We shall not be bought!

This is the emphatic message from Minister of Home Affairs Edmund Hinkson, who today emphasized the ruling Barbados Labour Party’s position that it would not accept any gifts, whether in cash or other inducement, to grant favours to businesses or anyone.

On the day before former Minister of International Business, Commerce and Small Business Development Donville Inniss is to appear in court in the United States charged with laundering the proceeds of bribes received here, Hinkson, the Member of Parliament for St James North, told journalists the Mia Mottley led administration was serious about governing with clean hands.

In fact, he said, the process of transparency has begun with parliamentarians and their spouses declaring their assets even before the introduction of integrity legislation.

“Members of Parliament have lodged a declaration of all assets, liabilities and those of our spouses, those of us who have spouses,” the Minister said during a tour of Parliament by students of the Gordon Greenidge Primary School.

“What those persons who serve in public life at the political level [and] statutory boards must understand is that we have no place for bribery in this country. We cannot afford it, it is immoral, it sends up the cost of doing business. It sends up the cost of doing business, period,” he stressed.

Hinkson made no mention of Inniss, who United States prosecutors said accepted bribes from an insurance company which was not named in the indictment, but later revealed to be the Insurance Corporation of Barbados, in return for using his office to cause the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation (BIDC), a state-owned enterprise under his ministerial portfolio, to renew insurance contracts with the local insurance company.

However, the BLP, throughout its general election campaign, had repeatedly accused the then Freundel Stuart administration of corruption, prompting Stuart to demand that the proof be taken to the Royal Barbados Police Force.

Without making a direct reference, Hinkson today insisted that no member of the BLP Government would suffer Inniss’ fate.

“This Government . . . has made it plain that we are not tolerating that as we are governing with transparency and accountability in the best interest of the law,” he said.

“We are in the process of bringing in Integrity in Public Life legislation as you know. I believe the select committee would have met in terms of preparation of the hearing next week Monday,” Hinkson said.

It was on Sunday at a meeting of the St Michael South East constituency that Mottley hinted at attempts by some in the private sector to obtain favours from her administration through corrupt means.

However, she made it clear that the days of corruption were over and her Government was adamant that “we are going to hold people accountable. We are going to do things in a transparent way”.

“I want to repeat it because there are private sector people in this country who believe the Government has not changed and I want them to understand that that behaviour will not be accepted by my Government,” Mottley said, while stressing that the country would “not get corrupted or infected anymore”.

Inniss, 52, a US legal permanent resident, was charged in an indictment with one count of conspiracy to launder money and two counts of money laundering. The indictment was returned under seal by a federal grand jury sitting in Brooklyn, New York, on March 15, more than two months before his Democratic Labour Party was swept out of office, losing all 30 seats at stake to the BLP.

He was arrested in Florida on August 3, and is to make his first appearance in a Brooklyn, New York court tomorrow.
(LG)

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Courtesy Garage has been fingered as the car dealership that so bothered Prime Minister Mia Mottley that she ordered home a team that was in Europe in search of secondhand garbage trucks for the Sanitation Service Authority.

Mottley told a meeting on Sunday night the group had to dump those plans and return home because of some suspicious activity by an uninvited guest.

She explained that “pursuant to a board paper” the group from the SSA and the Ministry of the Environment and National Beautification had gone abroad to examine used garbage trucks, but “a certain car company’s representatives happened to be at every location that the group went to”.

“When the Attorney General and I found out we told the minister ‘tell them to come home the next day because I need to know how a private sector group that was not a part of the Cabinet paper could be there at every location,” the Prime Minister told a St Michael South East constituency meeting.

“The Minister and I and the AG have agreed that is not the kind of Government we want to run,” Mottley added, while suggesting the unnamed representative’s attendance was no coincidence. She did not identify the representative or the company.

However, an official source has told Barbados TODAY the representative was from Courtesy Garage, whose Regional Product Manager Sam Gaston could not be reached for comment.

The source said the firm in Europe has recommended that Government acquires Volvo vehicles, which are said to be internationally-recognized dump trucks.

“The company offered refurbished trucks free of cost to Barbados on condition that when things return to economic stability, the Government would give it the business,” the source said.

There had been claims on social media that waste hauler and owner of Jose Y Jose Liquid and Solid Waste Management Inc Anderson Fatchild Cherry, who is abroad undergoing medical treatment for an undisclosed illness, had been the person to whom the Prime Minister was referring.

However, Cherry today told Barbados TODAY, “not me”.

The SSA had also called an emergency meeting to get to the bottom of the issue.

Mottley had hinted that the local firm may have had inside information on Government’s plans.

When contacted for an update on investigations into the matter, Minister of the Environment Trevor Prescod said he preferred to grant the Prime Minister the courtesy to speak, since she was the one who made the initial remarks.
(EJ)

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Last month’s outbreak of a serious bacterial illness has now been fully eradicated, officials of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) revealed today.

And the head of the hospital’s infection control team, Corey Forde, is praising the hospital for the capability of detecting the disease, known as Burkholderia Cepacia Complex.

While outbreaks are commonplace in hospitals around the world, the QEH could boast of having one of the region’s best hospital surveillance systems, and was a regional standard-bearer of best practice, in infection control, he said.

[caption id="attachment_276930" align="aligncenter" width="400"] From left, head of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s infection control team Corey Forde, Chief
Executive Officer Dr Dexter James, Minister of Health and Wellness Lt. Col. Jeffrey Bostic and PAHO/WHO representative for Barbados Dr Godfrey Xuereb during this morning’s presentation.[/caption]

And the hospital has become the Caribbean’s standard-bearer for control and detection of these outbreaks.

