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.”

For a guy who wants to make Barbados a republic without a referendum, PM Stuart sure calls the kettle, well, you know…

Stuart accuses Beckles of running alternative government

Anything to avoid mentioning that Stuart and his government lied about bringing Integrity Legislation to Barbados.

Barbados Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite is a LIAR

It’s an old story, an old lie, but it’s still true that Attorney General Adriel Brathwaite and his DLP gang lied to get elected and then lied again to get re-elected.

They said they would put Conflict of Interest rules in place immediately upon election. They lied.

They said they would pass Integrity Legislation within 100 days of election. They lied.

They said they would pass Freedom of Information laws. They lied.

Brathwaite is a liar.

And we’re going to continue telling like it is.

Come and get us Brathwaite. YOU ARE A DAMNED LIAR.

And here’s the proof…

Barbados Attorney General admits Integrity Legislation is dead, dead, dead

Harlequin’s Merricks Resort “a rotting garbage dump – a liability not an asset”

Why didn’t Barbados obtain completion guarantees backed with performance deposits and bonds?

Our political class, along with Harlequin and other developers, left Bajans holding the bag!

by Old Cutter

What a mess we have with abandoned and “on hold” construction sites and failed projects throughout this country. There is a reason for this and it is not “economic slowdowns” or “unforeseen circumstances”.

“We have these numerous failed project disasters littering our coasts because our DLP and BLP governments allowed unfettered development of our beautiful island by almost anyone that showed up.”

Politicians’ offshore accounts are fat and happy

Our elected representatives stuffed bags of cash into offshore accounts of their “consulting” companies but never acted to protect Barbados from shaky developers.

Our political class never imposed standard contract conditions like performance guarantees and deposits. The big developers hired DLP and BLP friends and family as ‘consultants’ in exchange for building permissions.

“Everybody knows how this place works, and why the political class never voted for Integrity Legislation or assets declarations since Bajan independence almost 50 years ago.”

Harlequin Resorts is just one more failed developer, but they fell in a big way and are worth looking at closely…

As the broader Harlequin Resorts debacle carries on in the courts we see Harlequin suing accountants Wilkins Kennedy and WK countering with accusations of their own, and many other court battles in various stages.

Somewhere in all of that there is a book figure for the value of Harlequin’s assets, including the abandoned Merricks Resort site in Barbados.

Whatever that book figure is for Merricks Resort, a visit to the abandoned construction site reveals a rotting garbage dump that is undoubtedly far less of an asset due to the demolition and environmental cleanup that would be necessary prior to any new activity. Barbados Free Press covered this story a year and a half ago, and the deterioration is easy to see when we compare the photos then and now.

Barbados vote buying: cash, iPods, cell phones and backroom deals all part of sophisticated corruption sanctioned by both DLP & BLP

submitted by Mahogany CoConut

The Mahogany Coconut Group submits that the real vote buying is in the upper echelons of our society. What we witnessed on Election Day was some voters getting cash, cell phones, iPods and a bill paid here and there. The real votes were bought by those shadows- black and white, – who Dr. Don Blackman referred to a few decades ago! Of course Dr. Blackman talked only about white shadows but the corporate landscape has dramatically changed over the years – we now have shadows of all colors and ethnicities.

While we shout from the roof tops about what took place on elections day, we bury our heads in the proverbial sand, by refusing to ask one simple question:

“How did the two political parties, both claiming to be rather financially impoverished, raise a conservative estimate of over twenty million dollars to pour into a three week campaign?”

We ask Dale Marshall (BLP) to tell us about the successful “cake sales and car washes” that raised their money. We ask Ronald Jones (DLP) to tell us more about the “$500 here and there” that was given to his party by well wishers. Let’s face it; elections are now big business and the corporate shadows are well entrenched in both the Barbados Labour Party and the Democratic Labour Party.

Anybody who believes that car washes, cake sales and a five hundred dollar donation here and there, can raise this large amount of money, needs to seriously wake up from his/her slumber!

Bizzy Williams wants to ban private support to political parties

“Campaign Donation” deposited to Prime Minister Owen Arthur’s personal bank account. Barbados political elites break laws without fear.

Bizzy Williams probably tired of being shaken down every election

by James M.

First off, who knows what Bizzy really told The Nation? I don’t trust Barbados journalists to deliver the truth any more than I trust anyone. Whatever Bizzy said about political campaign funding has been reduced to four paragraphs with no video as proof.

