Amid recent publicized cases of lawyers being sued for monies owed to clients, the umbrella body for accountants is giving attorneys advice to protect themselves, their clients and the integrity of the profession.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Barbados (ICAB) today encouraged attorneys to “consider voluntarily allowing an independent audit of their client accounts”.

Vice president Andrew Brathwaite said ICAB was even willing to collaborate with the Barbados Bar Association on developing procedures for voluntary compliance that would bolster public confidence and trust in the ability of providers of legal services to protect the safety of client money.

According to the Bar Association’s Legal Profession Code of Ethics, attorneys are required to keep accounts that clearly and accurately distinguish funds held in trust for clients against the lawyer’s own finances.

However, Brathwaite noted that some members of the legal fraternity or their staff might relax such procedures if there was no external party checking to make sure that this occurred.

ICAB Vice President Andrew Brathwaite

“Proper accounting for client money can be complex, especially where there is a large number of clients and client transactions, and errors may occur inadvertently despite the best of intentions. Even where the lawyer has employed qualified accounting staff to supervise record keeping, independent verification may still be advisable,” he said.

“Independent verification may include periodic audit of client accounts, or limited procedures to verify that the recommended accounting systems and controls are in place and operating effectively.”

While the Bar Association notes that a breach of the rules in its Code of Ethics constitutes professional misconduct, Brathwaite pointed to the United Kingdom’s (UK) Solicitors Regulatory Authority Rules as offering a more detailed guide for the protection of client accounts, which he suggested the Bar could consider for the purpose of updating its 1988 Code.

Along with provisions detailing the way that client accounts should be set up, accessed and used, the UK Rules require any attorney who holds client money to provide an accountants report on their finances to the Authority within six months of the end of each year.

“Go into the highways and byways and spread the gospel that the Almighty decreed that you should savour a slice of paradise; and that paradise is Barbados.”

That was Prime Minister Freundel Stuart’s advice to scores of tourists whom he hosted at Ilaro Court on Wednesday night at the second of four such planned welcoming events this year aimed at showing appreciation for these visitors to the island –– who continue to return here, with some recording over 50 visits.

Stuart told his guests: “It is our way of saying thanks to you for the confidence which you continue to show in Barbados by year after year determining that Barbados is the place where you want to spend your holiday.”

Describing their repeat choice of Barbados as an “overwhelming vote of confidence in this small island”, the Prime Minister noted that Barbadians strove to be good hosts.

Victoria and Christian Boyd (right) with Prime Minister Freundel Stuart. The Boyds have visited Barbados 29 times.

Roger and Gloria Wright with Prime Minister Freundel Stuart. The Wrights have visited Barbados 46 times.

Prime Minister Freundel Stuart with Paul Harmeier, who has visited Barbados 54 times.

Jerry Pankhurst with Prime Minister Freundel Stuart. Pankhurst has visited Barbados 50 times.

Elsie Manning (left) chats with Prime Minister Freundel Stuart. Manning has been coming to Barbados since 1947, and holds the record for those attending Wednesday night’s cocktail reception, with over 60 visits.

He said this friendliness came despite the inability of this nation to influence world events such as prices of oil, climate change, and outbreaks of conflicts along with terrorism, “that is disfiguring our civilization at this time”.

Stuart stated that, given these circumstances, Barbadians had therefore been controlling and shaping that which they had an influence over.

“We can determine who we are: polite, hardworking, disciplined, warm in our dealings with those who come here . . . . [And] you by your overwhelming testimonies say to me that your reason for coming to Barbados as often as you do has . . . very much to do with the warmth and the charm of our people.”

Stuart pointed out that the Barbadian disposition was not accidental because “in our schools, churches, families, communities we have spent a lot of time over the years trying to socialize, educate and manage our people that the end product is what you experience”.

The Prime Minister added: “It matters to us that you are comfortable when you come to Barbados, and that we will continue to use our best endeavours to ensure that not only we preserve what we have, but we build on it and make it better.”

Stuart however made clear that the ambition of excellence in interaction among people was not aimed for the benefit of foreigners alone.

“When I speak in these terms, it is not because I think we are making Barbados a congenial place just for you. We’ve determined that if we set high standards for us and we make Barbados a congenial place for ourselves, when you come here you will find our charm irresistible; and so far that has been working. So do not expect us to change it,” he said, adding: “Continue to enjoy the charm of our manner and the warmth of our hospitality.”

