Abby Martin interviews Afra Raymond about the corrupt CL Financial – CLICO disaster.

“On the 30th of January 2009… that bailout was wreathed in political corruption because it was discussed and agreed behind closed doors. We later discovered the Minister of Finance who negotiated the bailout is a lady called Karen Nunez-Tesheira, I will call names.

She is an attorney at law, former lecturer of law, and in fact was a shareholder of CL Financial. She was later revealed by my research to be a shareholder of CL Financial that she was negotiating a bailout of.”

“The people who caused this collapse have really gotten away scot-free because the government purchased their debt.”

Afra Raymond to international journalist Abby Martin.

Two-thirds of Caribbean Government money stolen!

If this interview doesn’t rock you about how corrupt your Caribbean governments and politicians be then go back to smokin’ whatever you be smokin’ an doan bother with life.

Afra Raymond tells it like it is to international journalist Abby Martin. It’s all here – the whole history of corruption in the CL Financial collapse and bailout.

Ministers of Government who were CL Financial shareholders gave your public funds to shore up their own interests.

That was the corrupt foundation of the bailout.

I saw this interview on YouTube and had to post it. Don’t know when I’ll be back.

One Love… Cliverton.

David Comissiong: Vote buying routine in a sinking, decaying Barbados

“A national, learned helplessness”

by David Comissiong, President of Clement Payne Movement

Barbados – as we all know – is suffering from a dearth of national political leadership, and is currently in a state of crisis and great peril. But the good news is that we are beginning to see positive signs which suggest that the “fight-back” to save and restore Barbados has begun!

These recent positive and hopeful signs of a national “fight-back” consist of such phenomena as:-

(1)    the new young leaders that have come to the fore in the National Union of Public Workers (NUPW) and the Barbados Workers Union (BWU), and the renewed spirit of courage and activism that the Trade Union Movement has begun to exhibit;
(2)    the courageous and patriotic Budget reply speech that Opposition leader Mia Mottley recently delivered in the House of Assembly;
(3)    the effort recently undertaken by such elder patriots as Sir Henry Forde, Ian Archer, Sir Woodville Marshall, Sir Stephen Emptage and Peter Laurie to propose and design a system of “People’s Initiatives” that would permit the citizens of Barbados to put forward proposals for new pieces of legislation and for changes to the Constitution;
(4)    the new effort that is underway to bring together the forces of consciousness and progressive thought in Barbados to address many of the centuries-old problems of Barbadians of African Descent under the unifying banner of the recently proclaimed “United Nations International Decade For People of African Descent”;
(5)    the initiatives that have been embarked upon by such notable citizens as Ras Simba, Hal Martin, Onkphra Wells, John Howell, David Denny and others to launch young Barbadians into independent business and artistic activity via such new formations as the African Heritage Foundation and the Pan-African Coalition of Organizations (PACO);
(6)    the concerted effort that is now being made by this writer and other citizens such as Bobby Clarke and Muhamad Nassar to expose and put an end to the still existing old colonial practice of conferring outrageously privileged taxpayer-funded Government contracts on a clique of elite Barbadian business-people; and
(7)    the admirable initiative undertaken by Messrs Andrew Bynoe and Patrick Frost to highlight and tackle the corrupt practice of “vote buying” that is now routinely engaged in by our Barbadian political class.
What makes these recent developments so encouraging is that they have emerged in a Barbados that has been through a virtually unrelieved ten year period of depression, disappointment and disenchantment, courtesy of a highly deficient and defective national political leadership.

If we go back to the last three years of Mr Owen Arthur’s 2004 to 2008 governmental administration, we will recall that we were saddled with a highly dysfunctional Government that deflated and depressed our nation.

But if we thought that the latter stage of Mr Arthur’s reign was bad, worse was to come with the Democratic Labour Party’s ascension to power in 2008! Under both late Prime Minister David Thompson and current Prime Minister Freundel Stuart our country has been saddled with a pathetic “do little” Government that has preached a message of national helplessness to the people of Barbados over the entire period that they have been in office. 

Opinion: Freundel Stuart and his DLP are the real destroyers of Barbados

by David Comissiong, President of Clement Payne Movement

If there is a group of inexperienced and irresponsible “leaders” who have done serious damage to our country that group is not to be found in the trade unions of Barbados! Rather, they are to be found in the Freundel Stuart-led Democratic Labour Party administration.

