Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler’s sleazy conflict of interest

Kickback? What kickback? Wuhloss! Surely you jest! It’s a CONSULTING FEE!!! For consulting. Plus the politician owns a piece of the company getting the government contract. Just another business entrepreneur. Nothing to see here folks. Move along, move along…

Should a Minister of Government have a financial interest in the outcome of a company’s bid for a government contract?

Finance Minister Chris Sinckler smiles. You’d smile too with a piece of a $700 million dollar government contract!

Anywhere in the civilized world the answer to that question is a resounding “NO!!!!”

But not in Barbados.

In Barbados we have no conflict of interest laws. No Integrity Legislation. No disclosure of assets for elected and appointed officials. No transparency laws that allow citizens to monitor elected or appointed government officials.

So if our DLP Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler stands to personally profit from the awarding of a government contract to his own company to build a $700 million dollar waste-to-energy plant… that’s just too bad for you taxpayers and ordinary citizens.

Barbadians accept that elected politicians become wealthy in office. This is so ingrained in our culture that when former Prime Minister Owen Arthur donated US$150,000 in after-tax dollars to Cricket Legends of Barbados, some folks said what a wonderful man he was. Only a few in the blogging world and none in the oldstream news media bothered to say “Think about the wealth it takes to give away US$150,ooo.”

Where the Hell did Owen Arthur get that kind of money?

When Owen Arthur was caught money-laundering campaign donations through his personal bank account, what was the official response of Barbados? Ha! The DLP government appointed former BLP Prime Minister Arthur as head of a Commonwealth team in the Maldives tasked with ensuring the elections were conducted legally! HA!

So back to Finance Minister Chris Sinckler…

According to news reports, Sinckler has an interest in a company looking for a $700 million dollar government contract, and the true cost of the project will be $4.8 BILLION over the next 30 years.

How corrupt. In the USA or UK he’d be headed for jail. But not in Bim!

No laws being broken here folks… because there are no laws about this kind of thing. Nothing to see. Move along… move along…

“Members of the DLP and BLP had an opportunity to remedy this vulnerability with the passing of integrity legislation… but we all know how that turned out.”

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

Bajan Poppets consider Al Barrack

(Thanks to Bajan Poppets facebook)

Reason #275 why doing business with the Barbados Government like having a pet viper!

“Beware when you do business with the government of Barbados, because the court is the government and the government is the court.”

by Nevermind Kurt

Remember Al Barrack? The Barbados government owes him BDS$77 million dollars plus for almost ten years, but won’t pay him.

Sure, Prime Minister Freundel Stuart promised to pay Al Barrack in November 2012, but Stuart lied pure and simple. The DLP government is really just waiting until Al Barrack dies. That’s the usual strategy of Bajan governments both DLP and BLP when the court orders the government to pay big damages or do something about a court judgement: just ignore the court order and wait until the poor bastard dies. Government squelches any effective news coverage through the expedient tactic of providing government advertising funds to local news media.

Hell, it’s worked since 1900 as a legal tactic to delay the court and to keep the press in line… so why shouldn’t the same tactic continue to work? It’s worked fine to handle Al Barrack so far!

PM Owen Arthur awarded “no tender” contract to Barrack.

You see, the BLP Owen Arthur government granted a $100 million dollar contract to Al Barrack to build a government office building – nevermind that Barrack had never done much more as a builder than to renovate some washrooms. (Okay, okay, that’s an exaggeration, but Al Barrack had never built anything remotely as large as the office building the BLP government contracted him for.)

Al Barrack reduced to this to try and have the government obey the court. That’s Al dressed in white-face and carrying a placard sign. Poor bastard!

Oh… Did we mention that there was no tender?

That’s right folks, Barrack was simply awarded a 100 million dollar contract on the basis of his… what? His smile? His ability to sing? His reverse Al Jolson talents? (I’d walk a million miles for one of your smiles…) His Barbados Labour Party membership? (I choose #4… BLP membership!)

Barbados, Trinidad governments excel at turning public assets into private profits

The ‘Eden Gardens’ transaction is a prime example of a large-scale economic crime against the State and the interests of its citizens.

Again, I ask – ‘Who were the beneficiaries?’

As we read Afra Raymond’s latest tale about how public monies are turned into private profits by corrupt T&T politicians and their friends, our thoughts turn to a dozen similar situations here in Barbados.

BLP or DLP doesn’t matter: the record of both major parties makes it clear that Barbados politicians have made it their business to rape the public purse at every opportunity. Think Dodds Prison and the Oil Terminal. Think CLICO. Think land expropriations where government doesn’t pay for the land ever and then some Minister of Government ends up fooping his mistress in a house built on stolen land. Her house but everybody knows where the land and building money came from.

Some church going folks will be upset I used the F word. They should first be upset at the Minister and if they have any upset left over then worry about my f word – for Bajans are being fooped by their guvment every day. It doesn’t stop.

Barbados lacks ITAL – Integrity Legislation, Transparency and Accountability Legislation. Prime Ministers Thompson and Stuart and their corrupt DLP promised it just to get elected in 2008. Then they pretended to push it through when they knew an election would kill it. An doan fool yourself… Mottley, Arthur and the BLP were in on the plan.