“It is not unusual for outbreaks but the most important thing is how it is dealt with. Our surveillance system at the hospitals is top-notch. We are able to identify outbreaks quickly and then act accordingly. We have had recorded outbreaks and we have dealt with them quite well . . . . Many countries in the Caribbean don’t have a surveillance system and we have been assisting some of them in getting theirs in place,” said Forde. He was speaking to journalists after the Pan American Health Organization handed over three Samsung Galaxy Tablets to the QEH this morning.

The QEH confirmed that eight cases of Burkholderia Cepacia Complex were diagnosed in six weeks.

At the time several measures were taken to bring the situation under control, hospital officials had said then.

“There were six cases diagnosed in June, and two in early July, but since the introduction of mitigating measures to arrest the increase in incidences and reduce recurrences, there have been no additional cases of Burkholderia Cepacia complex diagnosed to date,” the hospital’s communications department said.

The bacteria, said to be most harmful to persons suffering with kidney disease or a weakened immune system, are usually found in soil and contaminated water.

Patients diagnosed with the condition were separated from the general population and treated, amid stepped up health surveillance at the hospital, the QEH infection control chief said.

“We have put all measures in place and I can tell you that we have no more cases of that infection for more than a month. It speaks well to the efficiency of our programme at the hospital to find, detect, isolate and put into action strategies that have now allowed for us to have no more strategies. We acted very quickly to a very complicated situation,” he said.

The speed with which the hospital handled the outbreak was testimony to efficiency of the health institution’s counter measures, he declared. (CM)

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The new Minister for food has nixed the notion that the price of local produce should rise because of the Government’s new tax measures that could have an impact on farms and food production.

Concerned that their water bills could skyrocket, some farmers have already put consumers on notice of a possible price increase in some products.

But Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir said it would be unfair of food producers to raise prices without giving the Government time to assess the measures’ impact.

[caption id="attachment_276934" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir[/caption]

Farmers, manufacturers and hoteliers have complained that the new GSC tax would result in increased operational expenses, with some indicating that their water bills could reach as much as $60,000 a month.

Effective August 1, businesses are required to pay a new Garbage and Sewage Contribution levy equivalent to 50 per cent of their water bill, while households would pay $1.50 per day.

This charge will be paid through the Barbados Water Authority.

Prime Minister Mia Mottley has already indicated that she was willing to review the charge for the hotel sector and the “industrial sector”.

But in addressing a Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association function days after the measure was announced, Mottley said she would await the first three months of bills from those sectors, so that “those who use a large amount of water – to be able to set, if necessary, an appropriate cap as we have done with land tax in this country”.

Asked if he would be putting forward a case for the agriculture sector in an effort to get a review, farm minister Weir reiterated that Government would first have to see the results before making a decision.

“The Prime Minister was very clear, let us see the results first and then we will go forward with the decision. We don’t chop and change and jump all over the place because somebody say so. This is not going to be the approach of this administration,” Weir said, following a tour of the Nature Fun Ranch in St Andrew on Wednesday.

Weir took issue with farmers already putting consumers on notice about pending price increases due to the new tax despite them having access to concessions.

Weir said the farmers were being unfair since they were yet to know the impact the GSC could have before a decision could be taken after the review.

“This minister will not be entertaining discussions on the basis that something has driven up a price when I don’t get the quantitative analysis to show how it has been impacted.

“You can’t tell me that the Ministry of Agriculture continues to give incentives and rebates to farmers, the prices continue to go up so the consumers [don’t] benefit, and at the moment the Government introduces a tax there is a hue and cry when we don’t get a full quantitative analysis to see the impact of the inputs that are coming from the ministry. It is not the kind of conversation I want to entertain. Not at all,” he declared. (MM)

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With the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) in rebuilding mode, the two-year-old United Progressive Party (UPP) is moving to break the two-party grip on Barbadian politics, UPP leader Lynette Eastmond has told Barbados TODAY.

And it has begun its own rebuilding effort by dropping its entire slate of 23 candidates who stood for Parliament in the May 24 elections and is starting afresh.

With her political party gaining a meagre 1.3 per cent of the popular vote, the former Barbados Labour Party minister and senator who became founding chairman of the UPP, has suggested the party might never have a better opportunity to catch up to the major contenders on the political landscape.

“It is a case of us now taking advantage while one of the two major parties is wounded and is now seeking to rebuild,” Eastmond said, referring to the DLP, which suffered an embarrassing loss in the general election, securing only 22 per cent of the votes cast and failing to win a single seat. The DLP has since elected the twice defeated Verla De Peiza as president.

Political pundits have argued that De Peiza was placed at the helm to jump-start the process of bringing new blood into the 63-year-old party following the 30-0 decimation in the election at the hands of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP).

A number of party stalwarts, including former Prime Minister Freundel Stuart, former Minister of Education Ronald Jones and former Minister of Social Care Steve Blackett, have announced their retirement from politics. Additionally, the party was rocked by scandal earlier this month with the arrest of former Minister of International Business Donville Inniss, who is set to answer money laundering charges in New York tomorrow.

Eastmond, a four time losing candidate, and who was elected to lead the UPP for another year when the party held its inaugural conference last Saturday, acknowledged that taking advantage of the DLP’s wounded state would require hard work.

“Our thinking is that we are in a very good position, but it does require work. It is true that we contested one election, but a lot of dedication and commitment is now required over the next four years. I believe that I have a team that is up to that task and we believe that we are in a better position given the outcome of the last election,” she told Barbados TODAY.

