Grand Turk Cruise Center Announces Record Year
In Grand Turk, the capital of the Turks & Caicos Islands, the Grand Turk Cruise Center (GTCC) reported a record year during the 2010 cruise season, recording a total of 248 calls from 40 cruise ships of 14 different cruise brands. In addition, its number of passengers also set a record at 622,720, a 19 percent increase over the previous year and a 113 percent increase compared to 2006, when it first opened.
Located on 14 acres in the Caribbean, the GTCC is a destination in and of itself, featuring a shopping center, water facilities and Jimmy Buffett's "Margaritaville" restaurant, alongside its access to sprawling beaches and prime location, 30 miles away from Miami, Florida. To date, the center's shopping district measures 45,000 square feet, including luxury jewelry stores, boutiques and specialty stores, as well as local craft stands and souvenir kiosks. Last year, the GTCC worked with NASA's Kennedy Space Center to develop a 3,500-square-foot attraction. The center's interactive exhibits and authentic spacecraft replicas recognize the relationship of the American spaceflight mission and its importance to Grand Turk's history.
N.Y. lawsuit targets Kinay, others over unfinished Dellis Cay
Dr. Cem Kinay and others are being sued in U.S. courts for at least $50 million allegedly taken in a “massive fraud” in the development and sale of properties on Dellis Cay.
In a lawsuit filed Jan. 28 in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, N.Y., 20 parties filing the suit say they provided $50 million of the $75 million paid by Dellis Cay Villa purchasers, but that less than $7 million was spent on construction of the villas. “The balance was stolen,” the suit claims.
Construction began on Dellis Cay in June 2008 and lasted for just over a year. The project was put into receivership in October by lender Trinidad and Tobago Unit Trust Corp., which is accused of aiding and abetting Kinay and partner Oguz Serim in committing fraud on purchasers.
“I categorically deny all their allegations,” Kinay told the fp in an Feb. 2 e-mail. “I, my family, my businesses were never involved in bribery, nor fraud.”
As he has said before, Kinay said he is a victim of Turks and Caicos Islands politics and will fight all claims against him. He also says he is still trying to save the project.
The main defendants in the lawsuit are Kinay, described in the complaint as “an Austrian and U.S. national with a history of questionable business practices and associations,” and Serim, a citizen of Austria and resident of Turkey.
Kinay and Serim are accused of using clients’ money as a “personal piggybank,” paying off pre-existing debts and spending it on things such as “an $8 million Miami Beach home, bribes to government officials, unrelated real estate ventures, payments to related entities without consideration and globe-trotting on private planes.”
In 2005 Kinay and Serim bought 209 acres of Dellis Cay from then owner, Donatella Zingone, who kept four lots on the island. In early 2009, the U.K. and TCI government granted a 200-year license to the adjacent seabed, the lawsuit says.
Dellis Cay was aggressively marketed in New York, and news stories featuring Kinay and the project appeared in the New York Times and New York Daily News.
The suit claims that Kinay and Serim were assisted by their lender, TTUTC, in “a calculated scheme to extract millions” from buyers, knowing all along that they lacked funds to complete the project and that it would fail.
Kinay and TTUTC are accused of hiding from purchasers the fact that the project’s $62 million loan required a $47 million lump sum payment after two years at an interest rate of 15 percent. That loan gave Kinay more time to bilk purchasers and essentially sold the island to TTUTC, the suit claims.
Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group International Ltd., which was enlisted to manage the Dellis Cay hotel, is also named as a defendant, accused of letting Kinay use its name and logo even when it knew the project was failing.
Mandarin received 1.5 percent of villa and residence sales, plus a 2.5 percent bonus for any sale price exceeding $1,000 per square foot, according to the lawsuit.
Both TTUTC and Mandarin are accused of providing supportive letters for Kinay to use to comfort purchasers when both knew the project was doomed. They are being sued for damages for aiding and abetting fraud, aiding and abetting breach of fiduciary duty, and commercial bad faith.
Kinay and Serim also are accused of claiming to have hired a prominent international contractor to oversee construction of the project, but instead used their own shell company, Dellis Construction Ltd., which had no construction experience and was used to siphon money from the project.
The plantiffs also accuse Kinay and Serim of using SUU, a hotel chain with locations in Turkey and Costa Rica, to launder assets to get around a January 2010 order in the TCI Supreme Court freezing their assets.