We can’t have the politicians restrained by little things like Integrity Legislation and Conflicts of Interest rules, can we?

There is only one political party in Barbados… the DLP-BLP coalition and they take turns every few years to let the other be on top. That’s the way things work in Trinidad & Tobago too. It’s all about turning those public assets into private profits. Afra Raymond tells us about some real experts…

by Afra Raymond

Calcutta Settlement review

The simple, inescapable fact is that the State could have lawfully acquired the ‘Eden Gardens’ property for less than $40M.  The HDC paid $175M in November 2012 to Point Lisas Park Ltd (PLP) for that property, which is the reason I am calling this an improper use of Public Money.

Despite having available the advice of the Commissioner of State Lands, the Commissioner of Valuations and various attorneys at HDC and so on, the Cabinet approved this transaction.  This Cabinet, with two Senior Counsel at its head and several other seasoned legal advisers, appears to have been unaware of, or intentionally ignoring, the legal safeguards.

“I am calling for this matter to be swiftly investigated and the responsible parties prosecuted to the full extent of the law.”

Some readers may be surprised at those assertions, so here are my reasons for making such…

The last two articles examined the steps leading to the HDC’s purchase of land at ‘Eden Gardens’ in Calcutta Settlement.  In my opinion that transaction, as well as the one which preceded it, are both highly improper and very probably unlawful.  The HDC purchase must be reversed and the responsible parties investigated/prosecuted as required by our laws. 

GEMS of Barbados website slickly deceptive

click photo for large

Website implies GEMS still operates a chain of hotels – only operates one.

by Nevermind Kurt

We’re nearing the end of that failed adventure known as Hotels and Resorts and GEMS of Barbados hotels. The experiment in nationalizing the tourism accommodation industry now operates only one hotel – The Blue Horizon.

You’d never know that from their website though. True to form, it’s all show and no integrity as it deceives unknowing tourists into believing GEMS still operates The Savannah and Time Out.

The scandal of GEMS Hotels and Hotels and Resorts Inc. is a textbook lesson in how the political elites rape public funds and get away with it. Barbados tried to nationalize the hotel industry and lost hundreds of millions of dollars, perhaps over a billion dollars – who knows? They won’t tell us how much we taxpayers lost.

Predatory Pricing by Government… upon privately-owned hotels!

By using tax funds to support an unprofitable operation the Barbados government also kept out other brands and undermined private hotels large and small. The government even subsidized the GEMS hotels room rates to keep them lower than possible in the private sector.

That was decidedly hostile to outside and domestic tourism investors who soon got the message: “Don’t invest in Barbados where your main competition is the all-powerful government.”

As so many learned the hard way, it’s not a level playing field when the Barbados Tourism Authority pushes government hotels over privately-owned businesses.

Except the GEMS project failed just as everyone predicted and now the government is begging outside investors to renew our aging hotel inventory. The Government should have thought of that when they originally established a business climate that was poison to private investment in tourism accommodation.

Can you imagine if we’d have used that now-gone billion dollars to renew our infrastructure and professionalize and expand our police force? As a country we would now be cleaner, safer and more attractive as a tourism product. But no… we “invested” that money in buying run-down hotels, subsidizing years of losses and then selling the hotels at big losses.

GEMS of Barbados was a stupid thing to do… unless you were one of the inner circle personally profiting from the scheme…

… and then it was brilliant!

Further Reading

February 24, 2010: Barbados Government GEMS Hotels folly continues. Where did all our money go? Three remaining GEMS hotels valued at only $74 million!

May 17, 2007: What Happened To The Money From Hotel and Resorts Ltd’s Assets Sale? How Much Went Into David Shorey’s Pocket?

November 19, 2000: Nation News – The Question of Corruption, GEMS

Click to read in full size.

WE TOLD YOU SO: Anti-Corruption legislation buried in dark hole

During the 2007 election campaign, the Democratic Labour Party promised to introduce Integrity Legislation and a Freedom of Information Act within 100 days of taking office. They put that in writing in Pathways to Progress, in press handouts and in newsletters and emails.

The DLP also promised to introduce a Ministerial Code of Conduct immediately upon taking office. They put that in writing too.

“Hello BFP folks…

…The Ministerial Code takes effect immediately after a DLP government is elected. The Freedom of Information Act and Integrity legislation will be dealt with in the first 100 days in office…

Best regards
Reudon Eversley
Communications Director
DLP General Election Campaign 2008″

The DLP Lied

David Thompson lied about it. Freundel Stuart lied about it. Every DLP candidate lied about it.

You can say that the electorate was naive or ready to believe the DLP lies about Integrity Legislation because after 14 years of BLP corruption we were desperate. You can say the electorate was ready to be deceived, but it doesn’t matter.

We believed the DLP. We truly did. We had faith in the DLP candidates as people. We elected the DLP candidates and leadership because we believed their promises. We believed IN the DLP candidates as people of their word.

The DLP promises about what we called “ITAL” – Integrity, Transparency and Accountability Legislation – were a big part of why Bajans elected a DLP government. That much was admitted at the time in the news media and in comments from foreign observers.