An 18-year-old has been rushed to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital after being shot on the Charles Duncan O’Neal Bridge outside the Fairchild Street Bus Terminal a short while ago.

Barbados TODAY understands that Rashon Alexander, of St David’s, Christ Church, was shot in the back.

Police are on the scene carrying out investigations.

Policyholders and investors could soon know how CLICO International Life Insurance Company (CIL) conducted its financial transactions before and after its collapse.

The High Court today set March 10 to hear arguments from Ramon Alleyne, the attorney for CLICO’s judicial manager,  who is asking for the forensic audit report on the company to be unsealed.

Alleyne had little else to say, adding only that presiding judge Justice William Chandler gave the judicial manager directions on how to go about handling the process leading up to the hearing by the court.

The judicial manager’s move to have the report made public comes against the background of apparent resistance from the Financial Services Commission (FSC).

Barbados TODAY was also informed today that the judicial manager’s final recommendations surrounding the future of the insurance company have been filed in the court and will be ruled on come April 17.

The Barbados Investors and Policyholders Alliance (BIPA) says it wants the court’s approval to be legally represented during hearing on the recommendations.

“It is BIPA’s understanding that the judicial manager’s final report has been filed and is available for members of the public.

“What happened this morning so far as BIPA is concerned, is that [the judge] set a date for the hearing of BIPA’s application to represent the policyholders at the hearing, which is to take place in relation to that report,” Queen’s Counsel Alair Shepherd said on emerging from the courtroom accompanied by BIPA president June Fowler.

He said he was “perfectly happy” with the outcome of the application because BIPA had been given a date to determine whether the policyholders would be represented in the judicial management.

The senior lawyer for BIPA noted that counsel for the judicial manager had always taken the view that interested parties could not take any part in the hearing until the court was considering the
final report.

“So until that consideration is taking place, it has always been the position of counsel for the judicial manager that we cannot be heard.

“It is our understanding that Mr Alleyne is making an application to unseal the report, and we did not want to hold that up in any way by complicating who could be heard on it, and so, once we got our dates, we left the parties inside,”  Shepherd explained.

BIPA also has another matter in court – a suit against the directors, auditors, the FSC and former executive chairman of CLICO Holdings Barbados Limited Leroy Parris for, among other things, negligence which led to thousands of policyholders standing to lose substantial sums of money.

Senior students from the Lester Vaughan School recently visited the environmental mural on the wall outside CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank’s Headquarters in Warrens and made their contribution to the unfolding mosaic. 

Members of the Art Club, some of whom have already left school but return for the art classes and to do their CAPE preparation, visited the wall to chat with the tilers Dwayne Goddard and Troy Young and attach pieces of the mosaic. They also met Managing Director, Retail, Mark St Hill.     

Here, St Hill is joined by students in affixing pieces of the mosaic.

Sanctimonious hypocrites!

That’s how Prime Minister Freundel Stuart has described some of those who disapproved of his advice to Speaker of the House Michael Carrington to “get a lawyer” during his publicized legal dispute with a former client.

Speaking just as tough to critics of Government’s University of the West Indies (UWI) tuition feel policy, Stuart today made it clear that his administration would not be changing course on that matter to please any minority group, even in the face of a letter from the president of the Cave Hill Campus Guild of Students Damani Parris, “threatening” action if the decision was not reversed.

The Prime Minister laid out those positions at the Democratic Labour Party’s (DLP) lunchtime lecture where he spoke extensively on the controversial decision by Government to stop paying tuition fees for Barbadian students.

Prime Minister Freundel Stuart

“I know a lot of controversy has raged around this issue. I am not ashamed of any controversy and neither am I afraid,” declared Stuart.

“I know ultimately truth is not like milk; truth doesn’t spoil. No matter how long you keep truth it remains fresh. And as long as the truth is presented to people ultimately they will have to accept it as the truth and make the necessary adjustments.”

Parris, whose term as guild president will come to an end on March 31, told Barbados TODAY last month that he would be writing Government to express his “deep-seated concern about what appears to be an abandonment of education in the country and an abandonment of the youth of the country”.

