NEWS
Ganga Man At PM’s House ‘Missing’
Head of the Special Branch, acting Assistant Commissioner of Police Ainsley Garrick has launched an investigation to determine why a junior officer of the elite unit released the man found in possession of a small quantity of ganja and a device used to shred the illegal herb on the compound of the official residence of the Prime Minister, last week. According to reports, a contracted worker at the Prime Minister’s St Ann’s residence was stopped by Special Branch officers when traces of marijuana and the marijuana grinder were found in his vehicle. A statement from the TT Police Service Public Affairs Unit late Friday said the man was someone who had gone to do work on the PM’s residence. He was not allowed to enter the compound. He was employed by a contractor who had been putting up barbed wire on the fencing on the compound at the official residence and Diplomatic Centre. The man was taken into custody by the Special Branch officers on duty and questioned. Read more…
T&T’s LGBT community mourns
Government was liaising up to late yesterday with US Florida authorities to ascertain if any T&T nationals were hurt or killed in the early morning shooting at Orlando gay club Pulse, where a suspected Isis sympathiser killed 50 people and injured 53 others. US President Barack Obama, in a nation-wide address, described it as the most deadly mass shooting in US history. The shooter, Omar Mir Seddique Mateen, 29, born in New York of Afghan parents, was from Port St Lucie, Florida. He reportedly shot and injured 103 people between 2 am and 5.54 am yesterday before being killed by US police. US authorities treating it as an act of domestic terrorism, described it as the deadliest terror attack on American soil since 9/11. They said Mateen had been on their radar as having suspected radical Islamic leanings. Isis yesterday claimed he was a “soldier of the caliphate.” Read more…
DOMA: No salvation in trade with Venezuela
The Downtown Owners and Merchants Association says it is against the view that local businesses should look to Venezuela as an expansionary market, given that country’s depressed economic state. Speaking to the Express yesterday, DOMA president Gregory Aboud said the business community was a little surprised by the advice that Trinidad and Tobago should set its sights on Venezuela as an outlet of diversification. “The fact of the matter is that Venezuela is in a state of near collapse. The Venezuelan economy can be aptly described as being dismantled to the extent that the actual workings of the economy now is completely underground. There is no more an official state economy or no more an official working of an economy in Venezuela and we have to be extremely cautious in responding to the invitation to see Venezuela as a potential salvation for any of the troubles,” Aboud said. Read more…
POLITICS
Lee disagrees with Bharath UNC chairman: We’re still strong
Chairman of the United National Congress (UNC) David Lee says the party remains strong even in Opposition and on Friday members demonstrated that strength when they walked out of the Parliament Chamber after House Speaker Bridget Annisette- George refused a debate on “urgent matters” involving the Children’s Life Fund and rising murder rate. Lee’s comment came in the wake of recent criticism leveled against the party by former UNC senator Vasant Bharath. Bharath has described the party, of which he is a lifetime member, as being “weak and ineffective due to dysfunction in the party’s leadership.” When contacted Lee said: “When he talks about being ineffective, I want to ask him when he was in Opposition, what was his legacy? But I think he has his view. It is unfortunate that he might have been in Africa for the last few months and on his return makes this statement.” Baffled as to what Bharath based his judgement on to make such pronouncements, Lee said on the contrary, the party has been very effective since coming out of office last September. Read more…
AG gets file on EFCL audits
Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi has promised to promptly deal with the findings of two financial audits into the Education Facilities Company Ltd (EFCL) which are now on his desk. Al-Rawi confirmed yesterday that packages of the files arrived recently at his Port-of-Spain office in “several stages.” While he admitted that some parts of the audits “still require further clarification and further investigations” he promised to deal with the financial documents “in the four corners of the law and with alacrity. It is receiving co-ordinate advice from the respective authorities,” Al-Rawi said. The two audits—one by PriceWaterhouseCoopers and an internal human resources audit—were both completed recently. Read more…
PM extends condolences to the USA
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley last night extended condolences to the United States of America after an American-born man who'd pledged allegiance to ISIS gunned down 50 people early Sunday at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, USA. The incident is the deadliest mass shooting in the United States and the nation's worst terror attack since September 11, 2001. Rowley said in a media release, "On behalf of the Government and People of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, I wish to convey heartfelt condolences to the President of the United States of America and the American People with respect to the unspeakable horrors of this morning's attack on an Orlando, Florida nightclub, the worst mass shooting in American history. Read more…