Who – after all – is responsible for the dismissal of close to 5,000 Barbadians from their jobs in the public service of our country?

Who – for the first time in our history – imposed tuition fees on Barbadian students at the University of the West Indies, thereby causing some 4,200 Barbadians to drop out of UWI?

Who is it that recently imposed an additional $200 million in taxes on an already over-taxed and over-burdened Barbadian people?

Who is it that has taken virtually every Governmental contract of any worth and conferred them upon a small select group of elite business people?

Who is it that has entered into contractual arrangements that obligate the masses of Barbadian taxpayers to literally pay hundreds of millions of dollars to a small group of privileged elite business people over the next two or three decades ?

The record is clear! Barbados is being destroyed – not by young Toni Moore and Akanni Mc Dowall – but by Prime Minister Stuart and his band of Ministers, the majority of whom may legitimately be described an immature, callous, irresponsible and rudderless.

How comic it is to hear Stuart complaining that the new President of the NUPW does more talking on behalf of the Union than the General Secretary, when he (Stuart) has absolutely no control over no less than 5 of his Ministers; Donville Inniss, Chris Sinckler, David Estwick, Ronald Jones and Denis Kellman!

Furthermore, if Stuart wants to talk about new wine in old wine skins then we need to tell him that his Administration constitutes a “new wine” that we, the citizens of Barbados, do not recognize!

We all recall and recognize the late Errol Barrow and the Democratic Labour Party that he established. But we do not recognize Mr Stuart’s Democratic Labour Party! The Freundel Stuart – led DLP administration is something totally new in our political culture! Where Mr Barrow’s DLP constructed and nurtured Mr Stuart’s DLP attacks and destroys!

Submitted by David Comissiong, President, Clement Payne Movement

New Barbados political party forming

A call for Candidates

Dear reader:

Thank you for visiting, and welcome to Solutions Barbados

We are a group of men and women who love Barbados, treasure our reputations, and plan to offer ourselves as candidates in the next general elections in order to give Barbadians a competent alternative.  While we have some potential candidates, we need more – hence, the following.

WANTED

Accomplished men and women of demonstrated integrity and leadership, who love Barbados, treasure their reputations, and are willing to present themselves as candidates in the next general elections in order to give Barbadians a competent alternative.  Prospective candidates must not view politics as a career, but as a brief time of exemplary national service.  Expect: long working hours, vicious personal criticisms, no pay, a slim chance of being elected, and an exciting journey.

Contact Grenville Phillips II at: NextParty246@gmail.com

Before you contact us, please do the following.

1. Read our Solutions on the Solutions page.
2. Read Harold Hoyte’s book: “Eyewitness to Order and Disorder”.
3. Talk to your family and put your house in order.

We do not intend to be elected to simply wait around long enough to earn a pension.  Rather, we intend to govern responsibly.  A summary of our main solutions are described on our Solutions page.  They are designed to address the main problems hindering Barbados’, and therefore your development.  You are encouraged to comment, and we will happily engage you in discussions of how they may be improved.  The improved solutions will become our promises to you.

Our guiding principle is to provide an environment where all Barbadian citizens and residents can become healthy, wealthy and wise if they choose to.  Our Solutions are designed to accomplish this.

Current Main Political Parties

Despite their failings, we should count ourselves very fortunate that we have been led by persons who seemed to genuinely care about Barbados.  Therefore, both political parties should be thanked for their past service.  However, we should be under no illusion that it takes any special competence to spend other people’s money.  As a country, we are very deep in debt, and useful unsolicited advice appears to have been ignored as we plan to go further into debt.

One political leader recently revealed that that only those in the political trenches had the right to have their advice on national issues considered.  Since we do not plan to stop offering unsolicited advice, and we have no desire to engage in futile exercises, then we have no choice but to reluctantly enter the political trench.  If the Government or Opposition parties follow our advice, then we will leave the trench as quickly as we entered it – the choice is theirs.

Improving Barbados

The greatest obstacle to improvement lies within you, the reader – the voter.  This obstacle is the fear of change.  People would rather stay with what they know, regardless of how incompetent, than with what they do not know.  Hopefully, after reading our Solutions, you at least know what we support, and to what we object.

It has been said that good managers try to do their best with the resources available to them, while leaders change the environment to allow for better management.  We intend to lead.

We invite you to: share this web-site by including a link on your Facebook or other social media page, inform your friends, family and colleagues about Solutions Barbados, and follow us on this web-site in order to be notified of any updates.