But the party has retained none of the 23 candidates who contested the election three months ago, Eastmond said, suggesting that would-be UPP candidates would need to canvass on their own steam in order to get the nod from the party when the selection process begins.

“Our position is that at the end of the election, seeing that none of us were successful, all of the seats are open again. Individuals who are interested in running again are being told that they can identify the seat that they are interested in and start working in that seat. If the person had won a seat then their case would have been the strongest but at this point all candidates would have to go through a selection process again,” the UPP leader said. She could not pinpoint a timeframe for candidates to be confirmed.

“I can’t give an exact date but suffice it to say we have to give the candidates enough time to court their constituents. So, the sooner the better, but anybody interested in running should start working from now,” she added.

In a general election that saw a record number of ‘third’ parties and independents contesting the 30 seats that would all be snapped up by the BLP, the UPP came in a distant fourth place in the popular vote, behind the business-oriented Solutions Barbados.

Of the 150,141 voters who cast their ballots on May 24, the UPP polled 1,965 votes, less than half that 4,188 votes secured by Solutions Barbados.

 The Democratic Labour Party, suffering the worst defeat in Barbadian electoral history, received 33,985 votes, while the Barbados Labour Party’s landslide victory reaped an historic 74.58 per cent of the popular vote with 111,968. colvillemounsey@barbadostoday.bb

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Several communities across St Philip and Christ Church are without water this morning.

The Barbados Water Authority (BWA) says the water outage has resulted from a 16-inch burst main in Woodbourne, St Philip.

Customers in Woodbourne, St Martin, Green Point, Gemswick and surrounding districts in Philip have been affected.

In Christ Church, the water outage is affecting customers in Newton, Durants, Lodge Road, Kingslands, Montrose, Silver Hill, Gall Hill, Yorkshire, Lowlands, Lowthers, Fair View, Coverley and surrounding districts.

The BWA says water tankers have been despatched to the affected areas.

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Beloved broadcaster and champion for the disabled and the elderly Carson Small has died.

Mr Small, who was blind, began his career in radio with Rediffusion Limited (currently Starcom Network) with the help of former broadcaster Olga Lopes-Seale.

He was well known for his role in the Rediffusion's radio programme Children's Party and later his very own programme Visions, which targeted the disabled.

In March 2015, he was awarded the Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire(MBE).

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Former Minister of Commerce Donville Inniss today pleaded not guilty when he was arraigned on money laundering charges in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York.
The embattled former Member of Parliament arrived at court early for his 12 p.m. hearing and was accompanied by former Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite.
Inniss, who is represented by attorney-at-law Garnett Sullivan, was released on the same bail conditions as before, but also ordered not to communicate with any alleged co-conspirators.
He is also now permitted to travel to the Southern District of Florida. Before today’s hearing, the former Minister was only permitted to travel between the Eastern District of New York and Middle District of Florida.
Inniss was charged with money laundering and conspiracy in an indictment that said in 2015 and 2016, he engaged in a scheme to take about $36,000 in bribes from high-level executives of an insurance company, later revealed to be the Insurance Corporation of Barbados.
The prosecutors said Inniss used his position as a Government Minister to help the insurer secure two Government contracts and that he concealed the nature of the bribes by receiving them through a dental company and a bank located in Elmont, New York, under the guise of payments for consulting services.
Inniss must return to court on October 23, 2018.

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A homeless man’s attempts to snatch a woman’s bag in the City have secured him a home at Dodds for the next nine months.

Terrance Allan Walcott was on Lower Board Street on June 24 when he approached Kim Edgehill as she entered a fast food restaurant with her niece and pestered them for money.

Edgehill said she did not have any cash and proceeded into restaurant while Walcott lay on the pavement on the outside.

As she exited, Walcott grabbed on to Edgehill’s bag but as she held on, its strap burst. She managed to keep her bag and went back into the restaurant.

As she attempted to leave a second time Walcott snatched at the bag again causing the victim to fall. Bystanders came to the woman’s aid.

“It was an attempted robbery,” Walcott said when he appeared before Magistrate Douglas Frederick today, just before he pleaded guilty to the charge.

But Walcott, who is known to the law courts, refused to say anything else in his defence when given an opportunity to explain his actions.

“This tells me you are terrorizing people in the City. You are a disruptive element who needs to be taken off the streets,” the magistrate said as he imposed the sentence.

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A self-employed man appeared before a Bridgetown court today accused of three offences but only had one to answer to - thanks to his ex-girlfriend.

Hussayn Jamal Burrowes, of 4th Avenue Alkins Land, Bush Hall, St Michael, was accused of stealing a cellular phone worth $845 belonging to Tasha Lovell as well as unlawfully and maliciously wounding her on July 16.

He pleaded not guilty to the two charges as well as that of damaging a motor van belonging to Duane Davis on August 20.

The prosecutor, Station Sergeant Samuel Hinds, objected to bail for the accused man on the grounds that he was already on bail for another charge before Magistrate Douglas Frederick and for the protection of society.

But defence attorney Marlon Gordon argued that Burrowes was a good candidate for bail as the two cases were different.

“He also received injuries in the process . . . . Let’s not penalize him because of his antecedents because the matters are not similar. It is usually the case that when you are already in trouble people prey on you and put you in further trouble,” the lawyer submitted, adding the Lovell was his client’s former girlfriend.

It was at this point that Burrowes intervened, saying that he wanted to assist with his defence.