“We got a letter from the president of the student body. It was copied to the Minister of Finance [Chris Sinckler] and the Minister of Education [Ronald Jones], threatening the Government that if it doesn’t do something by the 11th of February I think it is, that they are going to do something . . .  I don’t remember what the threat is,” Stuart told the audience.

Defending his administration’s stance on the policy that went into effect last September, Stuart said while his Government was committed to tertiary education, the country had “a solid middle-class” that could now afford to pay its way.

“Certainly there will be no change under this Prime Minister, for the simple reason that I know what policies created opportunities for me and for people who share my courage and stature in life. And as a Prime Minister and politician I am committed to ensuring that Barbados continues to be a land of opportunity,” he said.

“The cynics who hear me say that will say ‘but how could you be saying that when your Government is now asking university students to contribute to their tertiary education?’

In a context where people are driving around 115,000 motor vehicles in Barbados, in a context where people have stone dwellings, houses [with electricity], water-borne facilities, and can carry their children to Disneyland, at some stage you have to let people look after themselves and carry a little more of the burden so that you are left with some room to look after people who cannot look after themselves yet.”

Stuart insisted that Government was still paying the economic costs for students – 80 per cent of their university bill.

“How could you consider that unreasonable in the year 2015?” he questioned.

Noting that primary and secondary education was compulsory but tertiary education was optional, Stuart said the country had created “the largest body of executive class” over the years.

And he suggested that Government did not owe them anything.

“Can a Government owe that class or category of person the same obligation as it owed to the people who were walking barefooted and going to the plantations with bags and hoes over their shoulders? Can it owe to the poor agricultural labour and the modern executive the same responsibility? We now have a class of people that can better look after itself in this country,” he contended.

The Prime Minister insisted that his Government was making decisions that would produce long-term benefits and not decisions for “the short-term advantage of catching the winds of popular favour”.

Making specific mention of the Student Revolving Loan Fund, he said a number of mechanisms were already in place for those who could not afford to pay for their own education. Stuart also blasted critics of his leadership style and the Municipal Solid Waste Income Tax, saying their comments were “just opportunistic noises”.

In relation to Government’s fiscal measures and structural adjustment policies, Stuart asked Barbadians to give the programmes time to work, saying he expected things to improve.

marlonmadden@barbadostoday.bb

The plug has been pulled on the Nigerian Delta State Youth Empowerment Programme in Barbados.

The programme, which had been dogged by controversy ever since the 90 Nigerian students arrived here in December to pursue a nine-month course of study at the Barbados Community College (BCC) in tourism and agriculture, has been terminated with immediate effect, according to a notice delivered to the Casa Grande Hotel, Oldbury, St Philip.The students confirmed they had received formal communication that they would be going home.

The Delta State Youth Empowerment Programme facilitated by Barbadian Donna St Hill has been dogged by controversy from the very beginning.

It stated: “Dear students, please be advised that the Delta State Youth Empowerment Programme Barbados has been terminated with immediate effect by order of His Excellency Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan.

“Further notification will follow to all students from the state government confirming the above status and the subsequent repatriation protocols for return to Nigeria.”

An official close to the programme told Barbados TODAY that while the notice had come from Delta State officials, the US$4.5 milllion initiative had actually been terminated by the Barbados Government.

“They [students] are not being allowed to attend the BCC. All are to return,” the official said, adding that they were still in the dark as to why the plug had been pulled.

“We don’t know why.”

However, liaison officer for the Barbados Government Dr Derek Murray told Barbados TODAY that as far as he was aware, the Freundel Stuart administration did not terminate the programme and, in fact, several options were being examined to make the project work. He declined to elaborate on those options.

Murray also said the information he had was that authorities were awaiting word from the Immigration Department for “certain particulars” so student visas could be issued.Ever since arriving in Barbados at the end of December, the students have been embroiled in controversy, first complaining about the standard of accommodation and the quality of food and lack of water.

However, a small group of the students subsequently apologized to local and Nigerian authorities for the conduct of their colleagues, saying that some of the complaints were fabricated and asking that the programme be maintained.

Before that development, Delta State officials had indicated that they would not only keep the programme, but expand it.“It is the wish of the people and Government of Barbados as well as the wish of the people and Government of Delta State to strengthen this initial step, make it a success and build upon it and scale up our lines of cooperation,” Deputy Governor of Delta State Professor Amos Agbe Utuama told Barbados TODAY when he travelled to Barbados last month.