Due to the charging of individuals for breaching the Computer Misuse Act (section 14) and the Defamation Act, we must reduce the risk of inconvenience by reviewing all comments for compliance.  You can help us by not speaking disparagingly about people.  Please note that all favourable and unfavourable comments will be posted, but any defamatory information will be redacted.  We apologise in advance for any delayed comments.

Thank you for visiting and best regards.

SOLUTIONS BARBADOS

Grenville Phillips II, Founder

Anonymous Barbados rumours about CPL T20 and Kensington Oval Corruption

Take it with a heavy does of rum and salt my friends. It’s probably just bad rumours by some drunk on this anonymous blog…

Pay no attention at all…

CPL T20 Cricket made the decision to hand control of the ovals back to the local entities. KOMI invited a groups to bid on the Party Stand tender for CPL t20. Omar Robertson’s group consisting of Sirom SLD, Makin Moves and Infusion Catering Services his caterers came together to create a proposal as we are all service providers who own their own equipment. The board set a deadline of May 22nd for all proposals to be in. Robertson’s group was the only one to submit it by the deadline.

Chetwyn Stewart of Power by Four strategically refused to remove his staging from Kensington after The Test Match and tried to have the Minister of Sport Stephen Lashley give him the contract out right.

The CEO of Kensington refused to allow this and demanded that it go through proper procedure.

At this point it was decided to extend the deadline to that another proposal could come in to be compared to ours. Chetwyn still had not submitted his yet still tried to have the Minister give it to him.

Chetwyn finally gave in and handed in a proposal. When judged on merits by members of the board Robertson/Infusion’s plan was voted the best. Other members decided to vote whatever way the Chairman Mr Anthony Walrond decided to vote.

The Chairman of the Board, under claims of receiving pressure from above decided by 30th May 2015 to give the contract to Chetwyn.

Despite admitting in confidence to an inside source that the Infusion plan was the better choice.

Contract has been awarded with unspecified conditions potentially relating to outstanding monies owed to KOMI by Mr Stewart.

Peter Binose: Mendacious Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves

PM Ralph Gonsalves

Whilst talking with an old friend in Dublin recently we were discussing Prime Minister Gonsalves.

For this letter I will describe my friend as Paddy. That’s not his name, nothing like his name, but will hide his persona from any collective spite that may just be gathered against him after this little tête-à-tête.

He follows both the printed news and the online news very carefully regarding Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. As a child his parents were posted in SVG and he has holidayed there a thousand times since becoming a man. He loves our little country and has fond memories of us as a people, our verdant island and the beauty of the white sanded Grenadine pearl necklace of islands.

The discussion that started with old times eventually got around to what is happening today. He is so disappointed in what he reads about the political situation under the leadership of Dr Gonsalves and his Unity Labour Party.  

49 years of Independence: 49 reasons to strike…

49 years of Independence: 49 reasons to strike…

by John Bajan
•    Late payment to mothers of child support money
•    Inability to get Four season start
•    Poor bus service
•    Lowest sugar crop first time ever
•    Poor road conditions
•    Speaker of the house issue
•    Laying off of public workers
•    Raping of the NIS
•    No solution to CLICO
•    No charges to CLICO directors  

Ineptocracy – “A system of government, historically founded in Barbados and now widely available elsewhere…”

Ineptocracy

Every once in a while somebody hits it right out of the park…

This is not yet found in the  Oxford  dictionary, but I bet it will be in the next edition, so it was “Googled” and discovered to be a recently “coined” new word found on T-shirts on eBay:

Read what it says slowly, and just absorb the facts that are within the definition!

I love this word and believe that it will become a recognized English word – used frequently in Barbados if not in the rest if of the English speaking world.

Finally, a brand new word to describe our Future… Love it!

Ineptocracy

A system of government, historically founded in Barbados and now widely available elsewhere, where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.

Our thanks to Colin Beadon and Mike Frost from Trinidad, now living in Australia.

Ping Yark: Michael Carrington should resign, but the Prime Minister is protecting his friend

(click cartoon to enlarge)

Michael Carrington: Lawyer. Member of Parliament. Speaker of the House.

This guy has got more front more front than Harrods!

It was not until he was ordered by the High Court to return $250k to a client that he did so. Recently though the man has had the audacity to imply it is he who is the victim … and has publicly stated he paid the money back so can’t understand what all the fuss is about!