“I’m not in favour of Bizzy’s solutions, but he’s right about one thing: Bajan politics is a corrupt, unregulated mess that has to be cleaned up.”

If Bizzy wants to put his ideas forward about cleaning up politics, enhancing governance and reforming the election process, it would be better if he wrote an article or recorded a video and posted it on the internet instead of relying upon reporters and news organisations that have proven histories of misreporting and censoring news and ideas to fulfill agenda-driven journalism. I’m sure BFP or Barbados Underground would print Bizzy’s article.

Former Prime Minister Thompson money-laundered $3 million + dollars for pal Leroy Parris

Nevermind that though, I’ll comment upon what Bizzy Williams is reported to have said.  

A new model of Governance for Barbados

by David Comissiong

During the 2013 General Election season the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) spent millions of dollars on a propaganda campaign that was designed to convince you – the people of Barbados  – that the DLP was profoundly committed to maintaining all existing jobs in the public sector of Barbados.

They used the millions of dollars given to them by un-named wealthy “donors” on advertisements and public meetings in which they assured you that a vote for the DLP was a vote to preserve public sector jobs, and that a vote for the opposition Barbados Labour Party (BLP) would be a vote for privatisation of public entities and loss of public sector jobs!

Indeed, they even went beyond this and actually created additional public sector jobs during the year leading up to the General Elections!

Now, a few months later, the leaders of the DLP have callously and unabashedly informed you that there are too many persons employed in the public sector ; that over 5,000 of these jobs are being cut; and that — in the words of Minister Donville Inniss – the decision to cut these jobs was not a tough decision to make!  This, mind you, is the same Donville Inniss that is a member of the largest and highest paid Cabinet in the history of Barbados – the same Donville Inniss who publicly rubbished the proposal that Ministers of Government should take a salary cut!

Well, there you have it!  Once again you have been taken for a ride!    

Dirty politics in Barbados? Sex Video said to be a well-known politician… but it’s not him

At least, we don’t think it’s him…

In the past few days eight readers have sent us a sex video that is supposed to involve a well-known Bajan politician having an excellent time with a woman not his wife.

Wuhloss! Who would have imagined such a relationship could happen on this rock?

After a thorough examination of the video, several times, with rum and beers in hand, your committee of Barbados Free Press editors and staff concluded that it sure looks like you-know-who, but it’s not. At least, we don’t think it’s him.

But that leads us to the next question: Who created or discovered a slightly-blurred sex video that looks like a Barbados politician but isn’t really? Who sent it around and put it up on the chat groups with his name? Was it done with a hidden camera? It looks that way!

Why it was done is an easy question to answer, and we’re not going to mention which party might have done it. *** (We’ve changed our minds… see the end of this post.)

All we can say is, politics is a dirty game everywhere, but especially in Barbados where there are no rules about conflicts of interest, there are no procurement standards for spending government money, and there is no Freedom of Information Act that would at least give citizens a hope of finding out the truth.

Do you want to clean up politics in Barbados? We have to start by stopping the feed at the piggy trough. Being elected shouldn’t be a guarantee of becoming a millionaire, but that’s the way it is ’bout hey.

As long as the rewards of being elected are that large, and the chances of being caught so small, the politicians of both parties will continue to use every dirty trick to discredit others and to get themselves elected to the piggy trough.

Barbados DLP Executive involved in political influence loan scandal

Photo: Reynold Austin – President DLP (Canada)

Noted Jamaican-Canadian businessman says DLP Executive Reynold Austin obtained US$750,000 business loan on the basis of political assurances

It doesn’t much matter whether we’re talking a corrupt BLP government or a corrupt DLP government – it’s the “Same old, same old ’bout this place”. Once elected, party officials rush to turn political influence and government authority into personal profits.

Today’s scandal involving a DLP executive member is only today’s scandal. CLICO was yesterday’s scandal. Tomorrow there will be something new, and when the BLP forms the government after the next election there will be more scandals coming – only BLP in their flavour instead of DLP.

“It is a scandal that the DLP executive Reynold Austin marketed his land development project on the basis of his position with the ruling DLP Government…”

Without Integrity Legislation, Freedom of Information and accountability laws, the buying and selling of political influence and government authority will continue to carry no penalty.

Photo: Jamaican-Canadian businessman Denham Jolly

Look how brazen these people are!