It has been over four years since those promises were made, and three years and seven months since the DLP Government took office and immediately broke their first promise by not implementing a Ministerial Code of Conduct on the first day.

Now we read in The Nation “The Barbados Private Sector Association (BPSA) wants Government to move quickly to redraft the Prevention of Corruption Bill, 2010 and get it back on the front burner” within six months.

DLP Strategy to make Integrity Legislation fail

We at Barbados Free Press earlier said that the inclusion of the private sector in the proposed Integrity Legislation was a DLP strategy to cause the legislation to fail, so they could blame it on the private sector. We said back in October, 2009…

A DLP insider reveals how David Thompson and his gang intend to sabotage Integrity Legislation and Freedom of Information laws by expanding the promised laws to include private citizens and corporations.

This, of course, will throw a spanner into the works of any legislation. After if fails to pass due to public outcry, Thompson and his fellow piggies at the public trough will say, “Well, we tried our best.”

…from the BFP post Prime Minister Thompson’s new strategy for avoiding Integrity Legislation, FOI: “Private sector must be included in this legislation”

We also said that the DLP would delay the Integrity Legislation until just before the next election, so they could blame the BLP opposition for shooting it down or delaying it. That way the DLP would get to use Integrity Legislation for two election campaigns in a row while retaining all the benefits of not having the legislation in place while they are in government. A neat trick if they can pull it off.

It looks like we were correct. That’s unfortunate because we would rather have been proven wrong.

Member of Parliament William Duguid “No Barbados politicians will vote for Integrity Legislation”

It’s also unfortunate that the only politician who told the truth about the Integrity Legislation and Freedom of Information was the Barbados Labour Party’s William Duguid, who was quoted on another blog saying that Integrity Legislation will never happen because no politicians of any party will ever vote for it. Duguid is moving to Canada so it doesn’t matter to him anymore if he speaks the truth.

Welcome to Barbados folks! Same old, same old ’bout hey.

The sad truth about the proposed Barbados Prevention of Corruption Bill

“Being elected or hired into many government positions is a ticket to personal wealth in Barbados. The Prevention of Corruption Bill is supposed to change that, but it won’t.”

“Should elected or appointed government officials be allowed to do business with the government under any circumstances?”

Six Truths on a wet Kadooment Day…

by Nevermind Kurt

1/ For as long as anyone can remember, elected and appointed Barbados government officials have doubled or better their day-job incomes by owning interests in companies doing business with the government. That’s why being elected or hired into many government positions is a ticket to personal wealth in Barbados. It’s just the way it is. The Prevention of Corruption Bill is supposed to change that, but it won’t.

2/ The proposed Prevention of Corruption Bill (2010) does not prohibit elected or appointed government officials or members of their immediate family from being awarded government contracts. Government officials and their immediate family members can still do business with the government.

3/ In order to commit an offence under the proposed law, it would have to be shown that an elected or appointed government official gave or received special consideration in the awarding of a contract AND that money or other benefit was either given or received. Therefore, it is still permissible under the proposed law for government officials to award a government contract to a company owned by a relative or by themselves.

4/ It is highly unlikely that the giver or receiver of a government contract would provide evidence against themselves. Government officials will continue to favour their own family companies in the awarding of contracts. Or maybe a government official will award a contract to the company of another government official, and three months later their own company will receive a government contract. Not a word will be spoken in public or private. Not a word will be necessary. No evidence of a violation will exist in a form that can be put before a court. Just ask Liz Thompson about the government contracts awarded to her husband! This proposed legislation will change nothing.

5/ If the proposed legislation prohibited government officials or their close family members from receiving government contracts, it would be a good start. There’s no way the politicians will enact that law!

6/ None of the above matters because, as Member of Parliament Dr. William Duguid said: Barbados politicians will NEVER pass integrity legislation in any form.

“Currently, many Barbadians are beginning to accept that corruption is a way of life. This being the case, Barbados is now on the brink of following the path of other countries where corruption begins to eat away at the fabric of the society. The Bill has gone to a select committee of the lower and the upper houses. We do know that select committees are often seen as the graveyard for many an unpalatable Bill. Barbados can only hope that, for its sake and that of its democracy, the Bill does not lie there forever in suspended animation.”

… from the Barbados Advocate editorial Addressing Corruption

With no regrets, we now take you back to our regularly scheduled drunk-up, wuk-up…

Further Reading

Prevention of Corruption Bill, 2010 (PDF)

Champagne sipping Barbados Finance Minister pleads against “excessive discourse” about CLICO disaster

Minister Chris Sinckler cautions against a “frenzy”

Oh yes, Minister Sinckler, his friend Leroy Parris and all the other big ups who helped build the CLICO house of cards would love to see limits on public discussion about CLICO.

The Minister of Finance urged “all parties, including the media, not to try whipping up a frenzy”.

We’ve got news for Minister Sinckler: There’s a whole lot of people on this island and throughout the Caribbean who don’t trust Minister Sinckler or the DLP government. The DLP and senior Ministers (including the late Prime Minister Thompson) have an all too close and non-transparent relationship with CLICO, Leroy Parris and the rest of the people who took our money.