The Delta State Empowerment Programme also has a Trinidad and Tobago leg for which US$5.5 million was allocated.Students in the twin-island republic are pursuing oil-related courses and that project is reported to be doing well.

Minister of Education Ronald Jones is out of the island and calls to his mobile phone for a response were unsuccessful.

Barbados TODAY was also unable to reach his Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education Senator Harry Husbands.

emmanueljoseph@barbadostoday.bb

Government has failed it in its effort to block a group of landowners from challenging its acquisition of property in Six Men’s, St Peter 18 years ago.

Mount Six Men’s Company Limited, owned by the Broome family, is appealing a 2006 High Court decision not to give back land compulsorily acquired by Government in 1997.

However, the Crown asked the court to strike out the appeal. That application, led by Marcia Thompson-Cumberbatch, was based on the alleged failure of the attorneys for the company to file the record of appeal which is a document detailing the proceedings of the case.

However, the Court dismissed the Crown’s application after it was pointed out that Mount Six Men’s could not be in default since they could not file the record of appeal until it was settled by the Registrar.

The application was therefore not only dismissed, but costs were awarded to attorneys for Mount Six Men’s Company Limited, Barry Gale QC and Laura F. Harvey-Read.

Once the record of appeal is settled and thereafter filed, the appeal will again come up for hearing.

The matter was heard by Chief Justice Sir Marston Gibson and Justices of Appeal Sandra Mason and Andrew Burgess
on Monday.

The issues surrounding the matter date back to the 1980s, arising out of the acquisition of 27.6 acres of land at Six Men’s, St Peter.

In 1985, the Crown gave notice that it wanted to acquire the land from the Broome family. By 1986, persons began squatting on the land and a year later, Government abandoned its acquisition process.

The Broome family then got their land back and thereafter tried to get the squatters off by filing lawsuits against some 90 of them.

However, Government again decided to acquire the land and, by Cabinet approval in 1997, sought to do so.

That same year, Mount Six Men’s brought an action in judicial review against the Government, on the grounds that the acquisition was illegal and that the land had been acquired for improper purposes.

Mount Six Men’s judicial review application named the Chief Town Planner, the Chief Surveyor and the Attorney General, and sought substantial compensation and a return of their land.

In 2006, High Court Judge Elneth Kentish dismissed the judicial review application on a preliminary point and determined that Mount Six Men’s Company Limited was only due compensation under the Land Acquisition Act and not the return of its land.

Mount Six Men’s therefore appealed the decision.

A man who was behind bars on remand for five years, after being caught with guns he said he took from some men to stop a dispute, finally went home today.

Deandre Nathaniel Bailey, of Lot 19 Gall Hill, Cane Vale New Road, Christ Church, was allowed to go when Justice Randall Worrell told him his remand period would count as his sentence.

The 42-year-old had pleaded guilty to having two 9-mm firearms as well as ammunition.

The facts revealed that some men were arguing in Wotton, Christ Church and Bailey intervened and tried to prevent the disagreement from escalating.

Bailey convinced the men to hand over their guns to him and was walking along Wotton Road with the firearms when he saw police. Bailey tried to throw away the weapons but police recovered them and subsequently arrested and charged him.

In his mitigation in the High Court last week, defence attorney Mohia Ma’at said that even though Bailey had run afoul of the law many times before –– with 25 previous convictions, including for robbery, theft, having an offensive weapon, criminal damage and breach of a bond –– his last period of incarceration “has changed his life”.

Ma’at said his client was at the stage where he wanted “to be there for his son” who was doing well at secondary school.

He also reminded the court that none of Bailey’s offences related to firearms, that he had pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and was also “very remorseful”.

He therefore asked Justice Worrell to sentence his client to time served, and the judge agreed.

Crown Counsel Krystal Delaney prosecuted the case.

Both a Guyanese woman who brought a kilogramme of cocaine into Barbados on Tuesday, and the man who received it will be residing at Dodds for the next two years.

Lloydanna Uleta Morris, a 23-year-old assistant cook of #25 Norton Street, Lodge, Georgetown, admitted to possession, intent to supply, trafficking and importation of the substance, when she went before the Oistins Magistrates’ Court yesterday.

