, independently of Mr Clarkson, that the person had done work for NI, a conflict of interest of which the PM is aware and knowledge of which is likely to cause embarrassment in Downing Street.
It was reported yesterday that Mr Coulson’s predecessor as editor of the News of the World, Rebekah Brooks, who resigned as chief executive of News International last month, was still on the payroll, having been told by Rupert Murdoch to go travelling for a year until the phone-hacking scandal dies down.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/coulson-vetted-by-investigator-linked-to-news-international-2333257.html
From the periphery?
Writing in a Sunday newspaper, former prime minister Gordon Brown accuses Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy of failing to address the crisis and reaching “wrong conclusions, from three years of wrong analysis”, which failed to address the need to stimulate growth.
profligacy in the periphery demanding austerity, and if that fails, even more austerity.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/aug/06/europe-g7-us-credit-rating-debt
Brace Jamaica. Keep the money under the proverbial mattress.
Roll Call…New thread Jay.
Back to School costs are here again.
Lives Ruined and the beginnings of the FULL HUNDRED
SMITH failed to honor his promises to OLINT, OLINT Corporation, OLINT TCI, and TCI FX, investors by, among other things, failing to invest their funds in Forex trading as he had promised. Contrary to his promises to clients that he would use their funds to invest in Forex trading on their behalf, and would engage in certain Forex trading strategies, SMITH used most of the investors’ funds to meet periodic and specific redemption requests of other investors…
In addition, SMITH transferred and caused to be transferred millions of dollars invested by OLINT, OLINT Corporation, OLINT TCI, and TCI FX, clients into his personal bank accounts, which he used to finance a lavish and expensive life-style, and from which he and others received millions of dollars in goods, services and other benefits, including, but not limited to: the purchase of a $2 million residence and other property in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands and elsewhere; a down payment for the purchase of a Lear jet and frequent travel on the jet; hosting guests and paying all their expenses at hotels and restaurants; sponsoring a Jazz Festival in Jamaica; the purchase of expensive vehicles for himself and others; the purchase of jewellery for himself and others; the purchase of expensive vacations in the Caribbean and the United States; political contributions; and gambling at casinos.
“I have known Mr. David Smith practically all my life; he is my cousin and one of my best friends. David, affectionately known by his family as Dave, is a loving, kind, caring and compassionate father to his four children. having spent a lot of time around Dave and his children it is clear that they in turn love and adore him and look to him for encouragement, guidance and support….Since he has been gone, I have visited the family in Turks & Caicos and have had to witness the children talking to him on the phone and hearing the pain and confusion in their voice, bringing me to tears. The children repeatedly ask him “daddy when are you coming home”. Although his youngest child Abraham, 1 year old, may be too young to understand, I have no doubt that he will be at a great disadvantage He is as a doting husband who always puts Tracey first no matter what and when he looks at her you can see his adoration for her in his eyes. Growing up, Dave served as the perfect example of what i wanted my own husband to be like, and when considering my choice in a mate, i looked for the qualities that Dave exhibited as a husband and how he treated Tracey as I wanted to be treated in the exact same manner. As such, it was no surprise that he was my choice to toast me as a bride at my own wedding in 2007.”
– Rachel Christian, cousin, Distribution Customs Broker at Carimed Ltd.
Juicy…but no mention of monies made or lost in Olint? Or such details of connected persons?
http://www.carimed.com/about.php
SMITH conspired with others to launder millions of dollars of proceeds that were obtained as a result of the wire fraud scheme that is more fully described above, and he in fact laundered those millions of dollars. The purpose of the money laundering engaged in by SMITH and his conspirators was to conceal and disguise the nature, the location, the source, the ownership, or the control of the proceeds of the wire fraud scheme that was being executed, by, among other things, moving the proceeds from trading accounts held by SMITH at i-trade into and between investment accounts at various financial institutions, where they were not subject to scrutiny by the National Futures Association regulators, and where SMITH’s investors did not know of the existence of JIJ, the investment accounts owned by JIJ, or that their investments with SMITH had been transferred into and between these JIJ investment accounts.
“Mr. Smith and his family are neighbours of my family. He has always been very respectful to my family and me. He is always willing to assist in whatever capacity he could and has always displayed neighbourly love towards us and for this we are very grateful…. Even though I was not affected by the financial part of this ordeal, from a family point of view it is very hard seeing his children trying to cope without a father.”
Arlington Musgrove, friend, neighbour.
After investors’s funds were deposited into and transferred out of the several i-Trade accounts for OLINT and TCI FX, and/or deposited into and transferred out of several JIJ accounts, then transferred and transmitted to SMITH’s control in the Turks and Caicos Islands, SMITH transmitted and transferred, and caused to be transmitted and transferred, some of the funds to individual investors who were demanding repayment of their investments. Some investors received all of their principal and purported gains. Some investors received all of their principal and none of their purported gains. Some investors received a fraction of their principal and none of their purported gains. Some investors were paid nothing.
During the entire time that SMITH operated his Ponzi scheme, the only source of income for SMITH and his wife was from investors’ funds.