Minister Sinckler and the DLP government still have too close a relationship with Mr. Parris.

Here’s a photo (above) published in The Nation last week showing our Minister of Finance socializing with Leroy Parris. It looks like business as usual to us and just about everybody else who saw the photo.

Frankly Minister Sinckler, we’re not interested if you “just happened” to be standing next to Leroy when the photo was taken. It’s a small thing when compared to your party’s long history with Mr. Parris.

Tell us this, Minister Sinckler: How much money did the Democratic Labour Party receive from CLICO and associated companies and people over the years?

Is the DLP going to give that money back to the folks who lost everything?

Minister Sinckler, did the fact that Leroy Parris and CLICO supported the DLP have anything to do with the lack of government oversight about Clico? Did the fact that former Prime Minister David Thompson was CLICO’s lawyer for years and years influence the DLP government’s policies towards CLICO? Does the long term close relationship between CLICO, Parris, the DLP and David Thompson still have any influence on the DLP government?

Hello? Minister Sinckler? Hello?

Source: MP’s custom suits, casual clothes purchased in Miami with election funds or tax dollars

DLP Politicians in Miami “Went wild at shopping and partying…”

“Custom made dress shirts at almost US$100 each”

Immediately after winning the January 2008 election, groups of DLP Members of Parliament were rotated through a week in Miami ostensibly to familiarise themselves with our consulate operations in that city.

That was the public story. The truth was something else…

Exclusive: Harold Hoyte slams Barbados Free Press over Liz Thompson story. BFP “scurrilously unpatriotic” to make her “appear a suspect choice”.

NOT MANY of your contributors choose to reveal their true names.

I do.

It is Harold Hoyte. And first of all, I am a friend of Barbados, and secondarily of Senator Liz Thompson, the Barbados candidate for an appointment to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Although I hold no brief for Ms Thompson, yet I am offended by the apparently malicious leading article of the April 8, 2010, Barbados Free Press, titled: “Concerned Barbados Citizens oppose Liz Thompson’s nomination to UNFCCC position.”

Your headline may factually be correct. Doubtless, some Barbadians believe that Senator Thompson should not have been nominated by the Government of Barbados for this post. I in turn believe that the diametrically opposite also holds true for many: “Concerned citizens support Thompson’s nomination.”

I count myself among this number.

As do Prime Minister David Thompson and Opposition Leader Mia Mottley.

When, however, your corrosive article went on to state, “Shock, laughter and outright disbelief is the almost universal response by environmentally conscious Bajans…”, I searched in vain for the identities of individuals and organisations, and sought their quoted responses, but none were to be found.

None.

What followed were sly, snide, vitriolic and irrelevant generalisations, all of a negative nature.

Except for accurately noting what I regard as a crude and unjustified remark made by Ms Thompson in 1995 with reference to Richard Goddard, one of her fiercest critics on the Greenland landfill proposal, your sneering scenario constitutes nothing less than an unwarranted attack on her good character and reputation.

Where is the honour of hiding under an undeclared authorship to berate an individual on the basis of innuendo, oddments, twisted tales, bogus half-truths, sneering lies and shameless counterfeit concern?

How cowardly!

To a casual reader researching this candidate, particularly one in the international sphere, Ms Thompson might appear a suspect choice, for she is heartlessly painted in a manner that is as cruel as it is unjust, with the potential to effect more disfavour than can be justified.

Thankfully, people who are required to make judgments will have the benefit of empirical evidence with documented information about a track record of integrity and unselfish public service which compares favourably with anyone, I repeat, ANYONE, serving in Barbados public life during the past 50 years.

It is not my desire to do a paint job for Ms Thompson. It is not in my nature. My record as a newspaper editor is open to scrutiny.

What is my desire is fair-minded argument.

What I abhor are quasi-anonymous misfits who use positions of access to mass-dissemination-of- information unconscionably to dismiss the high standing of others under the guise of secrecy, on the basis of merely oblique and concocted hyperbole.

That is why I feel compelled here to register my personal disapproval of your decision to give international glare to your manifest pent-up hatred for an individual without bothering to provide the barest facts for your decision.

It is grossly obscene that a faceless Barbados Free Press can blatantly tout Ms Thompson’s so-called shortcomings (sic) with the wicked intention of derailing a legitimate nomination made on her behalf by the duly elected (and popularly so) government of Barbados.

How scurrilously unpatriotic!

And cowardly.

National pride demands higher standards of us all.

I urge those who chance upon your defeatist outrage to recognise it, and dismiss it, for what it is: a mean-spirited attempt to render ineffective what our Government leadership recognises as a truly splendid opportunity to place Barbados, rightly, in a position of high influence on the world Climate Change stage.

Harold Hoyte

Barbados Free Press replies…

For the information of our foreign readers, Mr. Harold Hoyte is the founder and former editor of the Barbados newspaper The Nation. He is a renowned journalist in his own right. A former President of the Caribbean Publishing and Broadcasting Association, he remains active in media organisations including the Commonwealth Press Union and the Inter- American Press Association.