“She is not my girlfriend at this current point; she was my girlfriend back then,” he said even as he revealed that Lovell was his surety on the previous pending matter.

Magistrate Frederick pointed out that the development put a different spin on things and he now had to find out whether Lovell wanted to continue as his surety, given that she had lodged two criminal charges against him.

The matter was stood down and Lovell was summoned to court where she told the magistrate she wished to remain not only as the accused man’s surety but also did not wish to proceed with the complaints against him.

The cases were therefore dismissed but the other charge involving Davis remained.

He was granted $2,500 bail, which was secured by another surety, and told to return before the No.1 District ‘A’ Magistrate’s Court on December 3.

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The former assistant priest of Christ Church Parish Church, Canon Ivor Jones, who died this morning at age 101, has been described as a very special family man and a dedicated servant of the church.

Jones ended his earthly journey at
10:30 a.m., surrounded by family members.

“Dad was exceptional in a lot of ways. He was very understanding and extremely outgoing in his manner . . . . He was family oriented and very faith oriented. Of course, his faith was extremely strong as he was a canon, a real family man with his children, grandchildren and great grand. He loved everybody dearly,” his daughter, Valerie Goodman told Barbados TODAY.

“He was a true gem, a true gem of a father and grandfather. I can say that very much so, and he will surely be missed by many.”

Despite his advanced age, Jones remained active and alert until the end. Having played the piano at church for six decades, his passion for the instrument never waned, neither had his love for tennis, which he played until he was 94 years old, Goodman revealed.

“He loved to play the piano with everyone around singing the hymns. Of course, he loved his tennis - he was a very good tennis player and he played tennis until he was 94,” she said.

In addition to his dedication to the church, Jones taught English, History and Scripture at his alma mater, Harrison College.

Goodman told Barbados TODAY her dad remained quite popular among his former students.

“Some of his old students from Harrison College - a lot of those that he taught -spoke very highly about him and they really appreciated him and loved him as a teacher. That I can say for sure,” she stressed.

Jones would have celebrated his 102nd birthday on September 7, and was looking forward to it, his daughter said.

In fact, as recently as last week they had begun to discuss plans for the celebration. “He would have been a 102 on September 7, 2018, and the thing is now only last week I was up here and I was talking to him and I said, ‘Dad, you know that your birthday is coming up?’ So then I said, ‘who so you would like to come?’ And I called out some names and he said, ‘of course’, and I said, ‘you know you would have to drink some wine with them?’ He said, ‘of course, I would have to’. And that was only last week that he said that he would have to drink some wine and he was in his good mind until the end,” she said, forging a little laughter as she recalled the conversation.

Meantime, Cannon Wayne Issacs, the diocesan administrator in the Anglican Diocese, described Jones as a faithful follower of God who will be missed.

“He was one of our faithful and devout priests. He was very frank, he spoke his mind. He played the organ at Christ Church. He was [almost] 102 years old and we thank God for his ministry to the church and his work in the field of education in Barbados, and we appreciate his work in the diocese of Barbados,” Isaacs said.

Jones leaves to mourn three living children - Valerie Goodman, Angela Bryan and Geoffery Jones, ten grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild. (LG)

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Radio personality and community worker Carson Small, who died this morning, has been described by his former colleagues as an “icon” for the disabled.

Small, who was blind, began his career in radio with the help of former broadcaster Olga Lopes-Seale

He first worked at Rediffusion - now Starcom Network - as a receptionist, before going on to host Children’s Party andVisions.

He was remembered by his friend, former President of the Senate Kerry-Ann Ifill, as a wonderful human being with a great sense of humour.

“What a wonderful human Carson was. He had a phenomenal sense of humour a beautiful spirit and the biggest heart that I have ever known,” she said.

 “It is a deep loss for all of us with Carson’s passing but with the life that he led and all the people that he helped there is no shadow of doubt that Carson has passed on to a much higher calling. I know he has earned his just reward.”

Ifill, the president of the National Society of the Blind, recounted a joke between them after she was appointed to the Senate.

“Carson and I had an inside joke when I was first appointed to the Senate in 2008 along with many other people. Carson called to congratulate me and in his true sense of humour he said, ‘so what I am I supposed to call you now, Your Ladyship?’ and all other fancy titles that he came up with. I was never a person married to titles or anything like that so I told him, ‘because it is you, you can call me senatress. So, from that day until the last time I paid him a visit in the hospital, he called me, ‘senatress,’” she said.

President of the Barbados Association of Journalists and former colleague Emmanuel Joseph worked with Carson on Children’s Party at Rediffusion.

Today, Joseph described Small as “personable, funny and a people’s person”.

“You would never realize that Carson was sightless. He was always so normal in his behaviour and if you were in Carson’s presence and you were down he would lift your spirits. He was that kind of person,” Joseph told Barbados TODAY.

Former Starcom Chief Executive Officer Vic Fernandes said Small was a humanitarian who was selfless in everything that he did.

“I recognized that Carson had a lot of qualities that perhaps had not been fully utilized. So we made him a member of the team full-time. I was also impressed by his unselfish work and his commitment to people with disabilities and how he gave to those in need,” Fernandes said.

“The amazing thing about Carson is for a man who lived alone he always looked out for, and looked after, other people. He was more concerned about the plight of others than of his own life. He never asked for anything for himself. Whenever something was given to him he was one to say, ‘boss man, I am very thankful to you’, and that is the kind of person he was - a guy full of love.”

Also reflecting on Small’s life was Starcom Network Station Manager David Ellis, who described him as an icon for the disabled in Barbados.