In this case, noted Jamaican-Canadian businessman Denham Jolly was happy to make a loan in 2011 to a Barbados development project pushed by the President of the Barbados DLP (Canada), Reynold Austin, upon assurances that the project was important to the Democratic Labour Party government.

In other words, the DLP (Canada) executive tied the success of the business project directly to his insider status with the governing party. Jolly was happy with that. Only when the property development was unable to make loan payments did Mr. Jolly complain.

“Denham Jolly should also apologize to Bajans for taking part in an act of political corruption.”

Jolly told the press that DLP executive Reynold Austin “approached me in the spring of 2011 for a business loan for Pickering Court Development. He assured me that it was a great investment because it was a centrepiece for the Government and the enhancement of their re-election.”

Why should a privately-owned property development be a “great investment” because it is a “centrepiece for the Government” and “the enhancement of their re-election”?

How does a privately-owned piece of property increase in value due to an association with government?

That’s an easy question for any Bajan because we’ve seen decades of worthless scrub and agricultural land turned into millions when a government bestows building permissions upon land owned by political friends.

It is a scandal that the DLP executive Reynold Austin marketed his land development project on the basis of his position with the ruling DLP Government, and the stated value of the land to the government and therefore ‘enhanced’ value of the loan-provider to the Government and the Government’s re-election.

Reynold Austin should immediately resign from his executive position with the DLP, and if he does not the DLP should relieve him of his position.

Cash for votes scandal in Barbados election: BLP, DLP… or both?

Voter arrested for photographing ballot – only one caught of many!

Did the voter support the DLP or BLP candidate?

by Passin Thru

Why photograph your ballot? To prove your vote so you can receive payment!

Police made an arrest today after a voter was seen about noon using a cell phone to photograph their marked ballot while voting. This arrest absolutely proves that the rumours of the past three elections are true: people are being paid for their votes. But this was only voter arrested and obviously this was not the only person bribed to vote. How much were they paid? Who paid them? How many other voters were paid for their vote?

The practice of paying for votes strikes right at the heart of our democracy. This person should be jailed for the full six months penalty and all inquiries should be made with the party and candidate supported by the arrested voter. The voter’s jail sentence should be doubled if he or she doesn’t tell the name of the person who paid them for their vote.

The results in that constituency  should be nullified and a new election should be held.

Biscuits and Tinned Beef

In ‘de good ol day’ candidates would drive through the village handing out tinned beef, biscuits and rum. The corruption is a little more sophisticated these days with voters required to document their vote via cell phone camera. That was the rumour and now we know it is for truth.

Was the voter putting his mark on the DLP or BLP? Bajans deserve to know!

Arrested for photographing ballot

One person is in police custody following an incident in a polling booth where the individual reportedly took a cell phone picture of the ballot after it was marked with an x for one of the candidates contesting the 2013 general election.

The incident occurred after allegations surfaced that some individuals were paying Barbadians for their vote in the 2013 election.

CBC understands that the incident occurred just after midday and that the individual is likely to be charged with breaching the requirement of secrecy in an election.

Legal officials have told CBC that the penalty for such an offence on summary conviction is six months in jail.

… thanks to the CBC for the news story and the photo!

Also see CBC’s Cash for Votes

Two cheques prove it doesn’t matter if DLP or BLP win Barbados election

“Campaign Donation” deposited to Prime Minister Owen Arthur’s personal bank account. Barbados political elites break laws without fear.

During the 2007-2008 election campaign, then Opposition Leader David Thompson produced a cancelled $75,000 cheque proving that Owen Arthur deposited a ‘campaign donation’ into Arthur’s personal bank account.

In other words, at best Prime Minister Owen Arthur stole $75,000 from his own party’s political donations, and at worst that the $75,000 was a straight bribe to the Prime Minister – disguised as a ‘campaign donation’ that was never intended to make it into the BLP’s bank account.

David Thompson jumped all over this, and ran the DLP election campaign on promises of personal and party integrity, and to implement ITAL: Integrity Legislation, Transparency and Accountability Legislation. Thompson promised Freedom of Information within 90 days and Conflicts of Interest Rules immediately.

David Thompson and the DLP lied.

Then we had the CLICO mess where it was learned that Thompson had performed all manner of unethical acts when he was CLICO’s lawyer. After being elected the corruption continued with Thompson and the DLP using the CLICO business jet for free and money-laundering for his old friend Leroy Parris.