Really, Mr. Carrington?

Mr. Joe Public or any of his relatives would’ve been incarcerated long ago for theft – another lawyer was recently disbarred for very similar breaches …but this guy seems to have escaped punishment, sanction or even investigation by either the government or the Bar Association. Carrington remains an MP, a lawyer and Speaker of the House despite local and international demands for his resignation.

We can only speculate why Michael Carrington still in post – so here goes – maybe he excels so spectacularly but quietly behind the scenes that he is rendered absolutely irreplaceable …or maybe he has really important and powerful friends… or maybe he knows where the cupboards are that hides lots and lots and lots of skeletons …or maybe… it’s all the above!

Michael Carrington should resign – common decency demands it – but what would he do then? Punters wanting legal services, in property matters especially, will learn that it would be the height of folly to trust Michael with a cocoa bean let alone a red cent – so lawyering is out. Google or any half decent search engine will help see to that – all that’s left for him is politics, for now. Hopefully though the electorate will remember when that time comes around again.

So Michael: Do the reputation of the DLP, the country and yourself a massive favour … and sod off!

The new issue of Ping Yark has hit the streets. Always irreverent, always interesting to Bajans at home and over and away.

Download the PDF right here…  Ping Yark 4 megabytes

Porn profiteer Minister Donville Inniss cautions Barbadians against websites that “deliberately spew filth”

“Inniss also voiced concern about people using social media to spread “the nastiest” and “most untrue” reports about fellow Barbadians, and warned that the state would do what was necessary to tackle the perpetrators.” (Nation News, April 8, 2015)

Above: One of the porn websites that made Inniss money

Donville Inniss made a fortune on Internet Porn, now he wants to censor political debate and truth

Pssst… Want to hear a good one?

Minister of Industry Donville Inniss and his government are preparing a law against what he calls “cyber-crime” – but protecting people against hacking is only part of the law. Censorship is what it is all about.

Lately the Minister has been speaking to all who will listen that social media, blogs, twitter and facebook is “out of control, running amuck, spewing filth”

Donville Inniss has a good reason to want to stop the truth… for years he made money as the Online Porn King of Barbados, and no – it wasn’t that he owned a website company and other people put porn up on his servers. That’s what he loves to tell people, but a little digging on the internet shows that Inniss registered porn trademarks in the USA and Canada. Barbados Free Press covered that and printed proof in a series of articles listed below.

How low can you go?

Barbados Government Minister Donville Inniss was part of the lucrative online sex business for years. He profited from websites where desperate pregnant women and teenagers performed sex acts for money.

Inniss also profited from websites showing humans committing sex acts with animals.

You know we couldn’t say this if it wasn’t true folks. Our WordPress hosting company would take us down faster than a rum disappears at Oistens on a Friday night.

Inniss and Orgasm.com profited from websites with pregnant women porn, teenaged porn and sex with animals. All the proof is in our articles and after all these years Inniss hasn’t been able to make Barbados Free Press remove these articles. Because they are for true!

Only one journalist on this rock had the integrity to ask Minister Inniss about his porn business, and Inniss responded by savaging Ian Bourne whenever and wherever he could.

Go ahead, Minister Inniss. Pass your internet censorship law.

Everybody knows why you want that law.

List of BFP posts with proof of Inniss porn connections…

July 16, 2012: Barbados Health Minister attacks journalist over questions about Minister’s porn business profiteering    

Australia shows why we need a Referendum over Barbados Republic

“A proposed law: To alter the Constitution to establish the Commonwealth of Australia as a republic with the Queen and Governor-General being replaced by a President appointed by a two-thirds majority of the members of the Commonwealth Parliament.”

submitted by The Beach Doctor

Back in the mid 1990s there was a huge movement in Australia to dump Queen Elizabeth and become a republic with a President as head of state.

Aussies and the world saw a republic as a done deal for the Centenary of Australian Federation in 2001 – the same as Barbados Prime Minister Stuart’s plan to celebrate 50 years of Bajan nationhood by establishing a republic.

And who wouldn’t blame the Aussies for wanting to dump the Crown? The country was established first as a penal colony, slavery really, with all the usual brutality and racial and class divisions.

But many Australians didn’t want to leave the decision to their Parliament as had been proposed “based upon the jubilant mood of the time”. Australians insisted on a referendum, and in the end the people said ‘No’ and voted to retain the Queen as Head of State.