BUSINESS
Sagicor moves to Bermuda
The Sagicor Financial Corporation (SFC) is moving its headquarters from Barbados to Bermuda. In a statement, SFC announced that at the 13th annual meeting held last week, shareholders approved the special resolution in connection with the continuance of the company as an exempted company under the laws of Bermuda and the discontinuance of the Company as a company incorporated under the laws of Barbados. ‘The continuance of the company under the laws of Bermuda should have a positive impact on the credit rating of the company without affecting its operations in our various markets,’ the statement said. At the meeting Shareholders also re-elected L Jeannine Comma, Peter E Clarke and Dodridge D Miller for another three-year term. The incumbent Auditor, PricewaterouseCoopers SRL, was also re-appointed for the ensuing year. The company has been searching for a new home base since its current base, Barbados, was downgraded by the rating agency Standard and Poor’s. It considered relocating to the United Kingdom, here to TT or to Bermuda, eventually choosing Bermuda as its new home. Read more…
Scotiabank speeds up services
Scotiabank T&T Ltd is introducing new systems aimed at achieving greater efficiency in the customer experience with quicker turn arounds. Chairman Brendan King said the bank’s new application process to open day-to-day accounts is being significantly improved and will provide the best customer experience among all banks with its global footprint. Speaking at the bank’s recent Afternoon with the Chairman and Partner Appreciation at Scotia Centre, Port-of-Spain, King said: “The turnaround time to open a small business account will eventually be reduced from three weeks to approximately 20 minutes. Eventually, the time it takes to fill out an online credit card application will be significantly reduced from eight minutes to just two minutes for an instant approval decision. The entire process will be more intuitive and require customers to answer fewer questions.” Read more…
Will the global market recovery last?
Following a turbulent start to the year, financial markets across the globe have staged a healthy recovery, with many trading at highs on a year-to-date basis. This week, we at Bourse consider the turnaround in these markets’ fortunes, the possible drivers of performance going forward and how investors could position their portfolios based on their respective views. Read more…
REGIONAL
Sugar Falls Short! - Frome Factory Produces Record Low For Crop Year
Despite spending more than US$100 million to create greater efficiency at Frome Sugar Estate, Pan Caribbean Sugar Company (PCSC) has plunged to a new low after producing a mere 27,507 tonnes of the sweetener at the end of the current crop year. This is now the Westmoreland-based facility's lowest output in its more than 100-year history, dipping below the 34,000 tonnes it realised in the 2011-12 crop year under former CEO Francis He. Delroy Armstrong, senior assistant to Hong Han, chairman and acting CEO of the Chinese firm, did not respond to a request for an interview, but according to data from the Sugar Industry Authority daily factory operations report for June 9, Frome, which is one of the largest sugar factories in the Caribbean, used 398,517 tonnes of cane during production, which ended on May 29. "We should be embarrassed because Belize has only one factory - the same size as Frome - producing over 130,000 tonnes of sugar, far over its capacity, but a factory of similar size in Jamaica is struggling to make 30,000 tonnes ... ," said Allan Rickards, chairman of the All-Island Jamaica Cane Farmers' Association. Read more…
Fate of corruption complaints in the Cayman Islands remains public mystery
The outcome of the spin-off enquiry dubbed Operation Cealt of an anti-corruption investigation in the Cayman Islands known as Operation Tempura remains a public mystery but Premier Alden McLaughlin said last week that he had “never heard such a fantastical tale”, as he suggested the related enquiry had no substance. Over 60 separate individuals submitted different cases of police and official corruption to UK police officers, who recorded their complaints. But what happened after that has never been revealed because the Tempura team was instructed to pass the evidence on to the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS), where it apparently disappeared without trace. Read more…
INTERNATIONAL
Euro 2016: 150 Russians 'behind' violence
Bouncer, dancer, accountant among Orlando shooting victims
A barista, a bouncer and an accountant. While different in so many ways, they have one thing in common: they lost their lives in the deadliest mass shooting in the United States. Anguished relatives still await word of the fate of their loved ones after the deadly rampage at a club in Orlando early Sunday, but authorities have begun to release the names of some of the 50 people killed. The 22 people identified come from all walks of life. There's Edward Sotomayor, a popular travel planner nicknamed "top-hat Eddie." There's Eddie Justice, an accountant who loved living in downtown Orlando. Read more…
13th June 2016