Canadian Parliamentary report targets Barbados and other offshore banking and corporate centres

I have a question for our glorious leaders of the DLP and BLP…

Tourism is dying and our offshore banking sector is under serious attack. What is this island going to be doing to earn foreign revenues in 10 years time? Folks like Dr. Duguid and Owen Arthur won’t care because they are rich enough to bail out, but what will our children do to earn a living?

“Canadian banks and other financial institutions should be required to find out the beneficial owners of corporations or trusts that are transferring money overseas, according to recommendations in a new report on tax evasion by Parliament’s finance committee.

The all-party finance committee reported Wednesday on the results of a lengthy review of tax havens, but the study immediately drew criticism from NDP and Liberal members who said its 11 recommendations are too vague and will do little to halt the tide of money flowing into offshore tax havens.”

… from the Globe and Mail article: Banks urged to find out who is sending money abroad

Cameco tax case is scary for Barbados!

How a Canadian company avoided 1.4 billion in taxes by using an offshore subsidiary and what it means for Barbados

by Not Taken

Yet another interesting and scary for Barbados article in the business section of a major Canadian newspaper, The Globe and Mail: Cameco’s $800-million tax battle

I have been sending these recent articles as a public service so the Ministry of Finance and the Barbados Central Bank Governor have a heads up on the attack on Canadian tax evaders/avoiders that is undoubtedly about to hit the Barbados offshore industry; if in fact it has not already hit – but unreported.

This is very bad news for Barbados revenue sources.

While the Cameco case involves its Swiss subsidiary, it is probably just the tip of the iceberg in CRA’s efforts to collect taxes due to Canada. There must be hundreds, if not thousands, of  “Canadaco (Barbados) Limited” businesses doing the same same transfer pricing schemes (scams) in order to pay 2% income tax to Barbados, rather than 27% to Canada.

Even those Canadian companies not not already being audited for this this type of tax “management” may decide for close up shop in Barbados to avoid the publicity that a CRA audit will bring.

Cameco’s CFO, retorts that Cameco Europe has its own board of directors and a full-time CEO, Gerhard Glattes, who has no other duties with the company. Cameco Europe provides Cameco with compensation for the management duties – like legal advice – it does not have its own staff for. “It was established in accordance with all relevant laws and regulations when it was set up.”

The Barbados registered Canadaco subsidiaries’ own boards of directors and full-time CEOs who have no other duties with the Canadian company should start planning for alternative sources of income. And of course it will have serious implications for the Barbados services providers; the legal community,  the management/bookkeeping companies, and the accountants when it happens.

A look at some of the competition: The Seychelles Islands limit their tourist visits per year

Nice place, The Seychelles Islands. They were hit badly last January by tropical cyclone Felleng that destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses, but according to press reports are well on their way to full recovery and so are their tourism arrivals. Their client markets in Europe are the same as ours, with the addition of France that is not a large market for Barbados tourism.

The Seychelles limit the number of tourists per year to 150,000, and only allow so many tourist beds per island so the country can retain its environment and social feel. It also avoids price wars between hotels and keeps tourism a viable business without the social destruction caused by walling off the coasts with hotels all struggling to stay alive in a market where the lowest price and least profit “wins” – if you call that winning.

A pity some of our Bajan leaders were not of the same mind decades ago.

“Under the 1990-94 development plan, which emphasizes that the growth of tourism should not be at the expense of the environment, the number of beds on the islands of Mahé, Praslin, and La Digue is to be limited to 4,000. Increases in total capacity are to be achieved by developing the outer islands. To avoid future threat to the natural attractions of the islands, 150,000 tourists per year are regarded as the ultimate ceiling. The higher cost of accommodations and travel, deficiencies in services and maintenance of facilities, and a limited range of diversions handicap Seychelles in attracting vacationers at the expense of other Indian Ocean tourist destinations”

Wikipedia’s entry for Tourism in Seychelles

“In 1971, with the opening of Seychelles International Airport, tourism became a serious industry, basically dividing the economy into plantations and tourism. The tourism sector paid better, and the plantation economy could only expand so far. The plantation sector of the economy declined in prominence, and tourism became the primary industry of Seychelles.”

… Wikipedia’s entry for The Seychelles

A symbol of our troubles: Tattered Barbados flag waves over stalled Four Seasons

Welcome to the Four Seasons, Barbados

The symbolism in the photo is stark: clouds obscure the Caribbean sun as weeds grow around a faded and ripped Bajan flag at yet another failed mega-project. A piece of garbage on a dead lawn provides the finishing touch.

Greed and politicians did this – mostly men who thought they were experts in leadership and running a country because they made speeches and got theyselves elected. The results of their decisions stand rotting in the sun all over the island: half built condos, closed hotels and crumbling steps. I’ve lost count of the sludge-filled swamps that used to be swimming pools surrounded by a hundred happy tourists baking and drinking Bajan rum.