“Many would recall him playing the role of George on Children’s Party with Aunty Olga. But, over the years he would have become more than that for us [as] he had a strong belief in God and demonstrated a determination not to allow the disability of blindness to handicap him and with that belief and determination he helped and motivated many people in this country and in this company,” Ellis said.

“Starcom Network saw him as an icon for the differently abled in Barbados and it was for this reason he spearheaded Visions on Voice of Barbados for several years. Carson Small made an outstanding contribution to his community and to Starcom. May he rest in peace,” he added.

In March 2015, Small was awarded the Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE). (LG)

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Barbadians seeking to renew their United States visas should find the process much easier following an announcement by the US Government of plans to wave the interview process by the end of this month.

In a release from the US embassy in Wildey, St Michael, Washington said the decision came as a result of continuing efforts to improve customer service and streamline the visa process. The new policy takes effect on August 28, 2018.

Barbados passport holders may qualify for a visa renewal interview waiver if their previous visa expired within the past twelve months and they are applying for the same visa category as their previous visa, the release stated.

“The applicant must be physically present in Barbados or within the consular district of the US embassy in Bridgetown to avail themselves of this option.  Additionally, the previous US visa must be in the applicant's possession, and the applicant must have submitted a ten-fingerprint scan in conjunction with the previous visa application,” it said.

In addition, students who wish to renew their visas, and who satisfy the requirements may qualify for interview waiver if they are applying to continue attendance at the same institution or will continue the same major course of study at a different institution.

It said applicants seeking to renew work-related visas who are returning to work for the same employer as annotated on the previous visa may also qualify. Applicants under the age of 14 and over 79 will continue to qualify for interview waiver in most visa classifications.

Third country nationals must schedule an interview.

“Eligibility for interview waiver does not automatically entitle applicants to a waiver of the interview requirement. Meeting the general qualifications for visa renewal interview waiver does not guarantee that an applicant will not be requested to present him or herself in person for an interview at the embassy,” the release said.

In January last year, the US president, Donald Trump signed an executive order suspending the programme, which allows frequent visitors to the United States to bypass in-person interviews with a US consular officer when they need to renew a travel visa.

The programme launched in 2012 as part of then president Barack Obama’s strategy to increase inbound travel and tourism. It was made permanent in 2014. (CM)

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Donville Inniss has entered into negotiations with US prosecutors, adding a new twist in his federal money laundering case.

The revelation came as he pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and money laundering charges in a New York court today.

There were no details as to the nature of the negotiations, but Inniss has waived his right to a speedy trial, which means the US justice department can go beyond the 71-day window for the court case to be wrapped up.

The former Minister of Commerce, Industry, International Business and Small Business Development has also been barred by a US federal judge from contacting three former Insurance Corporation of Barbados Limited (ICBL) executives - unindicted co-conspirators in a bribery and money laundering scheme US prosecutors allege the quartet ran while Inniss was a member of the Freundel Stuart Cabinet.

The gag order was one of a series of additional conditions imposed by Federal Judge Kiyo Matsumoto when the firebrand Democratic Labour Party cabinet member pleaded not guilty to money laundering charges during his arraignment in Brooklyn, New York, today.

Dressed in a dark-grey two-piece suit, the 52-year-old businessman-turned-politician arrived at US Federal Court for the Eastern District of New York early for his noon hearing.

He was accompanied by former Attorney General and Democratic Labour Party (DLP) colleague, Adriel Brathwaite, who told Barbados TODAY he was playing no role in Inniss’ case except as a friend lending moral support.

 “I am not involved in his defence in any way. I am not qualified to practise law in the US. I am just here supporting my friend,” Braithwaite said.

Inniss, who is represented by attorney-at-law Garnett Sullivan, was released on the same bail conditions with additional terms, including the gag order.

He is also now permitted to travel to the Southern District of Florida, which includes Miami.

Before today’s hearing, he was only permitted to travel between the Eastern District of New York and the Middle District of Florida, where his home in Tampa is located.

Inniss is to reappear in federal court on October 23.

Since obtaining bail in Tampa on August 6, Inniss has had to wear an ankle bracelet with GPS monitoring, enabling US authorities to track his whereabouts at all times.

Inniss, a US green card holder, has Tampa listed as his US address. It was there he was arrested early on the morning of August 3 and charged with one count of conspiracy to launder money and two counts of money laundering.

The indictment, sealed on March 15, more than two months before the then minister and the DLP administration were swept out of office in the May 24 general election, alleges that in 2015 and 2016, he took part in a scheme to launder into the United States approximately $36,000 in bribes that he received from executives of a Barbadian insurance company, which was not named in the indictment, but later revealed to be Insurance Corporation of Barbados Limited (ICBL).

In return, he would use his ministerial office to cause the Barbados Investment and Development Corporation, a state-owned enterprise under his industry portfolio to renew insurance contracts of almost $1 million with ICBL, prosecutors allege.

 To conceal the bribes, Inniss arranged to receive the funds through a US bank account in the name of a dental company, which had an address in Elmont, New York, they added.

Earlier this month the Bermuda Gazette newspaper reported that John Wight, chief executive officer of ICBL’s parent, BF&M, had acknowledged the alleged impropriety and had acted accordingly.

“In 2016 the board of directors of ICBL became aware of improper conduct by certain senior managers. ICBL has a zero-tolerance policy for this conduct and immediately dealt with the issue in the appropriate manner. I am not able to elaborate any further on this matter at this time,” the paper quoted Wight, the chairman of ICBL, as saying.