Her accomplice, Dennis Allistair France, who went before the same court, pleaded guilty to charges of possession, intent to supply, trafficking and committing acts preparatory for the purpose of trafficking the drug.

The 37-year-old mason, also a Guyanese, was residing at Bynoe Road, Rendezvous, Christ Church.

The two were ordered to serve the time after they could not pay the $60,000 forthwith fine imposed by Chief Magistrate Pamela Beckles.

In his outline of the facts, acting Station Sergeant Rudolph Burnett told the court that Morris arrived in Barbados on February 3, on a flight from her homeland and was granted entry into Barbados.

The next day, after receiving information, police executed a search warrant at the room where she was staying at a Christ Church hotel.

While they found no drugs, the woman reportedly confessed to bringing in the cocaine days earlier.

She further confessed to handing it over to a man who came to her room to collect it.

While police were still in her room, that same man turned up and Morris pointed him out to police.

It was France, who also admitted that he took the cocaine home after he got it from Morris. Both were subsequently arrested.

After carrying out a warrant at France’s home, police found a haversack with a girdle and four packages of cocaine inside.

Breaking down in court yesterday, the woman said she acted as a drug mule because she is a single parent, unable to look after her child.

The child has already been taken from her by a government agency in Guyana, and a member of staff there told her that if she gets sufficient funds she would be given back the child.

However, Chief Magistrate Beckles told her that even if she had succeeded with the drugs, the agency would still have investigated how she came by a sudden injection of cash.

In relation to France, he said he lived here since 2005 but was finding difficulty in getting work, especially since he was hiding from Immigration.

Saying that he was “cash-strapped”, France asked for leniency.

Both were convicted, reprimanded and discharged on the other charges.

At the end of their jail term, or if the fine is paid, both will be handed over to immigration offcials.

A 61-year-old Jamaican who swallowed 47 packages of cannabis and came into Barbados earlier this week, was jailed for 12 months by Chief Magistrate Pamela Beckles yesterday.

Lincoln Dennis Barnes of Glendovan, Montego Bay was arrested on Monday after being interviewed by law enforcement officers at the Grantley Adams International Airport.

Acting Station Sergeant Rudolph Burnett told the court that by the end of the interview, police suspected that Barnes had ingested drugs. The suspect was then taken to the Oistins Police Station.

After he admitted swallowing cannabis, the 61-year-old was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital where he had an x-ray and consented to a medical examination.

Barnes later passed 47 packages of the drug that was wrapped in white tape.

He was discharged on Thursday and appeared in court yesterday, where he pleaded guilty to possession, intent to supply, trafficking and importation of the pound of cannabis.

Asked why he had brought the drugs into the island, Barnes explained that it was for his personal use.

He was fined $10,000 forthwith, but was unable to come up with the money.

As a result, the Jamaican was sentenced to 12 months behind bars.

He was convicted, reprimanded and discharged on the remaining charges.

Barnes will be released into the custody of immigration if he pays the fine or upon completion of his jail term. (SD)

Sir Henry Fraser (right) signs a copy of his book for Geoffrey Ramsey, while Erica Hinkson, marketing associate of Chattel House Books, Book Source looks on.

Sir Henry Fraser was all smiles this afternoon as he signed copies of his Historic Churches of Barbados at the Chattel House Bookshop in Sky Mall, Haggatt Hall.

Sir Henry Fraser

While there wasn’t a rush of people, those who attended appeared to be enthused about the pictorial book that contains about 130 photographs.

“My presence here this morning is really an exciting one for me, not only to promote the cathedral’s restoration, to promote preservation in general but to capitalize on and to celebrate the Chattel House itself, our famous icon that has made Barbados famous in many ways, and the Chattel House bookshop, which is promoting literacy and promoting local writers,” Sir Henry said.

A table displaying five of his books was set up at the bookshop.

The Barbados Investors and Policyholders Alliance (BIPA) today called on Government to ensure that the company earmarked to handle the proposed restructuring of CLICO is active and fully funded “within a matter of days or weeks”.

The appeal by BIPA president June Fowler comes as the Supreme Court considers an application by the judicial manager of CLICO to remove the seal on a recent forensic audit report into the operations of the insurance company.

While stating that the alliance is hopeful that a decision will be made to lift the seal when the matter returns to court early next month, Fowler said the interest of policyholders should be paramount.