The divisions in the population looked like this, says Wikipedia… (Australian 1999 Referendum)  

Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves lied about Argyle International Airport

When you lie to the Business Investors you ‘Own the lies’ when it all goes wrong

by Peter Binose

When Ralph Gonsalves announced the finish and operational dates for the Argyle International Airport, we must ask ourselves if he knew each of those dates was unachievable. I like many others believe he did know that the completion dates he gave us were not just unachievable, he knew that such statements were downright lies.

When you tell lies sooner or later your very own lies will come back and bite you in the arse, as the old folk would say.

Saying the airport would definitely be up and running by 2011 may very well have caused all sorts of business people who were ardent followers of Gonsalves, to invest money in their business’s to take advantage of the upswing in trade that the same Gonsalves claimed would follow the airport opening.

He also told the people that he would build a city on the Arnos Vale site when the air traffic was transferred to Argyle. He said the new city would be linked to the old city of Kingstown by a four lane tunnel under the hill, it doesn’t matter that approaching the tunnel from either end it would only be one lane. The whole matter was embroidered to wind the business people into spending money.

Hotels in Villa who are ULP supporters have invested fortunes in upgrading their family owned hotels in anticipation of the Gonsalves forecast of a huge surge in stop over’s and business in general.

People like Ken Boyer borrowed money from banks to build his supermarket and Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet, why? because as a cousin to Gonsalves he believed that Gonsalves would finish the airport by 2011 and the new city would be finished five years after that in 2016. Ken was a little silly because he should have known better than most of Gonsalves ability to make things up, to embroider the truth and make it into blatant lies.

The Harlequin Buccament Bay Project based all its plans on the airport opening in 2011, they have also been shafted and they must be seriously in danger of folding because the airport is the key to much of their projected business. They were made promises and are now suffering from lies.

CLICO INSURANCE: THE PERFECT CRIME

Sheri Veronica says…

“CLICO has become the poster child for all that is wrong in Barbados. The people know that elite wrongdoers are well protected – they have the protection of the police and the government.

The stench of corruption and the grandstanding of sanctimonious, arrogant, lawless and contemptuous elite engulf the people. Citizens are arming themselves, shooting at police and committing more grievous crimes. With millions of dollars stolen and no real hope of its recovery, approximately 20,000 seniors are at risk of poverty. And finally, as has been alluded to above, hardly ever are elites incarcerated in BARBADOS.”

All we at BFP can add to that is… Amen, sister! Amen.

Bushy Park – Truth and Concerns

Editor’s Note: We received this post anonymously, and like anything you read here at BFP or in the mainstream press you should keep your mind open and at the same time remember that BFP is an anonymous website. The blogs are still the wild west when it comes to accuracy… it might be true, it might not be.

It’s like this… blogs are the same as watching News Anchor Brian Williams on NBC News or Dan Rather at CBS: what they say might be true, or it might not be. Same same…

Bushy Park Truth and Concerns

by anonymous

After reading two articles in the press late last year regarding the new Bushy Park facility I think it is time that Barbadians hear the full truth about this development, my understanding is…

1. The Government of Barbados and by extension the PEOPLE of Barbados own the land.
2. Investors (SOME STILL TO BE IDENTIFIED) have erected buildings on said land presumably with a contract. Surely the details of said contract should be available to the public seeing that the land is owned by the TAXPAYERS of Barbados.
3. Mr Stephen Lashley, Minister of Sport has confirmed that part of this contract stipulates that the facility shall be leased to other SPORTING organisations at a reasonable rate after discussion with the primary shareholder, that being Government.
4. Who are the real investors in the new facility at Bushy Park?
5. Why has PERMANENT branding been allowed, which prohibits competing entities from branding their products even if they sponsor an event there? Case in point – LIME is not allowed to advertise because DIGICEL is already there .
6. Is Bushy Park Motor Sport Inc (BPMSI) a shareholder in the new development and if not what gives them the right to charge fees for the useage of the track?
7. Is it true that the revenue from the Top Gear festival went directly to BPMSI?
8. Is it true that there is a law suit pending with regard to the use of the RALLY CROSS name being used without permission at the said Top Gear event?
9. Is it also true that a certain individual has threatened to dig up the track if his demands are not met?
10. As majority owners at Bushy Park should Government not have a representative on the Board which administers the facility?

How is it possible for BPCI to employ and I assume PAY:

General Manager
Business Manager
Secretary
CEO which position was not advertised locally

… when they only had two events last year and only have one event planned for this year?

