DAILY BRIEF
TUESDAY 30TH JUNE, 2015
NEWS
Teenager dragged from car, executed
A Laventille woman who was just overcoming the grief after her husband was murdered a year ago has been thrown into mourning again after her son was killed on Saturday. Antoinette Richards said the murder took place exactly one year and three days since the shooting death of her husband, Ralph Peters, at upper Duncan Street, Port-of-Spain allegedly over the purchase of the last pie at a nearby bakery. On Saturday, gunmen dragged her 19-year-old son Anthony Richards from a car at Upper St Barbs, Laventille and shot him. His attackers also smashed a beer bottle in his face. Speaking with the media outside the Forensic Science Centre, St James yesterday Richards said after the killing of her husband she became ill and moved out of their Picton Road home.. Read more...
AG: US still to ask for Jack extradition
There are no extradition requests yet for corruption accused Jack Warner, according to the United States Embassy. “The US Department of Justice has not yet sent any final requests on the Jack Warner extradition request to the Trinidad and Tobago authorities and is still within the 60-day window specified by the treaty for the final request to be delivered,” stated the embassy in a release yesterday. Attorney General Garvin Nicholas also told the Express his office did not receive any documents yet relative to the extradition. Based on information received, the Express yesterday reported official documentation requesting the extradition of former FIFA vice-president, corruption accused Warner was delivered to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. . Read more...
Hell in cells
Hell inside the cells. This was how one anguished mother described the assault allegedly by prison officers who attacked and beat ten teenaged girls incarcerated at the Women’s Prison, at the Golden Grove penitentiary on the weekend. The beatings, Newsday was told, took place between Thursday night and Friday morning last, resulting in all of the victims suffering fractured bones, head and facial injuries, cuts and bruises. The ten remain in a state of fear behind bars. At least three of the inmates’ mothers are now demanding swift justice and have all retained attorneys to seek the welfare of their daughters. The beatings mirrored similar attacks on male prisoners at the Remand Yard section of the same penitentiary earlier this month. Read more...
POLITICS
Abu Bakr loses constitutional motion
Leader of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen Yasin Abu Bakr yesterday suffered defeat at the Port of Spain High Court in a constitutional motion filed against the State in which he argued he was wrongfully charged with the 1998 murder of a Maraval man. High Court judge Justice Frank Seepersad struck out the claim saying there were no features in the claim to suggest there was a breach or flawed process by Coroner Nalini Singh who found there was sufficient evidence for him to face the murder charge. In 2010, Bakr and another man, Brent “Big Brent” Miller, were the subjects of an inquest into the murder of 22-year-old Israel Sammy before Magistrate Singh who acted in the capacity of coroner at the Port of Spain Magistrates' Court. . Read more...
Griffith in election race for Toco/Sangre Grande
Minister of Science and Technology, Rupert Griffith, yesterday confirmed that he has submitted nomination papers to contest his Toco/Sangre Grande constituency in the upcoming General Election.He said his nomination papers were submitted on time last Friday, and he was now awaiting the call to be screened by the party’s screening committee, which is headed by Prime Minister, Kamla Persad-Bissesaar. On whether he would be contesting the same constituency, Griffith said that was a matter to be decided by the Prime Minister and the screening committee. . Read more...
BUSINESS
Pay $18b to get back CL Financial
Write a cheque for $18 billion if you want CL Financial returned to you. That is Finance Minister Larry Howai’s response to former CL Financial chairman Lawrence Duprey’s demand that he regain control of the collapsed insurance giant. In an interview over the weekend, Duprey said when he approached the Government for assistance in 2009 he did not ask for a bailout but for liquidity support. He said he plans to take legal action if he does not get his way and is demanding that his shares in the collapsed company be returned to him. Howai, in emailed responses to questions from the T&T Guardian, said if Duprey wants the company he should pay all the debt up front.“Mr Duprey is of course free to produce a cheque to the Government for $18 billion and we would happily hand over the company to him,” he said. Read more...
CAL urged to exploit new agreement with Canada
Caribbean Airlines Limited (CAL) could expand its services to Canada based on an air services agreement signed yesterday between Trinidad and Tobago and Canada, according to Director of Civil Aviation, Ramesh Lutchmedial. He said the agreement allows any carrier from Trinidad and Tobago or Canada to fly to any point in each country any number of times without having to seek approval for the ticket fares. He said the agreement coupled with a similar one signed with the United States of America “presents tremendous marketing opportunities for Caribbean Airlines into North America which the airline is not yet fully exploiting and which they should exploit if they want to become very profitable.” Read more...
Bharath challenges Caribbean accounting professionals
Trade Minister Vasant Bharath has challenged chartered accountants and audit professionals to partner with governments to advance regional economies. He issued that challenge at the launch of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of the Caribbean (ICAC) 33rd Annual Caribbean Conference of Accountants at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain.Speaking to more then 200 members of the profession at the cocktail reception Bharath said: “You all have an extremely valuable role in the advance of post-2008 economies. You are the ones who must pioneer this partnership between your profession and governments in the advance of island economies, and the Caribbean economy as a whole. Read more...
Spain targeting investment in TT
Spain is exploring investment opportunities in this country. According to Spanish Secretary of State for International Cooperation and Latin America, Jesús Gracia Aldaz, “There is much to be gained from the existing double taxation treaty between Trinidad and Tobago and the Kingdom of Spain,” Gracia Aldaz made this comment at the First Trinidad and Tobago–Spain Partnership Forum, held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port-of-Spain on June 24. The event was co-hosted by InvesTT Limited, the country’s investment promotion agency with the Embassy of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago. The Spanish Secretary of State acknowledged that the existing commonalities of both countries augured well for maximising the benefits to be gained from a partnership. Read more...
REGIONAL
Jamaica government advised to make pension contributions mandatory
With a recent study showing that Jamaicans are living longer but most have made no plans for their financial security during their retirement years, the Jamaica government is being advised to make pension contributions compulsory. “Today’s older person has changed and will live at least 20 to 25 years after retirement and will need the financial assistance that a pension provides,” director of the Mona Ageing and Wellness Centre, Dr. Denise Eldemire-Shearer urged. She presented the findings of a 2012 study, ‘Solid Start Ageing in Jamaica’, at a recent conference on aging. That showed that of those surveyed, 60 per cent did not have pensions and never contributed to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS). The findings were in keeping with a 1995 study done by the Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ). Read more...
INTERNATIONAL
At least 49 dead after military plane crashes in Indonesian city
At least 49 bodies have been recovered after a military transport plane crashed in Medan, Indonesia, the Indonesian air force commander, Air Marshal Agus Supriatna, told reporters Tuesday. Twenty-three of the bodies have been identified, Supriatna said. Supriatna said the C-130 Hercules took off from Jakarta's Halim Perdanakusuma Airport on Tuesday with about 113 people on board, but it's not clear how many people were on the plane when it crashed. It made two stops along the way -- in Pekanbaru and Dumai. Smoke rose among scorched buildings in the Indonesian city of Medan after the plane crashed near a residential neighborhood. Maj. Gen. Fuad Basya, an Indonesian military spokesman, said the aircraft went down with 12 military personnel on board shortly after taking off from a base in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra province. Read more...
30th June 2015