At the time of the big collapse, David Thompson issued a phoney invoice from his law firm to CLICO – without the knowledge of Thompson’s law partners. His friend Leroy Parris approved the cheque $3.3 million dollar cheque to the Thompson law office – but that cheque went straight back to Parris through David Thompson on January 16, 2009! That’s right folks… while David Thompson was the Prime Minister of Barbados and within days of the CLICO collapse.

(click photo for larger)

It’s called theft. Stealing. Money Laundering… and Prime Minister David Thompson did it!

Owen Arthur and the BLP are thieves. David Thompson, Freundel Stuart and the DLP are thieves.

Two cheques – two corrupt political parties.

So tell it true, folks: does it really matter if either the BLP or the DLP form the next government?

I think not.

Henderson Bovell loses memory, maybe his entire mind…

Apparently Mr. Bovell has entirely forgotten about the Owen Arthur government’s 14 years of non-stop corruption. Where to start? It was so bad that, not content with merely stealing public funds, the Prime Minister deposited campaign donations into his personal bank account!

Not that the DLP is any better, but to hear Henderson Bovell say that electing the BLP is the answer: well, mongoose meet chicken coop!

Read it all at Bajan Reporter with your jaw dropping lower at every sentence: Barbados Under seige and being held hostage by the DLP

Why Prime Minister Stuart never mentions Freedom of Information legislation anymore

DLP thick as thieves with Parris, Duprey, CLICO & CL Financial

by Nevermind Kurt

It is readily apparent to anyone without a political agenda that the introduction in Parliament of the DLP’s promised Integrity Legislation was strategically withheld for the last four years so the DLP could again use the issue in the coming election. Their lies fooled the voters last time, so why not use the same technique again?

The obvious plan is to have the legislation ‘almost’ make it through this session of Parliament, but not be declared as law. That has been the intent all along: to have the legislation stillborn so a/ the current government would not have to conform to integrity rules, and b/ the current government can now say “We almost made it except for the damn Opposition. Give us one more term to finish it.”

Fool me once, etc…

How quickly the electorate forgets that the DLP promised to introduce Integrity Legislation and Freedom of Information within the first 100 days. The DLP also promised to introduce a Ministerial Code including conflict of interest guidelines “immediately upon forming a government”. That code was to have been a policy declaration and could have been implemented on the very first day as promised.

Leroy Parris and good friend Finance Minister Chris Sinckler share champagne

The DLP didn’t introduce any of these promises because as it turned out Prime Minister David Thompson and his gang were thick as thieves with Leroy Parris and Lawrence Duprey of CLICO and CL Financial infamy. It also turned out that David Thompson and his law firm were money-laundering for Parris. (That’s the auditors talking, not us, and you can read about it here.)

Under those situations and many more questionable activities of the DLP, it’s no wonder that the current government didn’t keep its promises concerning integrity legislation. A big part of the DLP/CLICO/Parris/Duprey relationship would have immediately become illegal under the new legislation and there’s no way that Thompson or Stuart would permit that.

So the DLP leadership lied to get elected and then delayed, delayed, delayed integrity rules until the DLP was well into its fifth year of majority government when the designed-to-be-stillborn legislation could be produced again at the right moment like a rabbit from a magician’s hat.

What happened to the Freedom of Information Act?

Prime Minister Stuart has been in the papers recently pulling out the Integrity Legislation, telling folks “It’s coming!” and setting up the public so the DLP won’t be blamed when the legislation doesn’t make it into declared law in time for the next election. Stuart fully intends that the promised integrity legislation “almost made it!” will be an asset, not a liability during the coming election.

But he never mentions Freedom of Information anymore.

The reason that the DLP never mentions FOI is that the thieving politicians know that Freedom of Information is the key to making the integrity legislation a real threat to the way things are ’bout hey.

Freedom of Information legislation gives ordinary citizens an easy and economical means to legally force the government to provide copies of documents and information that citizens need to hold officials accountable. Integrity Legislation isn’t much use if you can’t force the government to surrender the paperwork that proves offences. Stuart and the DLP know this and THAT is why FOI became a non-subject.

Look at the plight of David Weekes – and know why the Government hates Freedom of Information

David Weekes is an ordinary Bajan man trying to sue the CARICOM government and the cartels that run this place. PM Stuart won’t provide him with the CARICOM ratification documents he needs for his case. These are documents that every citizen should have a right to see, but the Barbados government is denying them to Weekes to spoil his case… and some people are so upset with Weekes that he believes (and we do to) they tried to burn down his home. With no Freedom of Information legislation and process, ordinary citizen Weekes has no effective means of forcing the government to provide the public documents that he needs.