A former Commonwealth Press Union Fellow and Eisenhower Fellow, he was recognized by Columbia University in the United States for his contribution to Caribbean journalism with the Maria Moors Cabot Citation in 1984. He was awarded the Gold Crown of Merit (GCM) by Barbados in 2003, is a Distinguished Honorary Fellow of the University of the West Indies, and was awarded the honorary Doctor of Letters Degree by the University of the West Indies in October 2005.

Dear Mr. Hoyte

It is george from BFP. Thank you for your email to us and mentioning BFP or any citizen blog for the first time in almost five years that we’ve been on the internet. Marcus, Clive and us all have lunch on Friday. Then they will writing a response to you.

thankyou,

george

Barbados prepares for a new political party – Part 1 – How the Integrity, Transparency and Accountability standards changed for DLP supporters

First in the New BFP Series: Preparing for a new political party

When Barbados Free Press burst upon the Bajan political scene back in January of 2006, Democratic Labour Party (DLP) supporters embraced our call for Integrity, Transparency and Accountability (ITAL) in government and legislation to force compliance by the political elites. When we highlighted specific acts of corruption by the then BLP Arthur/Mottley government our DLP friends joined in the call for accountability, criminal charges and generally for heads to roll and effective laws to be implemented.

Domain name “www.barbadosfreepress.com” secured for the DLP!

Many hardcore DLP supporters, including our old (but now estranged) friend Jerome Hinds, were convinced that Barbados Free Press was an arm of their beloved DLP.

I think it was Jerome Hinds himself who advised us during a little tête–à-tête in 2006 that the domain name “barbadosfreepress.com” had been secured for the DLP so that the BFP team could “go public” after the DLP won the next election.

That was then… when Jerome & the DLP thought BFP’s staff members were DLP first and Bajans second.

But as Jerome and the other DLP diehards soon found out after the January 2008  DLP election victory, Barbados Free Press is the real thing: non-aligned citizens calling for ITAL and a dethroning of the political elites who for too long have treated our country like their own little bank account.

What the DLP & their supporters said before they were elected

Barbados Free Press and its readers continue to attack Prime Minister Thompson’s DLP government for lack of integrity, transparency and accountability. We want answers as to what became of the billions of our tax dollars that disappeared during the BLP government’s 14 years in office. We want answers about VECO’s corrupt activities in Barbados. We want to know who received VECO money when the oil terminal and prison were built. We want answers about GEMS, Hardwood Housing, highway construction, the FBI files, illegal payments to politicians and so much more.

Jerome Hinds and his fellow hardcore DLP friends used to want the same.

What happened to change your mind, Jerome? The DLP winning the election and achieving power?

Ya, that’s what we thought…

From Jerome Hinds’ October 5, 2007 comment on BFP’s article Government Says: Barbados Free Press, Barbados Underground Are Unpatriotic…

Jerome Hinds

October 5, 2007 at 7:15 pm

It is amazing how these BLP scoundrels are behaving !

You gave the people education……..but by the same token they must not ask you the government to account for your shady deals !

** Where is the promised audited accounts for GEMS ?

** Where did the proceeds from the sale of Silver Rock & Eastry House go ?

** Now Mr. Prime Minister, about that $750,000 “campaign donation cheque” that you deposited into your personal bank account … ?

** Now Mr. Prime Minister, where is the FBI file you told Barbadians was on your desk ?

Doan mind doh…….the BLOGS gine stay pun yuh case ?

Yuh check how Keith Mitchell in Grenada bawling……bout the POWER of the PRESS…..?

Freedom to BFP & BU……!

Death to the cruel deeds of Owen Arthur’s Administration !

Lies of Omission: News articles, editorials, hide Chief Justice Simmons’ political background

Barbados lawyer Andrew Pilgrim is stupefied why the Thompson government sacked Chief Justice Simmons!

Barbados news media & lawyers Robert “Bobby” Clarke and Andrew Pilgrim try to suck and blow at the same time

Why, whatever could the matter be? According to the Barbados news media, it is so unfair and wrong that Chief Justice Sir David Simmons was not given the “normal” extension to allow him to continue in the position for two years past his 70th birthday.

“I think it is a political decision that has led to (Simmons) going home. I can’t envision why he was not offered an extension, as all the other chief justices have been given,”” says Andrew Pilgrim, one of two lawyers interviewed by the Nation newspaper in their article Lawyers’ Say.

The other lawyer, Robert “Bobby” Clarke, is puzzled as well – “Extending his term should have been automatic, unless there was a political variable inside there.”

Golly, Bobby, do ya think there is a “political variable” involved? Hmmmmmm? Whatever could it be? Bobby is mystified.

Then the Nation publishes the editorial Saluting Sir David’s services lauding Chief Justice Simmons and talking about what a surprise it is that he won’t be continuing as Chief Justice. Puzzled at the reasons behind this development, the editorial says “Whatever may be the factor, or factors that contributed to Sir David’s decision to retire with effect from April 29 – his 70th birthday…”

Now if you just arrived in Barbados from outer space or New Jersey and read these two Nation News articles you too might be puzzled as to the reasons why Simmons has been sent packing by the David Thompson DLP government of Barbados…

… because the articles NEVER MENTION that before David Simmons was Chief Justice for 7 years, he was a professional politician for 25 years.  A BLP Member of Parliament in Opposition and Government. A senior Cabinet Minister for three governments. Attorney General. Acting Prime Minister.

