Barbados removes assets from CLICO victims: Sam Lord’s Castle to be expropriated by government

CLICO policy holders will never see a dollar for this ‘fire sale’ of assets

submitted by Parris Pauper

The Barbados Government is moving to ‘compulsorily acquire’ the Sam Lord’s Castle ruins and lands. As Minister of Housing and Lands Michael Lashley stated, Sam Lord’s is being acquired “for housing purposes, tourism development and beach access.”

Sam Lord’s Castle has been owned by CLICO for almost ten years (memory fails – if someone has the exact date CLICO purchased Sam Lord’s, speak up please) and is an incredibly valuable piece of property if developed. The hold-up to development approval was always the historic Sam Lord’s Castle building, but just as Barbados Free Press predicted in April 2009 – a fire took care of that little impediment.

If anything, the burning of Sam Lord’s Castle raised the end value of the land because the historic building was totally destroyed and ceased to be a major political obstacle in new development. Only the facia remains and this could be incorporated into any new structure if it doesn’t totally fall down first.

With the collapse of CLICO, the DLP government moved to grab the asset. They didn’t move to protect the public interest in the historic building before the CLICO collapse because Leroy Parris, David Thompson and the DLP were tight as thieves and the idea was to allow Parris to let the building fall to ruin, then maximize the profit from the lands.

And there was also that one little sticking point about the DLP never acting responsibly at the time to protect the interests of Bajans: Prime Minister Thompson and Leroy Parris were godfather to each other’s children. Thompson was also CLICO’s lawyer for over a decade when the company failed to file financial statements and broke the law, and CLICO Parris et al were major financial contributors to the DLP.

CLICO was a very messy conflict of interest indeed for Thompson and the DLP.

Fortunately for the DLP though, David Thompson is now conveniently dead and revered instead of being subject to what would have been a tsunami of Opposition attacks over the CLICO cover-up and conflicts of interest.

Now the DLP government is going to take Sam Lord’s and sell it to make some good profits. Or… perhaps sell it to friends at a low price so the friends can make the profits and kickback some contributions to the DLP. That’s how things work around here, you know.

Here is the one truth in my article that you should remember above all else if you are a CLICO policy holder or other victim…

The Barbados Government will never pay CLICO for Sam Lord’s Castle. No matter whether the asset is fairly valued or under-valued, not one dollar of government money will be transferred to the assets of CLICO where the money could benefit the victims.

Instead there will be some finagling with the books and some credit or swap against CLICO’s real or contrived debt to the government coffers.

The pillaging of the good CLICO assets continues to the ultimate detriment of the poor suckers who believed that the Barbados Superintendent of Insurance and the Barbados Government were looking after policyholders’ interests.

Parris and his gang were able to do what they did only because they had the cooperation and friendship of Caribbean governments. Indeed, it could truly be said that in the case of Barbados, CLICO, Parris and Thompson owned the DLP government.

Policyholders: kiss your assets goodbye.

Further Reading

BFP, October 21, 2010: Sam Lord’s Castle burns to the ground thanks to Barbados DLP, BLP, CLICO, Leroy Parris

BFP, April 11, 2009: How CLICO Ruined A Barbados Heritage Site: Sam Lord’s Castle

US Embassy Sources: Prime Minister David Thompson was offered CL Financial Board Seat

– Confidential Embassy Cable discusses David Thompson / Leroy Parris conflicts of interest

– “Economic ties between CLF and the PM also reportedly included an offer of a board seat, according to Embassy sources.”

– Who are the confidential “Embassy sources” ???

US Ambassador Brent Hardt: “Collapse of Trinidad’s CL Financial Group Ripples Across The Pond To Barbados”

CLICO's lawyer, David Thompson, helped build the house of cards.

Thanks to WikiLeaks, Barbadians now know another reason why Prime Minister David Thompson and the DLP Government protected Leroy Parris, refused to place a Judicial Manager for CLICO and did not implement Integrity Legislation.

Bajans always knew the whole CLICO-CL Financial / Leroy Parris / David Thompson / DLP connection stank to high heaven, but it is still tremendously saddening to see more evidence that the Thompson/Stuart DLP’s commitment to Integrity and Conflict of Interest laws during 2007 Election Campaign was all a pack of lies.