That’s why the BLP and DLP elites and their cartel cronies have never implemented any kind of Freedom of Information rules and process: they desperately want to keep information out of the hands of citizens.

The thieving politicians simply don’t want the little people to become empowered by knowledge and access to public documents.

And that, my friends, is exactly why the DLP will not implement Freedom of Information and why the Opposition BLP is silent too.

Nevermind Kurt

Further Reading about Barbados political elites and (cough, cough) ‘integrity’

September 24, 2011: Prime Minister Owen Arthur “invested” YOUR money in Nigeria. A predictable result.

August 28, 2011: We told you so! Integrity Legislation buried in a dark hole

October 17, 2009: Prime Minister Thompson’s new strategy for avoiding Integrity Legislation, FOI

Misuse of Barbados Government property for DLP political fundraising?

The DLP Democratic Labour Party Barbados (UK) is holding a function on January 28, 2012 at Pembroke House, 9 Roehampton Gate, London SW15 5JR. The price of admission is 20 pounds.

An anonymous source forwarded us a copy of an email sent to Prime Minister Fruendel Stuart, asking the PM “Misuse of government property, is this legal???????”

DLP function using Government resources? Click photo for large.

We’ve been unable to determine if Pembroke House, 9 Roehampton Gate, London  is a Barbados government property, but if it is then the event should be moved or cancelled. It is unethical to use government facilities for a political party function. Most countries have rules against this type of thing, but alas, Barbados has no rules at all when it comes to elections financing, conflicts of interest or the use of government facilities for party politics.

Above is the photo of Pembroke House taken from Google – at least we think it’s #9 Roehampton Gate.

The sidebar contains the function notice sent out by the DLP Barbados (UK). Click on the photo for the large version.

How about it, readers… does anyone know if Pembroke House is a Barbados Government property?

Here is the email originally sent to Prime Minister Stuart and others.

We’ve removed the email addresses and date & time it was sent…

From: ‪<‬?????‪_bajan@‬??????‪.com>‬
Date: Jan ?, 2012 at ??????
Subject: Misuse of government property
To: fstuart@???,
CC: mmcclean@???, cburnette@???

Dear Prime Minister,

Misuse of government property, is this legal???????

Duprey, Parris, Thompson and some other people need to go to jail

CL Financial, CLICO – one huge unsustainable Ponzi Scheme

“Lawrence Duprey was paid $90 million a year from the deposits of policyholders in collapsed insurance company CLICO, attorney Neal Bisnath said yesterday.”

“CLICO invested US$445 million of policyholders’ money in a Florida real estate project called Capri, while the investment was worth only US$200 million.”

If Prime Minister David Thompson was alive today, he would have some difficult questions to answer about his activities as CLICO’s lawyer, and about how he and his government participated in building the house of cards Ponzi scheme known as CLICO. The public deserves the truth about what Thompson knew, what he did – and how his long-term service putting deals together for CLICO, Duprey and Parris put him in numerous conflicts of interest as Prime Minister.

David Thompson knew that CLICO policy holders were paying outrageous money to Duprey and Parris – probably illegally with no segregation of funds even where the rules called for this. David Thompson knew that the payments were being hidden. David Thompson was CLICO’s lawyer when ten years of accounting records were illegally withheld.

“We know now that on May 15, 2005 while acting as CLICO’s lawyer, David Thompson signed a secret contract between CLICO and Leroy Parris’ private company that in effect deceived shareholders into believing that Parris was being paid less than he really was.”

…from the BFP article Leroy Parris’ defence of Prime Minister David Thompson rings hollow now

David Thompson knew that CLICO was being raped by Duprey and Parris. David Thompson was part of it and you can bet that when he became Prime Minister his senior Cabinet members had to have known the truth too. That house of cards was wobbling long before it collapsed – and the Thompson-Stuart government covered up and protected Leroy Parris for as long as they could. After all, the government politicians got their bizjet rides, the DLP got its funding and Thompson’s law firm got big contracts – paid for with policy holders’ funds.

Now the only “solution” that the Thompson/Stuart DLP Government can come up with is for taxpayers to “invest” more money. Well, I guess that’s better than riots in the streets.

