DAILY BRIEF
WEDNESDAY 10TH JUNE, 2015
NEWS
2 women vanish
The search — by police and worried relatives —continued last night for two women who have been missing for several days. Relatives are begging anyone who may have seen Ashma Zalima Naimool and Sonnera Campbell — who disappeared in unrelated incidents — to contact them or the nearest police station. In the first incident, Naimool, 32, of Dinsley Village, Tacarigua, was last seen by her relatives on Wednesday June 3. Her older sister, Nia Naimool, told Newsday, “She lives with me and last week Wednesday she said she was going out with a man whom she knew well. “She normally comes back after liming with him around midnight. But this time she didn’t come back. Twice before she spent the night with this man so when she didn’t return home, I thought she stayed the night with him. But she didn’t come home the following day and I tried calling her phone but got no answer.” Read more...
US$1.2M bribe for Jack
Disgraced former vice-president of FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) and MP for Chaguanas West Jack Warner allegedly collected a US$1.2 million bribe from former FIFA presidential candidate and Qatari billionaire Mohamed bin Hammam for arranging the infamous May 2011 cash-for-votes meeting at the Hyatt Regency (Trinidad) hotel in Port of Spain, according to documents seen by the Express. Warner has repeatedly denied the bribe-paying allegations of packaged US$40,000 envelope inducements handed out to Caribbean Football Union (CFU) delegates, but US investigators say he was handsomely rewarded for his role in the affair with a US$1.2 million kickback from the former president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and former FIFA presidential candidate. Read more...
Lawyers want closer look at appointments
The Assembly of Southern Lawyers (ASL) is calling for transparency in the appointment and elevation of judges. In a release yesterday, ASL waded into the controversial issue which was brought to the fore following the appointments of Judith Jones and Justice Eleanor Donaldson-Honeywell to the Appeal and High Courts respectively. The criteria for the appointment and elevation of judges have been met with strong criticism from various people, including Justice Carol Gobin. Defending the process, however, Chief Justice Ivor Archie who oversees appointments as head of the Judicial and Legal Service Commission, described critics as “disgruntled malcontents.” In a statement ASL president Iman Khan said: “The public ventilation of views by the Honourable Chief Justice of T&T as well as a sitting judge of the High Court brings into sharp focus the question of whether or not, in a discerning, modern society, the criteria for such appointments should now be fixed and transparent. Read more...
POLITICS
Nizam: Govt should give way to senators
Former Speaker, Nizam Mohammed, yesterday said while the Government has a right to determine the pace and workload of Parliament, it must balance its prerogative with the need to facilitate members of Parliament. In the wake of complaints from Opposition and Independent Senators crying abuse over what they deemed a heavy workload in the Senate this week, Mohammed said a heavy agenda was “unusual” prior to the dissolution of Parliament. “It is very unusual to have such a heavy workload seeing that you scarcely have seven more working days before the Parliament ceases to function,” Mohammed said. ““While it is the prerogative of the Government to determine the legislative agenda, it must always be remembered that the members of Parliament constitute a link between the Government and the people. The Government must give every facility to the members of Parliament to discharge their responsibility.” Read more...
Camille: Gambling Bill dead
A bill to license gambling is now dead in the water, Opposition Senator, Camille Robinson-Regis, yesterday told reporters at Tower D, Port-of-Spain, during a Senate-break. Moments earlier, after four contributions, Senate chief whip Ganga Singh had moved for the adjournment of debate on the Gambling (Gaming and Betting) Control Bill 2015, but crucially had omitted to state until when. Senate President, Raziah Ahmed, put this vaguely-worded question to the Senate which approved it. However, when Newsday questioned Robinson-Regis on this, she said she thought this meant the bill is not coming back before next week’s prorogation of Parliament, and was now therefore dead. Newsday asked Singh if the legislative work done on the bill can be saved and revived in the new parliamentary term under the provision of new Senate standing orders? Read more...