As a career politician, David Simmons should never have accepted the office of Chief Justice

The articles NEVER MENTION the controversy when then Prime Minister Owen Arthur appointed his old BLP friend Simmons as the new Chief Justice of Barbados – supposed to impartially and independently judge all matters while putting aside 25 years as a professional politician.

The articles NEVER MENTION the disgust at the time by people who were involved in legal battles with the Owen Arthur government when Attorney General David Simmons went from representing the government to being head of the courts that were supposed to judge their case against the same government!

The Nation News articles are lies.

They deliberately whitewash (or is that shitewash?) the fact that David Simmons has been fired because his original appointment was a Barbados Labour Party political strategy designed to exercise political control and influence over the Barbados courts. Simmons’ appointment effectively killed the separation of powers between the government and the judiciary. His appointment brought the administration of justice into disrepute and caused tens of thousands of Bajans to lose faith in the entire judicial system.

Prime Minister Thompson’s decision to sack Simmons as Chief Justice will go a long way to restoring the faith of the people in the independence of the courts – but only IF Thompson resists the temptation to appoint a DLP supporter as our highest judge.

Will our Prime Minister appoint a truly independent Chief Justice this time around? Or, like career politicians Owen Arthur and David Simmons did last time, will Thompson corruptly use the opportunity to further politicize the Barbados courts?

Stay tuned, folks!

GEMS cover-up continues under DLP: Hundreds of millions of Barbados tax dollars vanish with zero public accountability

What are the functions and objectives of an independent Senator?

During the time the late Sir John Stanley Goddard sat in the Senate he repeatedly called for up-to-date financial statements for Hotels and Resorts Limited to be made available.

After all, it’s a majority Government owned company funded by the taxpayer and surely we have a right to know their current fiscal position?

I understand that HRL’s accounts have now been laid in Parliament
for the subsequent years since 2001, yet why has there seemingly been no Senate debate, discussion or public comment?

Losses for the GEMS project have been quoted at anything from $200 to $400 million, and as yet, no analysis has been in what part in the closure of over 30 private sector hotels over the last fifteen years they have played.

Adrian Loveridge

(Editor’s note: The headline “GEMS cover-up continues under DLP…” was created by Barbados Free Press. The body of the article is exactly as received from Mr. Loveridge)

Below article from the November 12, 2007 Nation News…

THE HOYOS FILE – A GEM OF A FINANCIAL REPORT

by Patrick Hoyos

November 12, 2007

WITH A SORT of morbid fascination, I have been revisiting the shipwreck that was Hotels & amp; Resorts Ltd, the above-ground financial counterpart of the Stavronikita at the end of 2001.

Yes, dear readers, I know this is almost December 2007 – so, you may wonder, what is the point? Well, there really isn’t any except that the 2001 accounts were only recently laid in Parliament along with the remainder of the company’s annual reports from 1997 to 2001, so I thought it would be “interesting” to recap the disastrous position GEMS had found itself in by then.

Writing in the notes to the financial statement for 2001, KPMG stated that “the company incurred a loss for the year ended December 31, 2001 of $22 million and had accumulated a deficit of $60 million at the year-end date. Also at that date, current liabilities exceeded current assets by $51 million. This raises substantial doubt that the company will be able to continue as a going concern without the continued financial support of its shareholders.”

$51 million? How did that happen? Current assets – which were made up of cash in hand as well as trade, VAT and other receivables, prepaid expenses and inventory – totalled a paltry $4.1 million, while current liabilities – the company’s bank overdraft, accounts payable and accrued expenses, a sum due to CRL Ltd, interest-bearing loans and interest payable – totalled $55.6 million. Subtract one from the other.

Environment Minister Lowe’s speech a farce as he deliberately ignores the largest and best green space near Bridgetown

Lies Before The Election: Denis Lowe & David Thompson promising "whatever it takes to get elected, not that you can believe a word we say"

Hey friends, just found a short little reminder to myself about something I read in the Nation a few days ago so I’ll write a few lines before it slips away and I forget again…

Environment Minister Denis Lowe was recently rambling on and on about the importance of open spaces for people. Lowe said recreational spaces were important to all Barbadians, “particularly since we are becoming a fast-paced society and we need to find places where we can cool down, so to speak, and recreate”.

Right.

That man has been making the same speech for seven or eight years and I mean the SAME SPEECH. Same words, same hand gestures, same earnest “I care” expression like a preacher man on fire to save your soul. Lowe could have been successful anywhere in the deep Southern USA pitching a tent in the middle of a farmer’s field.

Yup, Dr. Lowe is pretty damn good talking about open spaces, families and green space.

Except… when it came down to it, he voted with the rest of the DLP to change the law protecting 265 acres of parkland at Graeme Hall to allow developer friends to profit from these public lands. To make this happen, David Thompson and the DLP Members of Parliament had to set aside laws that had protected the land from development since 1988. When the government was finished, 2/3 of the parkland (175 acres) was gone.