As for Leroy Parris and Lawrence Duprey – they laughed all the way to the bank and they are laughing still. There are hundreds of millions of assets missing, just vanished into thin air at the end of fraudulent paper trails, but nobody will go to jail for this massive fraud and breach of the public trust. No big shot ever goes to jail in Barbados.

This Barbados Today article lays it all out…

Bisnath made the statements as he cross-examined Michael Carballo, the former group financial director of CL Financial, during the commission of enquiry into the collapse of CL Financial and the Hindu Credit Union at the Winsure Building, Richmond Street, Port of Spain, yesterday.

Bisnath said CLICO’s cash stream was also used to fund investments made by CL Financial.

“Is it true to say that from what we have seen CLICO was really used as a cash cow in the group?” Bisnath asked Carballo.

“Yes, because CLICO was really the one that had the cash flowing in it,” Carballo said.

“And that cash that was flowing happened to be policyholders’ money and Mr Duprey and CL were using CLICO policyholders’ monies without regard to the risk that it was putting those policyholders under,” Bisnath said.

Bisnath described Duprey as a “great investor of other people’s money”.

He said CLICO invested US$445 million of policyholders’ money in a Florida real estate project called Capri, while the investment was worth only US$200 million.

“We know in taking on risks he (Duprey) used policyholders’ money, not his personal money; and when you use OPM, other people’s money, you can have all kind of fancy dreams and you can make all kind of fancy investments because if you lose it, it is not your money you are losing,” Bisnath said.

“He (Duprey) could therefore have a bold and aggressive attitude toward business, and an insatiable risk appetite because it was not his money he was using,” Bisnath said.

Read the entire story at Barbados Today: Duprey paid $90 million a year

Further Reading

Trinidad Express: Duprey bagged $1.1b before bailout

Politicians and voters – a visual illustration

Because it’s Monday morning and we all need a smile with our coffee!

“… campaigns once depended on rousing oratory by stump speakers but now feature expensive rallies with musical acts and other entertainment; the political speakers are an annoyance that the audience must endure.”

… from a WikiLeaks US Embassy cable talking about political campaign funding in Barbados.

Our thanks to an old friend for sending us the video!

BREAKING HERE FIRST: CBC sacks Peter Wickham over secret corruption briefings to US Ambassador

WikiLeaks “Confidential” US Embassy cable takes down Wickham

CADRES’ Peter Wickham revealed to US Diplomats: Campaign financing corruption, payoffs, “sweetheart deals”, political corruption by Leroy Parris & CLICO, drug money funding political campaigns, flying in of voters from USA.

“At the same time that Wickham was a political consultant, he provided secret briefings to US Embassy personnel about his clients’ activities. He’s finished. Who would hire him again?”

CBC senior executives “outraged”

Prime Minister Stuart said to be “beside himself” over CLICO / Leroy Parris revelations.

… CBC insider exclusive to Barbados Free Press

EXCLUSIVE to Barbados Free Press

(News media must attribute to “Barbados Free Press”)

The Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) sacked journalist and political analyst Peter Wickham on September 1st over the contents of a US Embassy cable released by WikiLeaks on August 30th, 2011.

A CBC insider tells only Barbados Free Press that the Barbados DLP government and CBC senior executives remain “outraged” after learning that Peter Wickham provided a series of secret briefings to US diplomats “over several years” where Mr. Wickham discussed and provided details about political corruption in the Caribbean. The briefings included information about the activities of clients and former clients.

Hitting the fan!

Barbados Prime Minister Freundel Stuart is said to be “beside himself” over the cable, which reveals among other facts that CLICO executive, former CBC Chairman and DLP supporter Leroy Parris provided large sums of under the table money to the Dominica DLP in exchange for business and a diplomatic passport. Barbados government members are concerned that the cable will provide more fodder for BLP Opposition calls for details on CLICO financial abuses and CLICO’s political funding of the Barbados DLP. (Editor: No kidding!)

“Wickham met periodically with Embassy Officers over the past several years”

The February 3, 2006 “CONFIDENTIAL” cable was sent by Mary Kramer, (then US Ambassador to Barbados and the Caribbean) and is published at the end of this post. The WikiLeaks cable references other US Embassy cables that are not included in the WikiLeaks releases – indicating that the United States State Department is in possession of additional information that remains secret.

The February 3, 2006 cable also contains Mr. Wickham’s assessment of Caribbean political funding.

