DAILY BRIEF
FRIDAY 5TH JUNE, 2015
NEWS
PM: My hands are clean, my heart is free
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar yesterday denied allegations by former United National Congress (UNC) chairman and government minister Jack Warner that funds from FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) were used in 2010 for the political campaigns for the UNC's internal elections and the general election. Persad-Bissessar also said the UNC may consider an audit of its finances, given the fact that Warner has been indicted by the US government for wire fraud and money laundering. She said any personal allegations Warner made about her will be placed in the hands of her attorneys. “I keep saying my hands are clean and my heart is free. I am not concerned. Kamla received no funds from Mr Warner,” she told the media at her home. “I deny any FIFA funding was used to the campaign of the UNC and of the People's Partnership. Any allegations about me, I place those in the hands of my lawyers. Read more...
Warner mum on seeking United States plea deal
A day after vowing to unleash an “avalanche” of evidence of FIFA corruption, a steadfast Jack Warner yesterday declared he would continue on the path he has set out for himself but declined to say if he was seeking a plea deal with United States (US) law enforcement agencies. Newsday caught up with Warner at his Arouca home two hours after the Independent Liberal Party (ILP) political leader and Chaguanas West MP had fulfilled the second of his twice-weekly reports to the Arouca Police Station as part of the conditions set out when he was granted $2.5 million bail last week. The former FIFA vice-president and Concacaf president is currently on bail after being arrested on a provisional warrant issued by the Office of the United States (US) Attorney General last week, following arrests of several FIFA officials in Zurich, Switzerland. Read more...
Archbishop urges citizens to return to Christ- T&T on path of destruction
Roman Catholic Archbishop Joseph Harris is appealing to the nation to once again adopt the values espoused by Jesus Christ. He made the call yesterday during the 2015 Corpus Christi Celebration at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain, as he warned that the continued disrespect of the Eucharist will only lead T&T “down the path of destruction.” Delivering the sentiments during the homily at the celebration, which was hosted by the northern vicariate of Port-of-Spain, Fr Harris once again invited individuals to return to the church, saying he was confident that “it would repair the evils of Trinidad and Tobago and heal all of us.” Addressing the packed Grand Stand, the Archbishop proclaimed the solemnity of the body and blood of the Lord in what he referred to as “extremely trying times” for T&T. He said it was a time in which spiritual intervention had become necessary “if we are to avoid the wrath of God." Read more...
POLITICS
Kamla bats for squatters
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar portrayed herself as a champion of the poor as she contrasted her record on helping squatters to the role of Opposition Leader, Dr Keith Rowley, under whose tenure as housing minister in the last PNM regime squatters homes were destroyed.Persad-Bissessar spoke on Wednesday night in the Lower House debate on the State Land (Regularization of Tenure)(Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2015, eventually passed unanimously 25- to-zero votes, in the absence of the Opposition. This bill amends the State Land (Regularisation of Tenure) Act 1998 to allow the regularisation of persons squatting as of June 13, 2014, and allows them three years to apply, instead of the one year allowed under the old Act. The PM said 30,000 squatters had commenced occupation after the 1998 deadline, while another 4,000 persons had made defective applications. . Read more...
Rowley: EBC needs protection
Opposition leader Dr Keith Rowley declared that the People’s Partnership (PP) Government is “prepared to engage in any form of misbehaviour to further its interests” to secure a second term in office. Rowley, who is also People’s National Movement (PNM) political leader and Diego Martin West MP, made this declaration in a formal letter, sent to Caricom Secretary General, Irwin La Rocque, requesting Caricom send election observers to TT to observe the general elections, constitutionally due no later than September 17. He said this would give the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) an “added layer of protection.”Rowley first indicated his intention to write Caricom to request election observers at the PNM’s Family and Sports Day at Nelson Mandela Park, St Clair on May 24. A letter dated May 9 to La Rocque, was copied to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA). Read more...
BUSINESS
Joint Chambers: Withdraw Industrial Relations Bill
The country’s leading business associations are calling on Government to put its industrial relations bill on hold warning the provisions may endanger the relationship between workers and employers.Five associations calling themselves the Joint Chambers— the American Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago (Amcham), Energy Chamber, Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry of Commerce, Trinidad and Tobago Coalition of Services Industries and Trinidad and Tobago Manufacturers’ Association (TTMA) – want Government to withdraw the Industrial Relations (Amendment Bill) 2015, which is listed for debate in the House of Representatives.