Barbadians need answers to these questions and more as it seems in today’s world MONEY does all the talking.

The government we deserve…

Many of our politicians have fallen short of their promises, or have done great injury to their stewardship. In some cases, they have shown to be less than scrupulous in their management of our affairs. Yet we reward them with more time for embarrassment. Our only excuse, perhaps, is that within the context of our democracy there must be a Government –– good, bad or indifferent.

But how can we explain retaining any Government that seizes land compulsorily and breaches the law by refusing to pay for it? How can we contemplate returning the same Government to power that squanders more than $300 million on failed projects? How can we give succour to any leader who fails to discipline a parliamentary colleague brought to public shame by the highest court in the land?

How can we forgive any Government that has ravaged our agriculture sector? How can we forgive politicians who facilitate construction contracts without a bidding process? How can we be satisfied with leadership that doesn’t boast of achievements, but wallows in lofty verbosity, smug claims of not reading newspapers and punishing dissenters with laughter?

How can we not ask for accountability in situations where some politicians possess six high-end cars, obtained on Government salaries that are common knowledge in the Official Gazette? How can millions of dollars be spirited away from an insurance company and our Attorney General not demand a criminal investigation by the police? How can a state-appointed insurance supervisory body fail to carry out its mandate to the detriment of thousands of policyholders and no heads roll? How can an Auditor General annually expose instances of fraud and blatant theft and yet no one is held to account?

… read the entire editorial at Barbados Today – Getting the governance we deserve

DOUBLE STANDARD: Another corrupt Barbados lawyer and politician walks free after paying back the money he stole

Who loaned Speaker of the House Michael Carrington the money to pay back what he purloined from his trust account?

Why should thieving lawyers be able to walk free once caught – if they pay back the money they took?

Did the Barbados Bar Association audit Carrington’s trust account?

Citizens demand transparency!

When ordinary folk get caught stealing, they can’t just hand back the money, automobile or whatever they stole and walk free, so why should Barbados lawyers and politicians have that privilege?

Barbados lawyers and politicians have something like a gentleman’s agreement between themselves that it is best for the profession if misdeeds are covered up. So the Barbados Bar Association and the political parties talk about integrity and accountability – but they don’t really want to see any of their good ‘ol boys network behind bars.

They also know that it is dangerous to put others in jail who may have as much on you and you do on them! We’ve covered this story time and time again here at BFP.

Old boy network covers for a corrupt politician and lawyer

No surprise that after lawyer and Speaker of the House Michael Carrington was unable to pay a court order to return almost $250,000 he stole from a client 14 years ago, that the old boy network came up with the money to replace what Carrington illegally took from his trust account. (But after the court and news media said it was almost a quarter million dollars, why did Carrington yesterday pay only just over $200,000?)

It only took 14 years of lawsuit, tears and a life destroyed for a 78 year old senior in a wheelchair, John Griffiths, to receive the money his aunt left him in the year 2000! Michael Carrington was supposed to surrender the money to Griffiths 14 years ago, but kept it for himself and then couldn’t pay it.

Carrington’s trust account has the evidence but the Barbados Bar Association isn’t going to go there. As Speaker of the House, Carrington is part of the elites and is as untouchable as lawyer and former Prime Minister David Thompson who money laundered millions for his friend Leroy Parris.

Nothing changes on this rock no matter which group of political elites is in power.

And the lapdog piss-itself Barbados news media won’t come close to asking the right questions in this story. Bet on that too.

Further Reading

BFP (background story) Barbados Speaker of the House Michael Carrington is a crooked lawyer – stole $250,000 from client – disobeyed court order to pay it back

Jan 30-15 Nation News: Speaker’s cheque handed over

Photo – many thanks to The Nation

Barbados Speaker of the House Michael Carrington is a crooked lawyer – stole $250,000 from client – disobeyed court order to pay it back

“A message to Prime Minister Freundel Stuart…

Michael Carrington is a crooked lawyer who stole a quarter million dollars from a vulnerable 78 year old pensioner. That simple truth means that Carrington is not fit to be a Member of Parliament let alone Speaker of the House.”

It is a simple matter, really, and one that is hardly unknown in Barbados. Over two years ago a lawyer was supposed to transfer about a quarter of a million dollars from his trust account to a Mr. John Griffiths, the beneficiary of his aunt’s estate. Instead, the crooked lawyer kept the money and made excuses to Mr. Griffiths.