I am saddened. I wanted to believe David Thompson, Freundel Stuart and the DLP.

Who the hell do I vote for next time?

DLP Integrity Promise was all a pack of lies…

“Thompson’s close personal ties to the head of CLICO and his professional role as chief legal counsel for CLF prior to taking office in January, 2008, have made him vulnerable to opposition charges of conflict of interest in the management of this crisis. Economic ties between CLF and the PM also reportedly included an offer of a board seat, according to Embassy sources. With ties this close it is little wonder that Mottley has held three press conferences in the last three weeks seeking to pin the blame for any fallout from the CLF collapse on the PM. The fact that Mottley,s tactics forced the PM to so quickly mount a televised response shows the danger that the collapse of CLICO poses to him personally.”

… from the March 4, 2009 US Embassy Cable: WikiLeaks 09BRIDGETOWN144

Read the full WikiLeaks US Embassy cable at the above link or here>>>>>

Mara Thompson wins David’s seat: Will she keep his Integrity Legislation promise?

Slaughter in St. John:  DLP 4,613 to BLP 553

The Barbados Labour Party’s sacrificial lamb Hudson Griffith worked hard but only managed to gather 10.7% of the 5166 votes cast in yesterday’s by-election. Griffith’s share of the vote was down from the 16% or so the BLP took in the January 2008 vote that saw the late David Thompson declared Prime Minister.

Voter turn out was eerily about the same as 2008 when 5129 voters made it to the polls.

In a normal mid or late term by-election the ruling party usually takes a hit because voters tend to use the occasion to send warnings to the government. That’s in a “usual” by-election but St. John was anything but due to the sympathy factor evoked because the candidate is the widow of a recently departed and personally well-liked Prime Minister.

Duguid’s “Politicians Into Greed” Party (PIG) the real winner

We at Barbados Free Press weren’t the first to observe that, other than personnel and shirt colours, real differences between the DLP and BLP are non-existent. Barbados has long only had one political party – the party of the elites with two branches: DLP and BLP. That’s why former PM David Thompson slammed then Prime Minister Owen Arthur for corruptly depositing “campaign funds” into his personal bank account, but then when Thompson became Prime Minister not one BLP thief was arrested or charged. It reminds us of sharks leaving one another alone out of professional courtesy.

Nothing illustrated this “one party of the elites” better than when serving Member of Parliament Dr. Duguid was caught saying that neither the DLP nor the BLP politicians would pass the Integrity Legislation promised by the DLP during the 2007 campaign.

Dr. Duguid was telling the truth because that Integrity Legislation and Freedom of Information Act disappeared faster than the fat BLP envelopes handed out in St. John yesterday.

Mara’s Choice

As the elected representative for St. John, Mara Thompson now has the opportunity to keep her husband’s promises about Integrity Legislation, FOI and a Ministerial Code of Conduct. The sad reality is that she has about as much chance of doing that as when then newly elected Prime Minister David Thompson informed his first Cabinet meeting that Conflict of Interest rules and a Ministerial Code would be declared that first day as promised. Thompson’s Cabinet rebelled and that was the end of that.

So… great little sideshow in St. John.

Unfortunately it didn’t change a thing.

St. John, meet your new Member of Parliament: Mara Thompson

Mrs. David Thompson declares she’ll speak for St. John in Parliament if voters will have her.

Okay, okay – we have to have an election first – but we don’t think we’ll have to eat gull when we predict that Mara Thompson will win the St. John by-election on January 20th and assume the seat formerly occupied by her passed husband, Prime Minister David Thompson.

As we said a few days ago when we predicted that Mara would run, we don’t see much of a contest because the Barbados Labour Party is still in turmoil. They can’t even find their computer files and website password so we don’t see how they could possibly expect voters to trust them with another Member of Parliament let alone give them the keys to government again. Owen Arthur thinks he’s the BLP leader but 50% of the party members seem to have some doubts about that.

What will Mara’s election change?