BF&M bought a majority share of ICBL from the Government of Barbados for $25.85 million in November 2005 and now owns a 51.7 per cent stake in the company through its wholly owned subsidiary, Hamilton Financial Ltd, which is based in St. Lucia.

First established 40 years as a statutory corporation and then privatized in December 2000, ICBL is the nation’s largest insurer, 2,300 shareholders inclusive of institutional investors and individuals, representing 48.3 per cent of the company’s ownership.

Its single largest client remains its former owner - the Government of Barbados and several parastatal agencies like the BIDC.

colvillemounsey@barbadostoday.bb

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With the first water bill due at the end of this month since the introduction of the Garbage and Sewage Contribution (GSC) on August 1, concerned farmers are meeting with Minister of Agriculture Indar Weir tomorrow, hoping to negotiate an ease.

Head of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) James Paul, who requested the meeting on behalf of the farmers, told Barbados TODAY commercial farmers were fearful that the tax, which amounts to 50 per cent of their water bill, would make it virtually impossible for them to compete against international producers.

 “In terms of livestock farmers and those who use a lot of water for processing at their farms, the impact is going to be severe for them,” Paul, a former backbencher in the Freundel Stuart administration, said.

“We have approached the Ministry of Agriculture on the matter and they have agreed to meet with us on Friday. Any farmer who is registered commercially is worried because it carries up the price of the product and they have to compete with international producers,” he added.

Paul further contended that farmers were being taxed for waste disposal services that they do not use.

However, the BAS head told Barbados TODAY a waiver of the tax was not the only solution to easing the farmers’ burden.

He explained that the ministry had restrictions on the areas of production that harvested water could be used. Paul therefore argued that if the Ministry of Agriculture assisted farmers in getting modular equipment to purify the water, the impact of the new tax would be neutralized for some farmers.

“We have to ensure that there is as little water wastage as possible. We have to invest in the technology to harvest water. We have to determine how we enable the farmers to make better use of harvested water because the technology is changing where there are modular treatment facilities that you can put on a farm and that water could be used in the everyday production process,” Paul pointed out.

Government announced the GSC in June to be levied through Barbados Water Authority (BWA) bills. The levy is expected to result in Government saving in the region of $65 million annually. Prime Minister Mia Mottley said the GSC would allow Government to remove the expenditure of the Sanitation Services Authority (SSA) from the consolidated fund.

Mottley, who is also Minister of Finance, Economic Affairs and Investment made the announcement during the presentation of her mini-Budget on June 11.

“Households, Mr, Speaker will pay the equivalent of $1.50 per day for this Garbage and Sewage Contribution. Of that $1.50, $1.25 will go to the Sanitation Services Authority for the offsetting of its expenditure in garbage collection and $0.25 will be retained by the Barbados Water Authority as a contribution towards the maintenance of our sewage systems,” she said.

 “In the case of commercial entities, their contribution will be 50 per cent of their water bill with half of that amount going to the Sanitation Services Authority towards the garbage collection, and the other half remaining with the Barbados Water Authority,” she added.

Hoteliers have also complained that the tax would increase their water bills to up to $60,000 a month, up from $40,000 a month. (CM)

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Diplomats are set to return to the waters between neighbours Trinidad and Tobago - revisiting co-fishing procedures that have proved as elusive as the flying fish stocks trawled by fisherfolk.

Barbados’ CARICOM Ambassador-designate David Comissiong has signalled his intention to focus on a protocol for common procedures relating to the arrest of crew, or detention of fishing vessels, in each other’s country’s territorial waters.

But he first has to do his homework, as he takes a “bite-size” approach to dealing with some of the seemingly intractable problems of regional integration, he suggested to Barbados TODAY this afternoon.

“I haven’t done any research on it [agreement]. It is part of my responsibility to deal with fishing and maritime delimitation and all of that. I will have to look into the whole files and get myself up to date with it,” Comissiong said in a brief comment, adding that with lots of issues on his plate right now, particularly the free movement of CARICOM nationals.

“I plan to take this CARICOM portfolio in different bites at a time otherwise you could get lost in these CARICOM issues with so many things coming at you at one time and you could end up achieving very little,” he said.

Comissiong said he would also need to speak with the national fisherfolk organization so he could be apprised of how the protocol was working. “I have to speak with the fisherfolk association to find out what is going on,” he added.

The diplomat said he wanted to fully address the current CARICOM Skilled Nationals Programme which he called a news conference yesterday to discuss.  He revealed that he held discussions today with representatives of the Coalition of Service Providers and the National Cultural Foundation (NCF) on the movement of skilled Barbadians across the region.

“I want to pin these things down . . . that our artistes, our musicians and our service providers get to participate properly. I will try to make it work. But I have to start looking at those files on fishing matters and get up to speed on it,” he pledged.  “The protocol seeks to put in place agreed common procedures that will be applied whenever the crew and fishing vessels of one State are apprehended for fishing illegally in the waters of the other State,” Trinidad and Tobago Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Dookeran said back in December 2014.

Dookeran signed on behalf of Trinidad and Tobago while Bridgetown’s non-resident ambassador to Port of Spain Robert Morris signed on his country’s behalf then.

Dookeran had also noted that his government was aware that Barbados considers the conclusion of a fishing agreement an important part of the bilateral agenda between the two countries, and would work with the Barbadian authorities to make this possible.According to the protocol, where a crew is arrested, or a fishing vessel detained, both parties shall maintain a log of events pertaining to the arrest, or detention. Within 48 hours of the docking of a detained vessel, the detaining State shall provide information to the other State, including registration or licence number of the fishing vessel, date and time of detention, coordinates of the location where the vessel was fishing, and the numbers or weight, and the type of fish on the vessel when detained. Before the protocol, the arrest of Barbadian fishermen had been commonplace for several years as Trinidad and Tobago’s coast guard seized boats found fishing illegally in Trinidad waters. (EJ)

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CIBC FirstCaribbean International Bank Ltd is blaming Government’s debt restructuring for an increase in its provision for credit losses.