Wickham’s assessment and information makes an excellent case for Campaign Financing and disclosure laws in Barbados…

“The amount of money spent on political campaigns in the Caribbean has increased with each election, according to Peter Wickham, a consultant who has worked for various governments and political parties throughout the region.

With no campaign finance laws or disclosure requirements present in most countries, political parties are free to accept funding from any source, including wealthy expatriates seeking to curry favor for their business and personal interests.”

Comment:  The increasing availability of campaign funds to Caribbean political leaders, combined with a lack of legal control over how the money is raised, makes for a troubling situation in a region where many turn a blind eye to corruption.

A few hundred thousand dollars, a pittance to a wealthy businessperson in Barbados or the Cayman Islands, could buy a great deal of influence in one of the small, economically troubled countries in the region.  Some of this influence may be purchased to further legitimate business concerns, but as in the case of marijuana growers, or even the bearers of passports to which they are not entitled, the influence could be used for more nefarious purposes.”

… US Ambassador Mary Kramer in WikiLeaked cable from US Embassy Barbados

Peter Wickham unaware of reason for sacking

Saturday’s Nation newspaper quotes Peter Wickham as not knowing why the CBC sacked him. According to BFP’s source, Wickham may not yet be aware of the reason for his firing.

Says Wickham to The Nation…

“No rationale was given… Needless to say, I am not pleased.”

“Where there’s a termination letter there’s always the impression conveyed that there was incompetence, misbehaviour, non-performance or underperformance, and I hope that’s not the belief that goes out there,”

Peter Wickham quoted in the Nation story CBC sacks Wickham

If Mr. Wickham wishes to comment on our story, we’d be pleased to publish whatever he emails us. Barbados Free Press published Peter Wickham’s writing during the 2007 election when the newspapers refused.

February 3, 2006 “CONFIDENTIAL” US Embassy cable from Mary Kramer, then US Ambassador to Barbados…

Finance Minister Chris Sinckler silent on CLICO’s political donations to DLP

Sinckler: “Bajans aren’t mature or intelligent enough to see raw or incomplete data. They might draw conclusions different from what the government wants.”

How else should voters interpret Mr. Sinckler’s recent statement that the 30-day judicial manager’s report on CLICO International Life Insurance Limited should be kept hidden? Mr. Sinckler wants the big-ups and elites to put everything together in a tidy little report that directs Bajans to whatever conclusion the elites want to sell us.

“Let’s get this straight, Mr. Sinckler: Bajans don’t trust you or your government to tell the truth about CLICO.”

The late Prime Minister Thompson was way too close to CLICO’s Leroy Parris. David Thompson was also CLICO’s lawyer when proper financial statements weren’t filed for ten years. And when it all hit the fan for CLICO and CL Financial, Thompson used the power of his Prime Minister’s office to deny judicial oversight. Not to mention the cushy job he gave to Leroy Parris at the CBC that allowed the government to control the news about this fraud.

“We know now that on May 15, 2005 while acting as CLICO’s lawyer, David Thompson signed a secret contract between CLICO and Leroy Parris’ private company that in effect deceived shareholders into believing that Parris was being paid less than he really was.”

…from the BFP article Leroy Parris’ defence of Prime Minister David Thompson rings hollow now

Friends forever: Finance Minister Sinckler & Leroy Parris chatting over champagne

Finally, the DLP received big money from CLICO in the form or political donations and who knows what else on the side, including executive jet use for free when the cost was tens of thousands of dollars or more per ride. The DLP was brought into power in good part through the big money of CLICO.

That was OUR MONEY that was given to the DLP. The money that policy holders and investors placed with CLICO in good faith and it was sucked out of the company into phony land purchases, mansions in Florida and who knows how much into YOUR POLITICAL POCKET MR. SINCKLER.

Answer the policy holders this Mr. Sinckler, or sit down and shut up:

“How much did the DLP Democratic Labour Party and the candidates receive from CLICO and associated companies and persons in the last 15 years?”

Until you answer that question Mr. Sinckler, just sit down and shut up. We’ve heard enough of your opinions on how this fraud should be investigated, thank you.

Signed,

A policy holder and a victim.

Further Reading

You should go to Barbados Today to read the story about Sinckler, but we’ll reprint the entire passage here because the Barbados news media has a habit of re-writing history and deleting stories, and that includes staff at Barbados Today who used to be at The Nation.

So read the story at Barbados Today, but if it’s gone, then read it here…