Nothing really. She’s a bright person – feisty yet classy – but she’s hardly likely to rock the boat which means the by-election will be an amusing distraction that won’t change anything. Same old, same old ’bout hey.

As a side issue, the “Queen Maker” DLP adviser Hartley Henry fell ill in the USA over Christmas and has now been released from hospital. Hmmmmm…. we wondered where he was because didn’t see him leaving comments under his usual aliases at BFP or BU for the past week. Good to see him up and around and he says he’ll be back in town for the St. John’s campaign.

Which new online alias he’ll use next?  🙂

Four weeks ago this morning, Prime Minister David Thompson said goodbye

What would David say to us now, four weeks later?

On October 23, 2010 at about 2:10am, David John Howard Thompson went to be with the Lord. We said then and believe now, “It is a mercy that he had time to prepare himself, his loved ones, his friends and his beloved Barbados for his passing.”

Many folks don’t have that opportunity to prepare themselves and their loved ones – as much as one can prepare.

Death is a journey we shall all make, every one of us. Some leave suddenly during an accident or heart attack, maybe even after an argument with an old friend, or cancelling out on visiting father for the third week in a row because of work commitments.

If you knew that tomorrow was your time to leave, what would you do differently today?

We remember Prime Minister Thompson now, and we will continue to remember him and his widow Mara, their three daughters Misha, Oya  and Osa, his mum, Margaret Knight and the rest of David’s family.

It’s time for Barbados to get back to work.

The Barbados Government Information Service (BGIS) website is our face to the world on the Internet, and if you visit it today you will find that it is representative of our nation’s current upset and malaise over the passing of our Prime Minister.

According to the Government of Barbados website, David Thompson is still alive and serving as our Prime Minister.

We want our readers to understand that we are not being critical of the folks at the BGIS or their web team. We know that they are working hard to update the many Government websites to reflect our new Prime Minister and the many changes in the government.

We’re only using this as an example to say that there are many things that still need to be done as a result of the changes – and while we install the new Captain and crew, we still have to keep the good ship Barbados sailing through the storm.

We mourned our lost Prime Minister, but now…

The Lord gave Barbados time to prepare for David’s passing. We mourned and we still mourn, but we must ask ourselves as Independence Day approaches, What would David want us to do now? What would he say to us?

I think David Thompson would say something like this: “Thank you for remembering me and looking after my family – but friends, it’s time for Barbados to get to back to work.”

Was David Thompson’s cancer related to the stress of his duties?

The relationship between Prime Minister Thompson’s illness and politics

Our friend Jdid wrote this article shortly after the death of Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson. We thought it was a good piece at the time but we just never got around to telling you about it.

Better late than never and all that…

by Jdid - Toronto, Canada

Subliminally

Ok, is only two days gone and all we bajans still in mourning but I got a certain beef with the whole Bajan Prime Minister David Thompson illness dying thing. Sorry if its not in keeping with the mourning motif but just need to say it anyways.

Look, I keep hearing from the time it was said that he was sick, comments made by various people (and no it wasnt silly online comments) some who I thought were rather smart folk that seem to suggest that his focus on being prime minister led to his demise. Stuff like oh he was so keen on being PM and he work so hard to get there and then bram he dead. Now I aint saying a majority a people saying so, quite far from it, but I’m just saying I’ve heard those silly comments maybe one time to often and they seem to me to be ridiculously suggesting that there is a correlation, some sort of cause and effect between the two things, his aim to be PM and his death…

… continue reading at Doan Mind Me Subliminally

Poll: Should Mara Thompson run for Barbados Parliament?

“Perhaps I have reached a hope stage of grief, but if there is one issue in Barbados upon which Barbadians agree, it is that Mara should run.  The issue which divides us is whether she should run to, or from the responsibilities associated with replacing her late husband as the parliamentary representative for St John.  One thing is certain, having both father and husband as politicians, Mara is well prepared to count the cost of this pursuit…”

Grenville Phillips II says “Run, Mara, Run!” at his Weighed in the Balance blog.

Run to, or run away?

Our old friend Grenville Phillips II says that Mara Thompson should run, and that she would make an excellent representative of the people.

Grenville’s Weighed in the Balance blog has a poll up, so we’ll know within a day or two what Bajans think about this.