In a statement yesterday, the Joint Chambers said they had not been consulted on the contents of the Bill, and a preliminary look at the Bill has led them to conclude that it could only endanger the “industrial relations environment”.. Read more...
Howai: THA audits outsourced
An eight-year backlog of audits of the Tobago House of Assembly’s (THA) financial records prompted Finance Minister Larry Howai to instruct Auditor General, Majeed Ali, to “outsource” the work in order to get updated records in the shortest possible time. “The THA’s last audited accounts were 2006. We’re in the process of getting 2007 now and what I have requested of the Auditor General is that (he) outsource the audits so that we could bring these audits up to date in the shortest possible time. It’s extremely difficult for us to be operating with audited accounts that is outstanding for so long.” Howai made the announcement on Wednesday during the sitting of Parliament’s Standing Finance Committee, which is reviewing Government’s variation request for the 2014 - 2015 fiscal year. Upon hearing this news, Chaguanas West MP Jack Warner, turned to Howai and reminded him that he (Warner) had earlier asked about “errant agencies and organisations.” . Read more...
RBL’s Dulal-Whiteway: Interest rates not going up
David Dulal-Whiteway, managing director of Republic Bank Ltd (RBL), does not expect the prime lending rate to increase any time soon, following Monday’s announcement by the Central Bank that the repo rate had increased by 25 basis points. He said liquidity was still strong and “with the high liquidity even though the base rate is going up, mortgage rates have not increased to that same extent. It has remained pretty constant over that period of time.” Dulal-Whiteway, who spoke at a news conference at RBL’s Park Streetl, Port-of-Spain, offices on Wednesday, said there had been a slowdown on demand for loans this year. Asked how that slow growth was going to affect the bank’s revenue, he said: “Our intention really is to maintain increasing bottom lines so you would have seen in our half year results we were still able to maintain a two per cent improvement over last year.” Read more...
Pressure on: inflation expected to rise
Trinidad and Tobago's rate of inflation is expected to rise this year because of pressure on food prices and continued spending on motor vehicles and other goods, the Central Bank has warned. The bank said its Monetary Policy Committee was concerned about rising inflationary pressures. This was disclosed on Monday during the latest Monetary Policy Forum, hosted by the San Juan Business Association, at the House of Angostura, Laventille. A Central Bank statement released at the meeting said: “Based on the recently rebased Retail Prices Index, headline inflation stood at almost six per cent in April 2015. Core inflation accelerated to a ten-month high of around two per cent in April 2015.” Read more...
REGIONAL
Bureau of Standards Jamaica to improve packaging centre and service
The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has announced the signing of a grant agreement between the Bureau of Standards Jamaica (BSJ) and the CDB. The grant is valued at EUR213,820 and was approved under the Caribbean Forum of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (CARIFORUM) - European Union (EU) CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME) Standby Facility for Capacity Building which is managed by the CDB. The grant will facilitate the implementation of the “Capacity Building for Market Access” project under which the BSJ will upgrade its packaging centre, and create websites to improve the delivery of business support services by the BSJ to its stakeholders. “The management of the CSME standby facility and the signing of this grant agreement are indicative of the CDB’s commitment to leveraging resources and strategic multilateral partnerships to advance regional integration and demonstrate its benefits at the national level,” said Edward Greene, division chief of the Technical Cooperation Division at the CDB. Read more...
INTERNATIONAL
Underwater search for MH370 could end next year, Australia says
The underwater search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 could come to an end in the first half of next year. Search teams have been combing a vast area of the seafloor in a remote part of the southern Indian Ocean, hunting for traces of the passenger jet and the 239 people it was carrying. The search zone, where officials believe the Boeing 777 is most likely to have ended up, was expanded earlier this year from 60,000 square kilometers to 120,000 kilometers, bigger than the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Australia, which is leading the underwater hunt, announced Wednesday that the zone is unlikely to get any bigger. "In the absence of credible new information that leads to the identification of a specific location of the aircraft, governments have agreed that there will be no further expansion of the search area," the Australian agency coordinating the search said in a statement. The other two countries involved in the search are Malaysia, where Flight 370 began its journey, and China, where most of the passengers were from. Read more...
5th June 2015