“If they do not fast track this operation, and I mean full speed ahead with no distractions or delays, the thousands of policyholders, their families and dependents will lose virtually everything because once the truck starts to race down the hill, there comes a point beyond which the brakes can no longer bring it to a safe halt and the effect on the Barbados economy, the country’s reputation, its credit rating and its integrity will be incalculable,” she warned.

The BIPA president said she was pleased that her recommendation to have a representative on the board of the New Life Investment Company – the company that will deal with the restructuring – had been agreed to by the relevant parties.

“Given the pending liquidation of CLICO by the Judicial Manager and the uncertainty surrounding the New Life Investment Company established by government to handle the proposed restructuring of CLICO, albeit under a new name, BIPA’s focus is on the various aspects and details relating to the restructuring plans, to ensure the best possible outcome for policyholders,” Fowler added.

A 52-year-old woman and her son have pleaded guilty to drug-related charges.

Norma Veronica Hinkson and Denmar McCarthy Saffrey, 29, of Smith Corner, Sargeant’s Village, Christ Church appeared at the District “A” Magistrates’ Court yesterday to answer the charges of possession of cannabis, possession with intent to supply, trafficking and cultivation.

The mother had received an additional charge of ‘Permitting premises to be used for handling a controlled drug to wit cannabis.’

This followed the discovery of five cannabis plants under cultivation at their residence.

Hinkson was fined $1,000 each for trafficking and cultivation, and $1,500 for permitting her premises to be used for handling a controlled drug.

She faces six months in prison if the fines are not paid within the same period. The 52-year-old was convicted, reprimanded and discharged on the other charges.

Her son was fined $1,000 for trafficking and the same amount for cultivation.   The fines are to be paid in four months or he would also the same time in prison. He was convicted, reprimanded and discharged on the remaining charges.

He was caught red-handed by police on Thursday as he stood beside some marijuana plants with a bag of fertiliser.

Therefore, when Jamar Joel Wallace, 18, of Lower Estate St, George went before the Oistins Magistrates’ Court the following day, he admitted to possession, intent to supply, trafficking and cultivating marijuana.

Chief Magistrate Pamela Beckles gave the unemployed man until May 8 to come up with $5,000 for cultivating the plants, or he will spend nine months in jail.

Prosecutor acting Station Sergeant Rudolph Burnett said police acted on a tip-off that there was marijuana growing in a bushy area at Lower Estate, St George.

The officers saw the plot of cannabis when they went there around 1 p.m. Minutes later, they saw two men walk through a footpath towards the plants.

One of the men, Wallace, was in front holding a bag of manure while the second man had a pancart filled with two containers of water.

The men approached the plants and while Wallace stood with the bag of manure in hand, the second man, who had a cutlass with him, was checking the plants.

After the police came out of hiding and identified themselves, the men ran.

However, Wallace was held and searched, and a small bag containing marijuana seeds was found in his pocket.

Police took him back to the ‘garden’ where they found 51 marijuana plants, between one and two feet tall.

Wallace was convicted, reprimanded and discharged on the other charges. (SD)

Member of Parliament for St James Central Kerrie Symmonds wants the Holetown Police Station moved due to fears that the facility’s location in a flood-prone area would affect the ability of lawmen  to provide much-needed assistance during a flood or hurricane emergency.

Symmonds expressed his concern, while noting that too many of Barbados’ essential and emergency services are located on the coast.

“Case in point, Holetown Police Station is on the beach. It is on the flood plain of Holetown,” he said at the annual general meeting of that district’s Disaster Emergency Organization held last evening at Queen’s College.

Symmonds reflected on drainage and other flood prevention work done in the area, which, he said, has “helped to offset and mitigate the difficulties that the poor policemen down there face.”

In spite of this, the Opposition MP noted, he has since had to join others in placing sandbags in the affected area.

“So it is still a problem and the police, as you would appreciate, have to come and work with you when there is a disaster pending. Now, if that disaster is of a nautical nature or hurricane type, then the police can’t come and help you or me if they busy first of all trying to help themselves,” Symmonds said, adding, “the location first of all doesn’t make sense.”

During the AGM, several awards were handed out to volunteers of the St James Central Disaster Emergency Organization.

Winners of St James Central Disaster Emergency Organization awards. From left Disaster Emergency Officer of 2014 Mervyn Gibbons; Chairman’s Award Lorna Bynoe; and Special Award Wilfred Marshall.