BUSINESS
Yetming threatens to sue
Sacked Clico chairman Gerald Yetming yesterday said he was considering taking legal action against the Central Bank over its decision to terminate him. Yetming said the Bank was fully aware of Clico’s moves to fulfill its legal obligations by paying several former Clico directors and he accused the institution of exercising laxed oversight in relation to the issue of related-party payments.Yetming also said sacked managing director Carolyn John was also considering her legal options, alleging lack of due process in relation to her termination. “I am contemplating all my legal options and so is Carolyn John,” Yetming said, in an interview from Miami, Florida, where he is on vacation. “I am a non-executive chairman, Carolyn John was on contract as an employee and you fire her because you have re-evaluated your future direction, and she finds out from the press that she has been fired? What nonsense is that? Is that not a breach of good industrial relations practice..." Read more...
$85.4m in alleged scams
The Fraud Squad yesterday revealed alarming statistics which showed that for 2014 alone it received 1,097 reports of alleged fraud involving $85.4 milllion. Acting Senior Superintendent Totaram Dookie said 259 of these reports were related to larceny and had a monetary value of $13.8 million. Others reports, he said, were related to unauthorised credit card use (111), unauthorised ABM card use (113), fradulent conversions (169) and obtaining property by fraudulent pretences (127). Dookie was speaking during day two of a fraud conference hosted by the Trinidad and Tobago Coalition of Services Industries (TTCSI) and the Global Forensic Institute at the Hilton Trinidad. He noted that while there were 252 cases of fraud for the first quarter of 2014, this figure dropped to 209 for the same period this year. Wire transfer fraud, identity theft and internet fraud continue to be of major concern, Dhookie stated. Read more...
Scotia T&T net income increases to $260m
Scotiabank T&T Ltd has reported net income of $260 million for the six months ended April 30—an increase of $9.8million or 3.9 per cent over the comparative period in 2014. Total assets ended the period at $21.4 billion representing growth of $1.2 billion or six per cent. Earnings per share (EPS) grew to 147.2 cents while return on equity (ROE) was 14.73 per cent. Return on assets (ROA) fell slightly to 2.49 per cent reflective of the continued spread compression being faced within the domestic economy. Commenting on the results, managing director Anya Schnoor said: “Our interim results are a reflection of our strategic priorities for 2015 which are focused on enhancing our customers’ experience throughout our network while also making them financially better off by providing relevant advice and solutions to meet their unique needs. Read more...
Govt concerned at rising household debt
Finance Minister Larry Howai on Monday suggested that the Government may have to look at regulating the competition among retail store chains to sell consumer goods to the public.In a speech delivered on Howai’s behalf by Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance, Rudranath Indarsingh, the Minister of Finance said the Government had begun developing a National Financial Crisis Management Plan which would provide for an orderly resolution of any crisis in future faced by any of the financial institutions deemed to be systemically important and regulated by the Central Bank. However, he raised concerns about institutions which are not regulated by the Central Bank, saying that the current low interest rate environment had caused many households to take on more debt and had also created “fertile ground” for retail store chains to compete to lend to households.
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REGIONAL
St Vincent and the Grenadines plans agricultural diversification
Diversification Unit is to be established in the ministry of agriculture in St Vincent and the Grenadines to carry forward plans to diversify the local agricultural sector, minister of agriculture, Saboto Caesar, said during a news briefing on Friday. Caesar disclosed that the ministry will be placing emphasis on diversification around bananas. He said that the Black Sigatoka Disease, which had been affecting local banana farms, is now under control. The minister also disclosed that the ministry of agriculture will be collaborating with its counterpart ministry in Grenada, to develop various aspects of the agricultural sector, following the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the two countries.
INTERNATIONAL
South Korea MERS outbreak: Officials brace for 'most important period'
In the third week of the MERS outbreak, South Korea is bracing for what national officials call "the most important period" in the effort to curb the spread. So far, nine people have died after contracting MERS and confirmed cases are at 108. More than 3,000 people in South Korea have been under quarantine in efforts to curb the Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome. But patients from the most-affected hospital are near the end of their mandatory quarantine period and health authorities are watching for whether they can be cleared this week. So far, 641 people have been released from quarantine after they tested negative for MERS. South Korea has been struck by the largest outbreak of MERS outside Saudi Arabia, where the virus was discovered. According to scientists, South Korea could have more cases before the outbreak is fully contained. Read more...
10th June 2015