 In its consolidated financial statement for the nine-month period ending July 31, the bank said due to the announcement by Prime Minister Mia Mottley that her Government would restructure its debt payments it had reclassified its exposures.

“In response to the Barbados Government’s June 1, 2018 announcement of its intention to restructure its public debt, the bank classified its exposures as impaired as at July 31, 2018, which resulted in increased provisions for credit losses,” Chief Executive Officer Gary Brown said in the report, which was published today.

“Given the information currently available, we believe our expected credit loss allowances are reasonable at this time and will continue to closely monitor the situation and work with key stakeholders until the restructuring agreements are concluded,” he said.

Days after her election, Mia Mottley announced plans to restructure the island’s debt of about $15 billion.

In addition, Mottley announced she would suspend payments due on debt owed to external creditors and ask domestic creditors to roll over principal maturities until a restructuring agreement is reached with the International Monetary Fund.

She also said Government would “endeavour to make scheduled domestic interest payments”.

The CIBC report revealed net income of US$38 million for the third quarter, $4.6 million or 13.8 per cent higher than the US$33.4 million reported for the corresponding period last year.

“Results for the period were affected by several items of note including US$20 million (or US$8.2 million after tax) relating to provision for credit losses due to the impairment classification of Barbados Government debt exposures,” Brown said.

The banking executive said income was also affected by insurance recoveries of some US$1.8 million, arising from the impact of hurricanes Irma and Maria in September 2017.

“Excluding these items, the bank generated US$44.4 million of net income for the period, compared with US$33.4 million in the prior year,” he said.

However, for the nine-month period ending July 31, the bank reported net income of $120 million, up by US$15.7 million or 15.1 per cent.

FirstCaribbean International Bank recorded total revenue of US$435.1 million, up US$33.2 million or 8.3 per cent, due to its continued growth in performing loans and benefit from rising US interest rates. (MM)

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A local credit information firm is warning that sensitive information about Barbadian credit union members could become available to people outside of their credit unions should Barbados adopt credit sharing legislation being enacted in the sub-regional Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS).

CreditInfo Barbados is worried that the authorities here will adopt wholesale, the Harmonized Credit Reporting Bill and Regulations being driven by the OECS monetary authority, the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB), in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation.

The legislation will facilitate the establishment of a regulatory and supervisory framework to support an advanced credit reporting system in the ECCU member countries, namely, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

CreditInfo Barbados Director Grady Clarke today said he was concerned the OECS legislation was “likely to also find its way regulating us here in Barbados in some form or fashion”.

At the same time Clarke told journalists on the fringes of an education seminar on the regulation that after a review of the OECS bill, a draft of a credit reporting code of conduct for the industry in Barbados had been developed and was now in circulation among stakeholders for review and feedback.

“I believe that while we need to adhere and incorporate best practices from aboard we need to be vigilant and do what is in our best interest in the information age. We need to be careful and analytical and pay attention to this,” he said, while pointing out that Barbados was already largely compliant when it came to information sharing and credit reporting.

Today’s seminar at Accra Beach Hotel in Rockley, Christ Church, was designed primarily to bring local collection, compliance and credit officers and other industry players up to date on the OECS regulation and “to advise people on the good, the bad and the ugly” of it, Clarke said.

According to the ECCU, the draft OECS Harmonized Credit Reporting Bill provides for “a fair and an accurate” credit reporting system within the financial system in order to assure objective credit decisions; enables credit information sharing and reporting; provides for the regulation of the conduct of credit reporting and credit reporting services; and provides safeguards for data protection for customers of credit providers and for related matters.

However, stressing that any legislation regarding credit information should be voluntary, Clarke said: “We believe that consumer rights should be respected, that Barbados should embrace best practices to make it the best place to do business.”

The draft legislation proposes that the ECCB will be the regulator, and it makes provision for credit information providers such as banks, money services business, credit unions and micro-finance institutions among others, to share information with the credit bureau.

“Credit unions are obliged, mandated to report a whole bunch of information. That is now going to be regulated by the central bank rather than the financial services commissions of the region that currently regulate them,” Clarke argued.

He insisted that with the implementation of several new global information exchange systems, including the common reporting standard, regional institutions could be caught in a trap where sensitive customer information could be shared.

“The international banks are well prepared to take advantage of the legislation and they have huge economies of scale that our indigenously owned financial institutions don’t have. This is extremely concerning. So, if the credit union sector does not pay attention to these issues and speak up, agitate and do something about it then we are to blame if the sector finds itself in problems,” he warned.

 The credit information specialist said he had reached out to the current administration in order to set up meetings with the relevant Government ministers to discuss the issue and he was hopeful of a positive response. (MM)

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The Trinidad headquartered Carib Brewery, the producer of Carib Beer, today apologized for a cricket advertisement on its social media platforms which provoked a wave of backlash across the region.

The post, described by rights advocates as offensive, appeared to promote violence against “nagging” women whose spouses spend too much time watching the Caribbean Premier League cricket contest, currently
under way.

“If your wife or girlfriend is nagging you about spending more time watching Caribbean Premier League cricket (CPL) than with her, hit her for six!” the advertisement exclaimed.