Click on the poll image or the link to vote.

Low-class, No-class: Owen Arthur makes distasteful “tribute” to David Thompson, upsets widow.

“Someone should let Mr. Arthur know or explain to him what a tribute is.”

… from a note written by Mrs. Mara Thompson to the Clerk of Parliament.

It was the first sitting of Parliament since the death and funeral of former Prime Minister David Thompson. His widow, Mrs. Mara Thompson, and her three children were invited to the session to hear tributes about their lost husband and father – delivered by his fellow parliamentarians in the place that he loved.

And what does low-class, no-class Owen Arthur do?

Instead of finding something nice to say about the recently departed, Owen Arthur delivers a rambling, insulting diatribe that upsets the widow and destroys the purpose and mood of the special session.

Thanks to Mr. Arthur for reminding us of all the times in the past that we’ve excused his inappropriate comments and behaviour. If anything, he’s getting worse.

Further Reading

Barbados Today (Check the archive for the 9/11/2010 edition)

Barbados Today: Comments upset widow

Barbados Today: Not my friend

State Funeral for Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson, Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Saying Goodbye to David in the rain

(The link to the CBC live coverage has been closed.)

Dark clouds and rain on one side of Kensington Oval, blue sky and sun on the other.

Barbados Prime Minister David Thompson dead of cancer at 48

Father, Husband, Son, Prime Minister: David Thompson passes at home, surrounded by family

“Know for sure that this experience has brought me much closer to God, whose compassionate love and grace I commend to you based particularly on my personal experience these past six months.

I invite you to continue to uphold my family and me in prayer at home and at church; in communities and in neighbourhoods wherever you meet. May God comfort everyone who may have lost relatives in recent times; may He bless all who are faced with personal and health challenges; indeed, may He bless each and every family of St John; each and every child.”

… from the Prime Minister’s last letter to his St. John constituents (full text below)

David John Howard Thompson went to be with the Lord on Saturday, October 23, 2010 at about 2:10am. He fought hard, with courage and with the dignity that was always part of his character in public and in private – but in the end the best medicine and doctors could not defeat the pancreatic cancer that claimed him.

Still, it is a mercy that he had time to prepare himself, his loved ones, his friends and his beloved Barbados for his passing.

Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Mara, and his three daughters Misha, Oya  and Osa and David’s mum, Margaret Knight.

Here is David Thompson’s final letter to the people of St. John, as released ten days ago…

Breaking News: Barbados Prime Minister Thompson is alive!

And the Barbados news media criticizes the blogs?

Oh please!

Cha!!!!

‘No truth’ to talk of PM’s death

8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 7, 2010 – Prime Minister David Thompson, up to late this evening, remains hospitalised in the United States, where he has been waging a private and courageous battle against pancreatic cancer.

Political advisor Hartley Henry told the Nation that persistent rumours of the prime minister’s death are “absolutely not true”.

“He is very much alive. Not well, but very much alive. In fact, his condition is no different today than it was yesterday,” says Henry, while admitting that he has been bombarded today with inquiries into the prime minister’s condition.

… read the rest if you have nothing better to do at The Nation: ‘No truth’ to talk of PM’s death

Report: Leroy Parris ‘may retire’ from CLICO. Question: Would they dare fire him?

Is Leroy Parris "The man who knows too much?"

CBC says it hears “reports” that the Chairman of CLICO Holdings will be retiring before the year end and that he made his intentions known to the board last Monday.

That is the story from CBC where last time we heard, Parris was still in charge. CBC says that Parris couldn’t be reached for comment – which is a rather strange admission from the CBC that they can’t reach the boss, don’t you think? Or maybe he keeps his phone number secret from the CBC?

Pretty silly.

So don’t call it a “report”; call it a “controlled leak” or “planted story”. The questions are “Who planted the story?” and “Why?”

Here’s a kicker…

“He has spent 30 years with CLICO Holdings moving its asset base from two million dollars to one point four billion dollars, and he has also been responsible for the development for all the subsidiaries of CLICO holdings.“

… from the CBC story CLICO Chairman may retire

Parris “responsible for the development for all the subsidiaries of CLICO holdings.”