If you can stand the smell of cow manure, you might read Dr. Lowe’s comments in The Nation News article The worst of green

If you want the truth about what Dr. Lowe, David Thompson and the rest of the DLP piggies did with your irreplaceable national treasure, read Barbados Government Steals 2/3 Of Parkland For Developer Friends – Graeme Hall Environmental Disaster Continues

Prime Minister Thompson’s new strategy for avoiding Integrity Legislation, FOI: “Private sector must be included in this legislation”

Government of Barbados guarantees failure of Integrity Legislation by including Ordinary Citizens!

A DLP insider reveals how David Thompson and his gang intend to sabotage Integrity Legislation and Freedom of Information laws by expanding the promised laws to include private citizens and corporations. This, of course, will throw a spanner into the works of any legislation. After if fails to pass due to public outcry, Thompson and his fellow piggies at the public trough will say, “Well, we tried our best.”

Writing in The Nation, Frank Da Silva says “Bring on integrity law“, but then slides in the big bombshell like it’s a positive, not what it truly is: the core strategy to kill ITAL (Integrity, Transparency and Accountability Legislation). Says Da Silva…

“All of this must of course include the implementation of the campaign promise for all ministers, selected public servants and others who are doing business with our Government, to ensure there is a declaration of assets to the Integrity Commission (to be established).”

And just to let us know that it’s not Mr. Da Silva’s ideas were reading, he lets us know that it’s Prime Minister David Thompson speaking…

“(I, Frank Da Silva) support our Prime Minister’s remarks at the last family gathering that the private sector must be included in this legislation.”

Citizens get it: David Thompson and the DLP Lied

In Opposition, David Thompson promised "immediate" conflicts of interest rules for Ministers. He lied.

Over two years ago David Thompson and the DLP were finally dragged kicking and screaming towards Integrity Legislation by an electorate that demanded a stop to the corruption and outright theft of public funds by politicians. Thompson and the party promised in writing to take some very specific integrity initiatives immediately upon election and then introduce other very specific initiatives, including legislation,  within 100 days of forming a government.

Some of these integrity initiatives, like a Ministerial Code that included conflict of interest standards, did not require legislation – only a declaration of government policy. For instance, Thompson promised to introduce conflict of interest standards that would prohibit Ministers from issuing government contracts to companies they owned themselves.

Thompson could have, and should have, announced the policy on his first day in office. What suckers we were!

It all seemed like a very good start and we almost believed Thompson until the end of his first month week in office when we realized that once again the political class had pulled one on the citizens who believed in them.

Face it folks, we believed David Thompson and the DLP, but we were lied to by the best.

This latest revelation tells you everything you need to know about Integrity Legislation, Freedom of Information, Conflicts of Interest standards and the Ministerial Code. It is difficult enough to implement ITAL upon an unwilling class of political elites. Throwing in a requirement that the little contractor who wants a government contract has to list assets and open up to an audit is GUARANTEED to kill Integrity Legislation.

Thompson and the DLP know that. I dare say, so does Mr. Da Silva.

It’s all a set up folks. Nothing but a big set up so that when ITAL fails, the DLP can say they tried.

What foul LIARS the Prime Minister and his bunch are! They didn’t do what they promised in writing and now they deviously plan to screw the electorate again. The BLP Opposition can’t say a word because of everything that’s hanging over their own heads.

What a desperate mess we good citizens find ourselves in – but there is another way…

VOTE INDEPENDENT!

A Battle of Ordinary Citizens vs the Political Elites

Opposition dares not mention Integrity Legislation

Who are you going to vote for next time? Mottley? Thompson? Arthur? Marshall?

BLP? DLP?

The political elites are all the same. We need ordinary citizens to stand as candidates with integrity as their platform. We need to strategically vote to remove power from the Political Class that has been raping this country like it was their own piggy bank for the past 20 years.

Frankly, I’ll vote for a dead cat before I’ll ever empower the BLP or DLP again.

Further Reading

Living in Barbados, August 19, 2009: Freedom of Information – Basic Concerns and FOI Legislation

BFP, August 10, 2009: Barbados Government On Integrity Legislation: “Not until we’ve pigged out at the public trough for a few more years”

BFP, December 29, 2008: Thanks To Prime Minister David Thompson, Barbados Government Officials Can Still Use Their Office For Personal Profit

Here is the Nation article by Da Silva. Please go to the Nation to read it because they deserve your visit. We only include it here because both the Nation and the Barbados Advocate have a habit of revising history by trashing or changing archived articles…

GUEST COLUMN: Bring on integrity law

Published on: 10/16/2009.

BY FRANK DA SILVA

THE FOLLOWING is an excerpt from a column published on Friday, February 20, 2009, in the WEEKEND NATION. This excerpt is even more relevant today than it was at that time:
My political experience has told me that the best platform for good governance is one in which there is a strong and active opposition party. Our Government should take this as impetus to perform at the highest level of excellence on all fronts. And I believe they will.

Sentencing coming for key accused in VECO corruption scandal – but Barbados never asked US Authorities for Barbados corruption evidence.

FBI seized millions of VECO financial records showing bribes paid to corrupt politicians. Barbados doesn't want to see them!