Olint/david Smith confidant fitz-albert tells Jamaicans to BRACE…
Shaw: Brace yourselves, cuts are on their way
In an address to the nation last night, the finance minister said Jamaicans should brace for cuts in both the capital and recurrent budgets.
This means that the money allocated for new projects like the construction of road, bridges and school will be slashed.
So too will the allocation for repeat expenses like salaries, light bills and water bills.
It has projected to cut 10,000 positions over the next five years including some of the posts now held by people near retirement.
At the same time he has again warned that the Government will ramp up efforts to clamp down on delinquent tax payers. [Starting with himself?]
http://go-jamaica.com/news/read_article.php?id=30790
From: Audley Shaw fitzalbert_2@yahoo.com
To: David Smith
Saturday January 1 2007 4:43PM
David, happy new year to you, your dear wife and family. I am still hoping to get the info on the fx trading by Australia in dealing with their debt problems. Also, I had given Daryl the necessary information to have the thing activated, and he advised me that he had sent you an email in that regard. I’m told you might be here next week. I would like to see you as I have two persons who would like to meet with you. Please let me know. Regards. Audley.
United States prosecutors have asked the court to throw the book at former Olint boss David Smith when he is sentenced on Thursday.
Mr Smith offers no plausible excuse for his conduct…
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110809/lead/lead1.html
Smitty, proceed through these matters as per usual. When you get back to Turks is when real school begins…
Brace Jamaica…
Turn up the heat
More militant press, citizens should demand gov’t accountability
All three commentators took issue with the ‘pork barrel’ type of electioneering which is used by the country’s major political parties to entice voters.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Turn-up-the-heat_9402701#ixzz1UWIDXbFF
Note to readers: The Olinters in the group listed are duly noted.
Time for a new thread Jay!
I made a concession and have withheld startling documents, pictures tapes and information Jamaica needs to know.
New thread Jay. School begins for the first time once he’s in the air.
Double digit increase in price of sugar – effective immediately
Jamaicans are to begin seeing a double digit increase in the price of sugar, immediately.
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/double-digit-increase-price-sugar-effective-immediately
JCC not happy with the Finance Minister’s address about the IMF
The Jamaica Chamber of Commerce (JCC) is also of the view that Audley Shaw, the Minister of Finance, offered nothing new in his address to the nation on Sunday night, August 7, about what he said were misconceptions about Jamaica’s arrangement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
http://rjrnewsonline.com/news/local/jcc-not-happy-finance-minister’s-address-about-imf
EDITORIAL – Forget Spin On The IMF
Finance Minister Audley Shaw’s attempted clarification on the status of the Government’s agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) would have left Jamaicans just as confused as before his broadcast Sunday night.
For even after the minister has spoken we are not sure:
whether the US$1.2 billion standby facility the administration entered into early 2010 is still in place
if it is being extended beyond its original 27 months
whether an extension would be on the same terms as the existing agreement, or would require new performance criteria
whether a new agreement is being negotiated
The point is that Mr Shaw is being too glib about whether the Government ‘failed’ or ‘passed’ the IMF economic tests for quarters ending December 2010 and March 2011.
The larger issue is about pulling Jamaica out of its economic funk and how the Government can mobilise Jamaicans around a strategy for this. Mr Shaw should start by ending the prevarication and spin and level with the Jamaicans – including on the Government’s strategic stance on an IMF pact.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110809/cleisure/cleisure1.html
From: Joseph Smith (ja.smith@cwjamica.com)
To: David Smith
Contributions to “WORTHY CAUSES”
Dave,
I had detailed discussions with the four persons mentioned in my previous email and representatives of their management teams. They are all well organized but they have not budgetted adequately in my opinion based on my experience. Being out in rural Jamaica they are so woefully uderfunded. Our two St. elizabeth persons have smaller populations than out Westmoreland and Manchester people. The two in St. elizabeth have budgets of J$6,000,000.00 each with 4 mil for the special big day alone. Each of the others are at just over $8 mil. they do not get money support from their head office. Each team has recieved some amount of contributions but they are no where close to where they should be. Knowing what we know, we would be particularly interested in the Mandeville person’s cause. The westmoreland person is in a similar position (see spread sheet that i emailed some time ago).
From what I know, the persons from the other side, are working with bigger budgets. Congtributions of: Westmoreland and Manchester US75,000.00 each and the two from St. elizabeth US$50,000.00 each would take them a far way. But Dave I would leave it up to your good judgement to decide what is affordable. If you can do more it would be great towards achieving the goal. the greater overall goal cannot be achieved if these four fail. But I know that you want to contribute to other similar cases as well. Bottom line is whatever you can do will e greatly appreciated by them and of course by us.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/cartoon/
runnersbliss
This is one more of Jamaica’s talent destroyed by the big man. David is a genius and should be here helping Audley. The IMF should give him some money so he can quickly work off Jamaica’s debt. Instead we all have to be here sweatining under the burden of this debt. Omar is the one that destroyed this man along with all the other financial geniuses we had. Now we are just left with Audley alone to do all the work. We need Mark Wignal and all these journalist to start mobilizing the people to save David for the sake of Jamaica.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20110809/lead/lead1.html