It seems that the CBC “journalist” who wrote the story forgot about the collapse of CLICO and the revelations of fraud, excess and Florida swampland “investments” that devastated so many families. The journalist also forgot that so much of the four billion dollars in assets was inflated smoke that blew away leaving despair and human wreckage. There was big talk of criminal activities in Barbados and people going to jail until Prime Minister David Thompson stepped in and killed any kind of public accountability by appointing a secretive insider group to keep the lid on de boiling over pot.

Thompson was CLICO's lawyer when bad things happened. Now he's Prime Minister

After all, David Thompson was CLICO’s lawyer when the company illegally failed to file financial statements. Can’t have the courts and the public looking at things too closely then, can we? And don’t think that the BLP weren’t benefiting from CLICO either. No Sir, don’t think that the BLP piggies didn’t share in that trough for 14 years!

Notice how quiet Mottley and Arthur really are on CLICO and the relationship between Parris and Thompson? The BLP aren’t going to look under that rock, that’s fur sur!

Leroy Parris will retire because they wouldn’t dare to fire him

They wouldn’t dare fire him. With most companies Parris would have been out the door for non-performance years ago, let alone the lack of audited statements. It was only after the house of cards collapsed that some of the truth came out. Independent fair market appraisals and reality showed that CLICO’s “four billion dollar” valuation was one big papered lie.

As the top man at CLICO Barbados, Leroy Parris was a big part of that lie.

So Prime Minister David Thompson will continue to shield his friend, and Leroy Parris will retire with honours and a full bank account while thousands of ordinary people suffer because of his actions and failures.

Further Reading

For some background and many links to relevant stories, please read our previous article…

Conflicts of Interest and Sinister Secrecy Continue in CLICO Scandal

Conflicts of Interest and Sinister Secrecy Continue in CLICO Scandal

Update: March 2, 2010

This article was originally published by us on September 22, 2009. In light of Afra Raymond’s excellent article published by BFP on March 1, 2010 CL Financial & CLICO Bailout – The Mystery of the Missing Billions we thought our readers might want to give further consideration to the conflicts of interest by Barbados Prime Minister Thompson in relation to the CLICO scandal and bailout. We’ll repost this article at the top of the blog for a day or two.

Here is our original Sept. 22, 2009 article…

Barbados Insurance Industry executives finally sound public alarm about Prime Minister Thompson’s friendship with Leroy Parris

As CLICO's lawyer, PM Thompson helped Leroy Parris build the house of cards

The Prime Minister of Barbados has a long-standing conflict of interest between his duty to the public and his close friendship with CLICO Barbados executive Leroy Parris. Mr. Thompson has addressed the conflict essentially by saying that Parris is his longtime friend and anyone who has a problem with that can pound salt. In other words, the public can “piss off”.

Sorry about the language friends, but I wanted you to be clear on the Prime Minister’s simple message when the fancy words are stripped away. Make no mistake, Barbados citizens have been told to “piss off” when it comes to mentioning David Thompson’s conflict of interest.

Now some insurance industry executives are finally speaking out. (source article at end of page)

Thompson’s Conflict of Interest with CLICO goes far deeper than his friendship with Leroy Parris

If the conflict was only friendship, it would be bad enough – but it is much worse than that…

Consider this about Prime Minister Thompson’s conflict of interest over CLICO…

Thompson used to be CLICO’s lawyer – at a time when the company illegally failed to file financial statements!

Murdered Canadian Tourist Terry Schwarzfeld Called “White Trash” – Senior Advisor to Barbados Prime Minister Publishes Articles on Same Racist Website!

Why Does Prime Minister Thompson’s most senior advisor publish articles at a website that calls Terry Schwarzfeld “White Trash”?

Early this year, readers from Barbados Free Press voted to remove the sidebar links to the Barbados Underground blog because that blog had become a racist hotbed – and also because they published reader comments containing threats of violence against named individuals. Some other Barbados blogs also removed their links to Barbados Underground for the same reason.