VECO’s Bill Allen going bye-bye

This is just a short note this morning before I head off to bed. (How I hate nightshift).

Remember VECO out of Alaska? The company was disbanded and sold off after it turned out that for the last three decades they had obtained government contracts all around the world through the simple means of bribing politicians. We’re not talking about a slip or two by a sub-manager in a foreign country, we’re talking about a standard operating procedure by a company that was started and built upon corrupt practices.

Under the BLP and Mia Mottley and Dale Marshall, VECO built our oil terminal and our Dodds prison – the one with the $10,000 toilets and no transparency or open bids. ($10k per toilet? Yup… our sources tell us that’s what we paid for them after they came through a “handling company” in Miami.)

But the BLP were smart enough to spread the wealth around so that if and when they were defeated by the DLP, the new government wouldn’t want to go there.

Started VECO Cover-Up

After the Alaska scandal broke, then Dale Marshall had a meeting with VECO executives for 30 minutes and announced “Nothin wrong in Barbados!”

That’s the last that Barbados heard about it.

Like we said, the DLP Thompson government doesn’t want to be forced into charging members of the last government with any offense because what comes around goes around.

So David Thompson lets the corruption stand without any transparency or accountability to the people of Barbados.

You want proof? Good. Here’s ours… maybe the current DLP Government will find the voice to reply…

Proof that the Thompson DLP Government does not want to know anything about VECO’s corrupt activities in Barbados:

Under Prime Minister David Thompson, no authorities from Barbados – including police, the DPP or the Auditor General – have ever asked the US Authorities for evidence concerning VECO’s Barbados operations that was gathered during the US investigations. Millions of documents and hundreds of hours of secret recordings were lawfully collected by US authorities during their operations. Barbados never even asked to meet with US Authorities – because all indications are that VECO’s financial records would show payments & “gifts” to Barbados officials and contracts to offshore suppliers owned by them.

And that tells the story, my children.

Anchorage Daily News: Sentencing for key bribe witnesses may be soon.

Further Reading that should Outrage Bajans

November 17, 2008 – The FBI VECO Documents that Mottley and Thompson don’t want Bajans to see.

September 22, 2008 – Barbados Prime Minister Thompson Confirms Previous Government Officials Stashed Millions In Foreign Bank Accounts

August 20, 2008: VECO’s “Corrupt Bastards Club” has a Barbados Chapter

August 15, 2008: Why Won’t Prime Minister Thompson Investigate VECO’s Corrupt Acts In Barbados?

Surprise! Barbados Constitution to be amended today with zero notice, no debate by news media, public

DLP Thompson Government picks up where BLP left off – ignoring citizens’ right to know

Like the previous BLP Arthur/Mottley government, the current DLP government will be quietly sliding through various changes to our Constitution whenever it strikes their fancy. Appearing on the Order Paper today is the “Constitution (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill” that will somehow change the legal foundation upon which our country stands. Will this change impact your rights or obligations? Why is it being done? Will any group or persons receive a special advantage because of this amendment? Why is it necessary?

Perhaps you’ll find the answers in the Bajan news media, but usually you won’t.

As citizens we have a right to expect to be notified IN ADVANCE of ANY and all changes to our Constitution – no matter how “minor” the government says the changes are.

The Arthur/Mottley government must have changed the constitution a half dozen times or more with no notice: once even changing it to allow foreign military on Barbados soil and providing foreign military personnel with power and authority over the actions of citizens. That was during the Cricket World Cup and the government quietly slid it in with no notice and the full cooperation of David Thompson and his DLP.

You can read the bill here, but where is the Barbados news media on this? Where is the reporting, the investigative journalism, the probing questions?

Awwww…. forget it.

Barbados Advocate: Parliament resumes after summer recess

Further Reading

April 13, 2008 – Does Anyone Know Which Barbados Constitution Is Law?

March 12, 2008 – What Went Wrong With The BLP Government – And How The DLP Is Heading The Same Way

March 15, 2007 – Constitutional Amendment 2007 – A Crime In Progress (part 3 of 3)

March 14, 2007 – Constitutional Amendment 2007 – A Crime In Progress (Part 2 of a Series)

March 13, 2007 – Constitutional Amendment 2007: Prime Minister Owen Arthur Engaging In Cover-up Of Immense Financial Scandal

March 10, 2007 – Barbados Dictatorship To Change Constitution With Zero Notice, No Public Debate, No Public Release Of Proposed Changes

What is happening with CLICO’s Villa Nova?

Sir,

I have followed your coverage of the Clico fiasco with some interest over the past two years. One of the properties they own is the Villa Nova. Can anyone tell me what is happening to this beautiful property ? I am based in the UK and had the privilige of staying there several times. Please do not tell me they have allowed this treasure to decompose in the way they have other of your National treasures ?

I understand from sources here in the UK that several offers have been made for this property but Clico refuses to sell it !! If they are in such a financial mess surely your Government must insist that they sell these trophies to pay back the tax payers in Barbados ?

I lookforward to your response.

Best Wishes to the wonderful people of Barbados.

(Name withheld by BFP editor)

Editor’s Comment: We understand that Villa Nova is falling into disrepair. The original website: Villa Nova, Barbados