After widespread condemnation from rights groups and individuals, Carib Brewery today said it was sorry.

“We at Carib Brewery would like to apologize for the recent posts on our social media platforms. We don’t condone, support or tolerate violence of any kind, including domestic violence in any form and sincerely regret this post. We will continue to work to ensure that our communications comply with the highest standards,” it said on social media.

However, the apology has failed to appease its critics, many of whom viewed it with suspicion.

One poster, simply stated on the company’s Instagram page, “hmmm”.

However, others were openly critical of the brewery, with some posters describing the advertisement as “distasteful”.

One poster wrote: “Whoever came up with the ad should be fired. It’s even worst it actually got approved and posted online. I mean, did they have to show it to a donkey and just get a blink of approval? Smh.”

Another stated: “It’s easy to say sorry after . . . an insincere apology so you ‘save a bit of face’. What you need to do is fire the person in marketing, commit funds to helping battered women and girls, and sponsor a bar and rum shop dialogue with men about the violence perpetrated against women.

Yet another posted: ‘Distasteful and this “apology” horrible.’

Women’s rights advocate Marsha Hinds was among those who had expressed outrage at the Carib Brewery post.

[caption id="attachment_277037" align="aligncenter" width="400"] Public Relations Officer of the National Organisation of Women Marsha Hinds[/caption]

Today, she said the apology “means little and I am still imploring Barbadians to spend their hard-earned money reflectively and purposefully”.

Hinds, the public relations officer of the women’s advocacy group, the National Organization for Women, had told Barbados TODAY before the apology was issued that Barbadians should think twice before purchasing Carib Brewery products, arguing the advertisement promoted domestic violence.

“I just cannot believe that in 2018 a company can be so bold as to do that. It just floors you. It makes you feel that all your efforts are for nought. It is a blatant support for domestic violence and the perpetuation of stereotypes that we know have nothing to do with domestic violence but have been internalized as the cause for it,” the women’s right’s advocate said.

“This ad has nothing to do with cricket or beer. It essentially says using violence against a woman is a way to get her to shut up. Research also shows that men who abuse alcohol are more prone to commit acts of domestic violence. So if you are selling beer in 2018, your advertising agency and top management should
be sensitized enough to know what is right,” she
stressed.

Hinds claimed the brewery had a history of promoting sexism on social media, citing as examples a social media post in which a man at a bar ditches his dark-skinned date for a lighter-skinned woman, “which is classism and racism in action, and another ad a year ago suggested that a young woman engage in transactional sex with an older man to get what she wanted”.

“The local agents believe that it is not their responsibility since the ad is coming from Trinidad. However, given my experience in the corporate world, I know that information must be vetted by an official before it is released on a company’s behalf,” she said.
(DH)

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The lawyer for former Minister of Commerce and Industry Donville Inniss is insisting that no plea deal was being negotiated with prosecutors on his money laundering charges in the United States.

Garnett Sullivan told Barbados TODAY that it was at Inniss’ arraignment on Thursday that he spoke to prosecutors for the first time about the three-count indictment.

He further explained that the process of discovery, in which prosecutors provide evidence to the defence, has only just begun and that any talk of a plea deal was some way off.

“I don’t know where that information could have come from because he was just arraigned yesterday and he entered a plea of not guilty. In all criminal cases there is some negotiation but we are certainly not at that stage yet. I have only met the prosecutor for the first time in court yesterday so I don’t know how we could have even gotten to that stage,” Sullivan said.

 “We are now looking at discovery and the government is turning over documentation to support whatever their claims are and it is going to take me a while to dig into the evidence. Any talk of negotiation is premature. Mr Inniss has pleaded not guilty and therefore presumed innocent,” he added.

During court proceedings on Thursday it emerged that Inniss had entered into negotiations with the US Justice Department and the District Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York. There were no details as to the nature of the negotiations but it was also revealed that Inniss had waived his right to a speedy trial, which allows US justice officials additional time beyond the 70-day window for prosecution.

In a telephone interview with Barbados TODAY this afternoon, Sullivan explained that such language by the prosecutor was standard, as good reasons have to be given for the waiving of the right to a speedy trial. He also contended it was the defence more so than the prosecutors that needed the waiver in order to prepare their case.

“We [prosecutor and defence] have to decide whether or not we go to trial or if there is going to be some resolution but before we even do that I have to look at the evidence. According to federal law, a trial must be held within 70 days but that rarely ever happens.

“I have been practising law since the 1980s and I have never seen it done or even remotely close to that. I would not even be able to look at the documents in 70 days, so the defence has to waive the right to a speedy trial,” the American attorney said.

But while Sullivan stressed there was no negotiation at the moment, he would not rule it out as possibility after reviewing the US Government’s case.

“We always leave open to the possibility of negotiations. [It] depends on how the evidence unfolds. As an attorney I never close any door on any possibility but we have to first see where the evidence takes us. However, things just don’t move that fast over here,” he stressed.

Inniss, a US green card holder, has Tampa listed as his US address. It was there he was arrested early on the morning of August 3 and charged with one count of conspiracy to launder money and two counts of money laundering.

The US alleges that in 2015 and 2016, he took part in a scheme to launder into the United States approximately $36,000 in bribes that he received from executives of a Barbadian insurance company, which was not named in the indictment, but later revealed to be Insurance Corporation of Barbados Limited (ICBL).

The indictment was sealed on March 15, more than two months before the then minister and the DLP administration were swept out of office in the May 24 general election.

Colvillemounsey@barbadostoday.bb

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