Barbados Underground’s editor (David) allows and facilitates the most vile racist discussions and articles – even to the point of allowing posts that call murdered Canadian tourist Terry Schwarzfeld “White trash”. Other posts call for blacks to remain racially pure and to not have children with other races or lighter skinned persons of African heritage. Some posts encourage violence against whites, Chinese, Guyanese of Indian descent, and other non-Blacks – including mixed-race Bajans whose skin is not sufficiently dark enough for Barbados Underground’s commenters.

A visit to Barbados Underground will show that this disgusting racist dialogue is not restricted to readers’ comments, but actually appears in some of their published articles. For instance, a recently published article called The Fear of The Growing Ethnic Factor, Real or Imagined? stated “Bajans must understand that Hindu immigrants, with their high fertility rates, and their dislike of miscegenation with the Negro, have already destroyed the social cohesion of two Caribbean territories–Guyana and Trinidad. Now they are invading Barbados.”

All of which makes us wonder why Hartley Henry, who is Prime Minister David Thompson’s most senior advisor, continues to publish articles at Barbados Underground. It’s not as if Mr. Henry is unfamilar with the racist dialogue or the threats of violence that are published at Barbados Underground as these subjects have been major topics of discussion for the past year. Some of the racist comments have even appeared in response to Mr. Henry’s articles and in articles about him and other DLP insiders.

Two days ago, Hartley Henry published an article exclusively at Barbados Underground that was the fulfillment of earlier threats he made to ruin an editor of the Nation News (photo above). We covered that story and the content of Henry’s article on Barbados Underground in two of our earlier posts. (See BFP’s articles Senior Advisor To Prime Minister David Thompson Follows Through With Threats Against Barbados Journalist and Barbados Newspaper Editor Threatened by Senior Advisor to Prime Minister David Thompson)

It is not our intent to rehash that story here.

We simply desire an answer as to why Mr. Hartley Henry – who very much represents the Barbados government and Prime Minister David Thompson – would publish exclusive political articles on a website that condones, facilitates and publishes content that is both racist and threatens violence to named individuals and members of certain races and religions.

Here are some samples from the many hundreds of disgusting writings at Barbados Underground where the senior advisor to our Prime Minister publishes his articles…

I guess the writer of that last comment isn’t too worried about prospective tourists discovering Barbados Underground blog through Google and other search engines. Obviously, Harley Henry doesn’t worry about it too much either.

That’s just a start folks. Here are a few more samples of writings posted at Barbados Underground…

EU European Union Gives Millions To Barbados In Foreign Aid… Barbados Citizens Not Allowed To Ask For Spending Details

Thanks To Europe For The $28 Million Spare Change!

Hey… What Happened To The Last $10 Million EU Sugar Grant?

We can’t find anything in the local papers about yesterday’s occasion of Barbados receiving another EU handout – this one for Bds$28 million.The Barbados Government Information Service published the story Barbados Signs Agreement With EU, and it was picked up word for word by South Florida Caribbean News (link here).

But even if the news media does carry the story, the announcement of the gift will be the last that we’ll hear about it. For some reason the Barbados news media never does any follow up to see how, when and if such foreign aid funding is ever spent in the manner that is announced when everyone sits around the table smiling and congratulating themselves on scoring another few million from foreign governments.

We will not belabour our point, but let us briefly consider the following…

– Successive Barbados governments have positioned Barbados as an international beggar – all the while squandering hundred of millions of dollars in foreign aid without visible results or readily apparent benefit to the people of Barbados.

– When the European Union finally insisted upon accountability for aid in 2006, then PM Owen Arthur and Agriculture Minister Erskine Griffith went public talking about callous “colonial” attitudes shown by the European Union. The BLP government raised such a fuss that the EU threw in the towel and provided the money without insisting on any real accountability. (See BFP’s article Secret European Union Reports Slam Barbados Ethanol Plan.)

– Barbados has a proven history of taking foreign aid funding and then failing to fully implement the projects that were being funded under various agreements. Most recently, Barbados had to admit that the Barbados government Anti-Money Laundering Authority acted illegally and without authority for two years. Hey, we took the USA’s aid money to set up the unit and then never did – we only said we did!

