DAILY BRIEF
MONDAY 1ST JUNE, 2015
NEWS
Pensioner killed in home invasion
Unaware that her husband had been stabbed to death by bandits, a wounded Dolly Sooknanan sat on the floor next to his body waiting for him to awake from his sleep. Police said Sooknanan, 86, was in a state of shock after bandits broke into their Spring Trace, Siparia home, sometime between Saturday night and Sunday morning and stabbed both she and her husband, Balkaran Dookie, 76, before ransacking the house. Up to yesterday she was being kept under police protection while undergoing medical treatment. Dookie’s son, Mukesh, who lives a few houses away, said he was working at Quarry Village, when around 11.30 am his wife called and said the neighbour had not seen his father and stepmother for the morning. Knowing that the elderly couple routinely sit in their porch for breakfast every morning, he said he immediately went to check on them. Read more...
Boat captain dies in car crash
Moments after leaving a car show in Santa Flora, a 35-year-old father of three died in a vehicular accident at Erin where his car split down the middle after he crashed into an electricity pole.The deceased has been identified as Sean Julien, of Ramsaran Settlemen, Cap-de-Ville, located on the outskirts of Point Fortin. He was employed as a boat captain with AR Singh Contractors Ltd. His friend, Adrian Bridgewater, of Soomai Trace, also in Cap-de-Ville, survived the accident and up to last evening remained warded at the San Fernando General Hospital nursing multiple injuries. A police report stated, at about 10 pm on Saturday, Julien was driving his car along the SS Erin Road, with Bridgewater, and upon reaching Arena Village, Erin, the car veered off the road and crashed into an electricity pole. On impact, police said, the car split down the middle and Julien was thrown out of the vehicle and he died on the scene. Read more...
Permell: Halt payments to former CLICO directors
The CLICO Policyholder's Group has expressed outrage at the move by CLICO to pay the policies of ten former directors and their companies. The group's president, Peter Permell, yesterday called on the Central Bank and Minister of Finance to immediately stop the payments. According to an Express report yesterday, CLICO has allocated $48.5 to be paid to the directors. The money will be paid without interest from 2009. The Express reported that the only director who will not be paid will be CL Financial (CLF) corporate secretary Gita Sakal because the Central Bank has instructed CLICO to withhold payment because of an ongoing civil matter."If what is being reported by the Sunday Express is accurate, the CLICO Policyholders Group (CPG) is not only flabbergasted, we are appalled as this has to be the height of insanity," said Permell yesterday. Read more...
BUSINESS
Strengthen T&T's economy- New AmCham president urges political parties
Newly elected president of the American Chamber of Commerce of Trinidad and Tobago (AmCham) Ravi Suryadevara has urged political leaders going into the upcoming general elections to be prepared to put plans in place to ensure the economy is strengthened. "It is without saying that the volatility in today's global economic climate has everyone on edge. One is uncertain of whether to view the glass as half empty or half full," he said. "This uncertainty is heightened by the fact that we are approaching, some say, another election season," he added. He was was speaking yesterday during AmCham's 22nd annual general meeting held at the Hilton Trinidad. Suryadevara said given the fact that dramatic and necessary policy announcements connected to fiscal prudence were unlikely until after the elections, political leaders must institute policies and plans that look beyond a five-year term in office. Read more...
Scotiabank launches premium banking service
Although there has been an increase in banking malware over the past two years, Scotiabank has seen growth in its online banking services, district general manager Rory Bickharie told the T&T Guardian. In an interview following the official launch of Scotia’s Premium Banking Centre at High Street, San Fernando, Bickharie said internet safeguards allow more financial transactions to be done securely online.“I won’t say that there is a distrust with online banking. We have a diverse generation and people have become acclimatised to online banking. There is a distinct group who would not want to engage in it but the rate of online customers is growing. More people are trusting technology and embracing the efficiencies that it creates for them,” he said. Read more...
UTC ‘hungry’ for more Pheonix Park shares
Chairman of the Unit Trust Corporation (UTC), Wendell Mottley, said on Thursday the UTC will be seeking to buy more shares in Pheonix Park Gas Processors Limited (Pheonix Park) when the Initial Public Offering (IPO) in Pheonix Park stock goes to the market. Mottley said the ten percent block of Pheonix Park shares which the UTC recently bought in a strategic partnership with the National Insurance Board (NIBTT) and National Enterprises Limited (NEL) is not for sale. “We hold it for unit holders,” he said. The NIBTT, NEL and the UTC paid US$168 million to acquire the block of Pheonix Park shares and in his address, Mottley said, “The rewards of this investment will redound to the benefit of our unit holders for many years to come.” He indicated the Phoenix Park purchase was not a “one and done” deal, stressing that. Read more...
Massy is P&G’s Distributor of the Year
Massy Distribution, a subsidiary of the Massy Group and the largest distribution company in T&T, was recently named Distributor of the Year for the Latin America Development Markets—The Caribbean by international manufacturing giant Procter & Gamble Company (P&G). The prestigious award was given to Massy Distribution at the annual Distributors Owners Leadership Forum (DOLF), which P&G hosted for the first time in T&T, at the Hyatt Regency over a two-day period in April. Regional executives and experts attended the conference in Port-of-Spain where Massy Distribution was recognised, after competing against 19 other distributors from 17 countries within the Latin American and Caribbean region for the coveted award. “Massy Distribution is very pleased to have been recognised by P&G as its 2015 regional distributor. Read more...
REGIONAL
St Lucia investment agency CEO called on to resign
The leader of the Lucian People’s Movement (LPM), Therold Prudent, has called for the resignation of McHale Andrew, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Invest St Lucia, the government’s inward investment agency. Prudent’s reaction comes in the wake of recent statements made by Andrew on the Lambirds Academy affair in his efforts to allay public suspicion that the government may not have acted with due diligence prior to issuing a trade licence to the proprietors of Lambirds. “When the CEO of a state-funded organisation seems more interested in acting as a political operative/public relations guru on behalf of the government of St Lucia than in transforming Invest St Lucia into a relevant engine that is capable of driving our national development goals, then you finally get a clear picture of how complicated and problematic this whole Lambirds issue really is,” Prudent said. Read more...
INTERNATIONAL
Solar Impulse: Weather front halts sun-powered plane on marathon Pacific flight
Deteriorating weather has forced the Solar Impulse, the plane aiming to fly around the world powered only by the sun, to postpone its effort to reach Hawaii and to plan a landing instead in Japan. "Weather window toward Hawaii has deteriorated," the support crew said. "We decided to make an intermediate landing in Nagoya!" Nagoya is a Japanese city about 200 miles west of Tokyo. The trip to Hawaii was said to be the toughest leg of the Solar Impulse's round-the-world voyage. It was scheduled to take five days -- with just one pilot -- and to use no fuel at all. The 8,000-kilometer (4,971-mile) journey from Nanjing, China, to Hawaii -- dubbed the "moment of truth" by alternating pilots Andre Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard -- had already been delayed several times because of poor conditions over the Pacific. Read more...
1st June 2015