Rihanna has copped her eighth Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for her 2014 hit single “The Monster” with Eminem!

The award was announced during pre-telecast of Sunday night’s show. Rihanna later performed her new song “FourFiveSeconds” with Kanye West and Paul McCartney.

This marks Rihanna’s 8th Grammy Award, coming just in time with her 8th album.

Rihanna was also a stand out on the Grammy red carpet.

(Rihanna Daily).

Police are investigating the unnatural death of Jason Wall, 33, of Moore’s Land, St John, which occurred about 8.15 p.m. last night at Belleplaine Housing Area, Belleplaine, St Andrew.

From the initial investigation, police say Wall was sitting with another person when he was shot by an unknown assailant. He died at the scene.

Investigations are continuing.

Prime Minister Freundel Stuart has sent a strong message to the Opposition that his Government will not be distracted by the controversy involving Speaker of the House Michael Carrington.

Prime Minister Freundel Stuart says his Government will not be sidetracked by the verbal attacks on Speaker of the House Michael Carrington.

At the same time, he has challenged the grounds on which the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) has questioned the morality of Carrington who was recently embroiled in a legal dispute with a former client.

More than a week ago, John Griffiths – whom Queen’s Counsel Carrington had represented – was paid the $200,000 that was outstanding from the sale of one of Griffiths’ deceased aunt’s properties.

Opposition members have refused to attend sittings over which Carrington presides until Parliament’s Committee of Privileges, to which the matter has been referred, gives a ruling.

Stuart said while there was nothing wrong with pursuing high moral standards, BLP members could not hold themselves up as “moral exemplars”.

Prime Minister Freundel Stuart speaking to supporters of the Democratic Labour Party last night.

He pointed to court documents in which Opposition members accused some of their own colleagues of questionable behavior.

“Where do these people get their moral authority from to be around Barbados parading now about who has high moral principles and who don’t have any?” the Prime Minister queried at a Democratic Labour Party meeting at the Bay Primary School last night.

Describing the accusations against the House Speaker as malicious propaganda, he insisted that Carrington merely had a dispute with a client as some attorneys – including him when he was in private practice – often do.

“Michael Carrington is an honourable man. There’s no criminal conviction anywhere against him. He’s an excellent Speaker of the House of Assembly, but like every lawyer at some stage he just had a difference with a client,” Stuart said.

He recalled an incident involving former clerk of the House of Assembly George Brancker, an attorney, who had to defend himself in court against two clients after they complained to the Disciplinary Committee of the Bar Association.

“Nobody said at that time, because it would have been absurd as it is now, that because George had difficulties with clients of his that he was bringing Parliament into disrepute, because it was accepted that these are the perils you face when you are rendering service of any kind to clients,” Stuart pointed out.

The country’s leader further accused the BLP of refusing to accept the results of the last two general elections and charged that the Opposition was trying to destabilize the country and the Government.

He claimed that a similar “technique” was used to ruin the reputation of late Minister of Health Branford Taitt who was at the centre of a commission of inquiry into the St Joseph Hospital. Though Taitt was exonerated, the Prime Minister said the damage had already been done.

“That is what the whole thing with Speaker Carrington is about. They don’t believe they’re on solid ground. They want to do damage and, therefore, I just want you members of the Democratic Labour Party not to get distracted by that kind of foolishness,” he said.

The Prime Minister also made no apologies for his decision to advise the House Speaker to get an attorney to deal with the matter, stating Carrington could have lost perspective on the issue if he did not get legal advice.

“That then became an issue for some people in Barbados who said that instead of firing the man, I advised the man to get a lawyer. But I’d advise anybody . . . who has to go into a court to get a lawyer. If you go into a court without a lawyer, you are at a disadvantage. And, in any event, there’s a maxim known among lawyers – any lawyer who tries to represent himself has a fool for a client,” the Prime Minister added.

Lawmen are investigating an incident in which officers were shot at by three “suspicious persons” in the early hours of this morning.

According to a brief statement from public relations officer Acting Assistant Superintendent David Welch, the police officers were on patrol in Bridgetown around 2 a.m. when they encountered the trio.

When the officers challenged the individuals, they fired several shots at the law enforcement officers.

No one was injured but two nearby businesses were damaged.