Mr. Griffiths was forced to launch a lawsuit against the lawyer. Griffiths won and the court ordered the crooked lawyer to pay the money back and give an accounting within 28 days – but the lawyer failed to pay the money or provide an accounting.

Nothing unusual in Barbados where we seem to have hordes of crooked lawyers… except that this crooked lawyer is Member of Parliament and Speaker of the House Michael Carrington QC. Lawyer, Queen’s Counsel, MP, Speaker of the House… Oh Dear!

So the BLP Opposition has been walking out of Parliament because even in a house that is heavily populated with thieving lawyers, the elected politicians perceive that a lawyer who raids their trust account is not only crooked, but stupid to be so open about a theft.

Why hasn’t Michael Carrington paid the money as the court ordered?

That’s easy to guess – Carrington probably doesn’t have the money anymore. He stole it, and spent it on himself, probably intending to replace it in his trust account later or pay it back in pieces. Or, maybe wait for Mr. Griffiths to pass on and then keep the money forever. That’s not an unreasonable guess at Carrington’s motives as the victim is 78 years old, in ill health and confined to a wheelchair.

Michael Carrington is a crooked lawyer who stole a quarter million dollars from a vulnerable 78 year old man – and that means Carrington is not fit to be a Member of Parliament let alone Speaker of the House.

Further Reading

Barbados Today: Speak up, Mr. Carrington

Barbados Today: MPs tightlipped on House Speaker controversy

Nation News: Not a cent

Nation News: High Court rules against senior lawyer

Nation News: Opposition walks out

Was Michael Carrington this crooked lawyer talked about by another victim?

My lawyer, a Member of Parliament, took my money but didn’t complete a real estate transaction

How trustworthy are Barbados lawyers?

Do Barbados lawyers habitually steal money from overseas clients?

Read this list of Barbados lawyers and judge for yourself… 

Corrupt Barbados politicians prepare to expropriate widow’s land – probably for personal profits

How long must ordinary Bajans put up with corrupt politicians compulsorily acquiring private lands – to be converted into private profits for the political elites and their friends?

“Sobbing uncontrollably, his mother said she was afraid that her house and land would be taken away.” (Nation News)

Minister of Housing and Lands Denis Kellman harassing widow for her property for 18 years

Every Bajan has seen or heard about this before – sometimes involving family, friends or old Aunties. Mostly we keep our mouths shut.

We keep our mouths shut because we know how it is ’bout hey. We know that there is no place to go, and we have to spend the next 70 years on this little island, God willing. Better not to cross the powerful political and financial elites who can have all your family sacked from their jobs over a few months with a word here and there.

Yes, it’s that bad on any of these small islands, including Bim. The outside world over and away in the UK and the USA don’t know the truth about living here.

Denis Kellman has been after widow’s land since 1996 “for the public interest”

Politicians get into power and then they start hunting around for victims. Widows are always high on the hit list. Better if they are money poor and land rich with any adult children living over and away. Usually involves land that was once valuable in crops or far from the city but not worth too much these days unless… unless…

… unless the building permissions are changed by the government. Then scrub land becomes worth gold… but it never happens in the widow’s hands. Never. Never ever. Never.

So the government ‘compulsorily acquires’ the land for some “really important national purpose…” but maybe after the government owns the land for a few years, development doesn’t happen. Budget problems, ya see! So the government sells the land to private interests and sometimes for less than the purchase price.

“When contacted, Kellman admitted that the land was earmarked for development purposes but refused to expand on that.”

Happens all the time… private lands seized by government for agricultural prices. Then the government flips the land to private interests for the same price, then the new owners sell it for thirty, forty or a hundred times the price paid the widow. But it is all engineered from the start. Happens all the time.

“My father bought this land in 1952, built this house in 1953 and he died in 1954 when I was only six years old, leaving this property for me and my mother…

Mr. Edwards said Minister of Housing and Lands Denis Kellman first approached him about the land in 1996.”

… from The Nation article Not Selling

Farmers are a second class of victim. Scrub land that used to be profitable, the farmer getting older and his children professionals or gone away with zero interest in agriculture. So the farmer applies for development permission. Once that permission comes through, his land is worth a fortune.

But it never comes through. He can wait 15 years but he’ll never get permission to develop his land. Then some ‘representatives for a consortium’ quietly approach him with an offer.