It’s all over now and we did it to ourselves.

If we keep on blaming ‘the economy’ and 9/11 and Cuba we are headed only one way and that is down.

This is where we are now. Our best coasts and beaches are walled off or defended by thousands of motorcars. Our roadsides are tipping spots, while sullen shop clerks ‘greet’ visitors with about as much respect as you’d give a rat in your rubbish bin.

This is where our leaders have brought us, and when their time is up they head for Canada or Switzerland or Florida.

That’s where we are. The question is; what do we do now?

Four Seasons flag photo courtesy of The Nation: Flag shame at Four Seasons

E-readers a great idea for Bajan schools, but money isn’t the only problem

Dear BFP,

There is a move afoot to equip all secondary school students with E-readers. This is a great idea because this technology actually cuts costs over the long run when compared with physical textbooks and provides the latest learning materials.

That’s the upside. The downside is that E-Readers are more fragile than textbooks, and are more likely to be stolen. We’re not even talking about the problems with procuring and supporting the technology.

I can’t think of one educational procurement programme that has actually turned out well with the current administration and I don’t see why we should have faith that this one will be any better. I hope we have some rules in place before we spend millions on these devices with no controls about bidding and conflicts of interest etc.

(name withheld upon request)

E-readers for all

A move is now on to provide all 23,000-plus secondary school children in Barbados with e-readers.

The initiative, which is being led by the heads of the island’s 22 secondary schools, is designed to eliminate the headaches of issuing each child with nearly two dozen textbooks annually, and eliminate the tens of thousands each institution spends of book replenishment each year.

One of the education administrators who expressed delight at the progress made on the project so far noted they were aiming to have the e-readers in students hands not later than September 2014, “but sooner than that if all goes according to plan.”

One principal explained that while the evolving of the Textbook Revolving Loan Scheme into an e-reader based programme started with principals who clearly understood the benefits such a shift would bring, they all recognised that before it becomes a reality the Ministry of Education would have to be brought on board as a major player.

In the meanwhile though, the principals explained that given the continued dramatic fall in the prices of e-readers versus the escalating cost of traditional textbook, the change would significantly enhance the mechanism for supplying students with reading material…

…continue reading this article at Barbados Today

Should Barbados allow the Monsanto seed monopoly? Can we stop it even if we want to?

“Patents on seed are illegitimate because putting a toxic gene into a plant cell is not “creating” or “inventing” a plant. These are seeds of deception — the deception that Monsanto is the creator of seeds and life; the deception that while Monsanto sues farmers and traps them in debt, it pretends to be working for farmers’ welfare, and the deception that GMOs feed the world. GMOs are failing to control pests and weeds, and have instead led to the emergence of superpests and superweeds.”

… from the Global Research article The Seeds Of Suicide: How Monsanto Destroys Farming

“Monsanto works with farmers from around the world to make agriculture more productive and sustainable. Our technologies enable farmers to get more from every acre of farmland.

Specifically, we are working to double yields in our core crops by 2030. These yield gains will come from a combination of advanced plant breeding, biotechnology, and improved farm-management practices.”

… from the Monsanto website Our Commitment to Sustainable Agriculture

“In the nearly 20 years of applied use of G.E. in agriculture there have been two notable ‘successes,’ along with a few less notable ones. These are crops resistant to Monsanto’s Roundup herbicide (Monsanto develops both the seeds and the herbicide to which they’re resistant) and crops that contain their own insecticide. The first have already failed, as so-called superweeds have developed resistance to Roundup, and the second are showing signs of failing, as insects are able to develop resistance to the inserted Bt toxin — originally a bacterial toxin — faster than new crop variations can be generated.”

… from the NYT as quoted in Prison Planet’s Even the NY Times is now rejecting Monsanto GMO science

BFP thanks Green Monkey for suggesting this article

Raul Garcia vs. Bajan national Earl Victor

Fabricated murder charge dropped, but Earl Victor still held for five years

by Nora

It was the Barbados Free Press (BFP) who blew the lid on the Director of Public Prosecution Charles Leacock corruption racket. It was the BFP who exposed the Earl Victor story last year, and I thank you for your objective reporting. (BFP editor’s note: We covered Victor’s earlier arrest crossing the US Canadian border too!)

If Raul Garcia must be made whole, what about Bajan national Earl Victor who Charles Leacock has been holding in custody for almost five years without a trial and without due process of law?

“The fabricated murder charge has been dropped against Earl Victor, but Leacock and Magistrate Randall Worrell would not release the man on bail unless his poor mother comes up with $75,000 cash and land and property.”

One would think after serving 5 years at Dodds Prison without trial, with the only current charge of procession of stolen property against Mr. Victor would be home with his family. The penalty for handling stolen property in Barbados should not be an indefinite sentence. Mr. Victor’s mother is poor and and can’t afford this kind of money Leacock and Magistrate Worrell are demanding for Earl’s release from custody.

Nora