– The David Thompson DLP government were elected on their promised commitment to implement Integrity Legislation, Freedom of Information laws, Conflict of Interest rules and a code of conduct for Government ministers. Thompson and the DLP promised IN WRITING to implement the Ministerial Code of Conduct “immediately” upon the DLP taking office in January, 2008. He also promised that the Integrity Legislation and Freedom of Information laws would be implemented within 100 days of taking office.

– Thompson lied about Integrity Legislation, FOI, a Ministerial Code etc. As a result, Barbados politicians and government officials can still legally profit from their position – while the public is denied the right to examine government spending records.

New EU Foreign Aid Not Tied To Specific Projects – Funds Are Dumped Into The General Accounts!

To top it off, the EU has capitulated to demands from the Thompson Barbados Government that foreign aid not be tied to specific projects which can be audited or seen to be accomplished or not.

In his remarks yesterday, Senator Boyce said: “The resources of the Accompanying Measures for Sugar Protocol Countries Initiative 2007-2010 is provided by way of Budget Support rather than direct Project Financing as occurred in previous programmes…”

So the latest EU foreign aid funding is being dumped into the general treasury instead of being directly tied to specific projects capable of being audited. The government has made some promises about “going to do this” and “going to do that”, but without direct funding pathways to specific projects and without Freedom of Information laws to allow the public access to government spending records… that money is already gone, gone, gone.

If you have any doubts about the lack of accountability, just put in a Freedom of Information request to review the government records that document how the last $10 million EU Sugar Subsidy was spent! Just don’t hold your breath while waiting for an answer…

Thompson’s coup is complete. He hasn’t implemented any integrity legislation or conflict of interest rules – and the foreign aid money is being dumped in with the general government accounts.

Well done, David! Not even Owen Arthur was able to accomplish that feat!

Prime Ministers David Thompson and Stephen Harper Working With President Obama

Barbados Awards Oil Rights To Company Responsible For Worst Environmental Mining Disaster!

“Every (year) over the past twenty years, the Ok Tedi mine in Papua New Guinea (PNG) has dumped 80,000 tons of waste into the Ok Tedi and Fly Rivers. The result has been an environmental disaster that has destroyed thousands of square kilometers of rainforest and caused terrible hardship for local people…

Australian mining giant BHP Billiton was the major shareholder in Ok Tedi Mining Ltd (OTML) and the mine operator until early 2002. At this time, the company handed over its majority stake in OTML to the newly formed and ironically named Sustainable Development Project Company.

This quiet revolution demonstrates the power of transnational corporations in PNG. With the transfer, BHP gained legal indemnity from PNG government action with respect to all the pollution and destruction it has already caused and will cause in the future. The government surrendered its sovereignty, failing to protect its citizens by setting environmental standards and monitoring corporate activities.” … Friends of the Earth International

BHP Billiton Destroyed A Country, Took The Profits And Then Transferred The Mess To Another Company To Limit Ongoing Liability – JUST LIKE SHELL DID IN BARBADOS

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this my friends.

Prime Minister David Thompson and the Democratic Labour Party have just awarded the first Barbados offshore oil exploration rights to a company that does hit and run environmental disasters.

No Rules: Thompson awarded oil contract to a company known to bribe government officials

You know the type of company that goes into a small country and rapes vast areas without a care about destroying the environment? That is BHP Billiton. A company that brings long-term sickness that injures thousands. A company that leaves malformed babies and miscarriages in its wake. Then after they make hundreds of millions, they “sell” the entire operation and leftover mess to some little nothing of a shell company so BHP Billiton can walk away without liability for the disaster.

Then they go to another little country like Barbados, pay lots of bribes and start all over again.

Oh… and here is the BEST PART….

BHP Billiton themselves started as a little company that SHELL OIL used to walk away from an environmental disaster! You know, the same SHELL OIL that walked away from the environmental damage they caused in Barbados with jet fuel. (see To HELL with SHELL – Barbados Boycotts Shell)

That is BHP Billiton.

Full story and many links at Keltruth Blog’s Barbados Awards Offshore Oil-Exploration Rights To Company Responsible For Worst Environmental Disaster

Prime Minister Thompson: I am ashamed that I once supported you and your government.