Named as defendants are Kinay, Serim, TTUTC, Mandarin, O Property Collection USA Inc.; O Property Collection GmbH; O Property Collection TCI Ltd.; Turks Development LP; Turks General Partners Ltd.; Turks (BVI) Holdings Ltd.; Turks Ltd.; Dellis Construction Ltd.; The SUU Hotels; Avatar Real Estate Services LLC; William Tacon; Stephen Katz; Kinay’s wife, Marjorie Kinay; Kinay’s brother, Cenk Kinay; Mer Insaat; and Halis Sumer.
The plaintiffs are represented by Todd Soloway of Pryor Cashman LLP in New York.
Source:FP
Don’t miss the 2011 Valentine’s Day Cup
Thanks to the overwhelming support from the business community, the traditional Turks and Caicos Model Sailboat Races on Middle Caicos are sailing into full swing.
Organizers for the event, which takes place next Saturday, Feb. 12, called on the business community to help with sponsors to pay for the building of desperately needed new boats.
“We sent out an appeal for sponsors for new boats, and we received 10 commitments,” {/pullquote} explained Sara Kaufman from the Middle Caicos Sailing Association (MCSA). “So this meant, of course, we had to pressure the boat carvers to come up with lots of new boats! And they did so. Hats off to Albert Higgs, Headley Forbes, Carlin Forbes, Brodie Forbes and Lucky Forbes, our TCI model boat carvers and builders.”
Kaufman and the association are especially excited about a new main sponsor, Islandcom.
“The Islandcom staff have pumped energy and money into promoting our festival with banners, signs and newsletter articles,” Kaufman said. “To encourage more folk to get in the water and sail, they have put together a captains only raffle, and sailing a boat makes you eligible to win a new telephone and three months’ service.”
And for even more fun, Islandcom is introducing the new Islandcom Ladies Cup for a women-only race. “The full spirit of the event is being strongly energized by this great sponsorship,” Kaufman said.
In addition, PPC Ltd. and parent company Fortis, which have supported the event since its early years, “long before the causeway made coming to the beach easy,” are back on board, said Kaufman.
“We welcome them back with their generous full sponsorship of the cash prizes for all the Class A, B, and C races, plus funds to bring on live music featuring our homegrown duo Lovey Forbes and Lucky Forbes.”
Returning sponsors include Blue Horizon Resort, Forbes Forbes & Forbes Ltd., Big Blue Unlimited, Middle Caicos Co-op Services, which have each continued with steady support for many years to make sure this day is brought to fruition each year.
“We are also delighted to welcome the families of Dennis Been and David Bowen as private donors,” Kaufman noted.
Each year many friends and family members volunteer to work alongside the MCSA to prepare for and run the event. “It is a pleasure for all, lots of hard work, but a sense of sincere community health is shared by pulling it together year after year.”
Kaufman also offers her thanks to the Church of God of Prophecy Conch Bar.
“Under the leadership of Pastor Shirley Smith, the church has fed the crowds each year, without knowing how many will arrive, and no one ever leaves hungry,” she said. A wide range of beloved native foods will be available this year, and the proceeds of the food sales go to their youth and women’s programs.
So come along and join in the fun on Saturday, Feb. 12, on beautiful Bambarra beach, Middle Caicos.
Call Caribbean Cruisin’ or Brantford Gardiner for ferry transport, rent a car on North Caicos and get to the beach in time for a great day of traditional sport with your family. Contact Big Blue or the taxi drivers directly to arrange custom groups and tours for the day! E-mail middlecaicos@tciway.tc This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for further details, to make donations and with any questions.
The sponsored boats include:
4x Class A Boats:
- Daniels Café with Daniel’s Cafe
- Islandcom with Islandcom
- NHIB unnamed as yet
- Redbridge with The Tanned Toucan
2x Class B Boats:
- Big Blue Unlimited with Little Blue
- Dan Steele with Sea Wings 2011
4x Class C Boats:
- Miller Simon O’Sullivan with MSOS Victory
- Turks & Caicos Reservations with Team TCI Reservations
- Tropical Paradise Realty with TPR
- Potcake Foundation with M.S. Potcake
- Randy Hall with True Colours
Recruits Complete Prison Induction Training in Grand Turk
The Ministry of Home Affairs and Public Safety has welcomed the recent graduation of ten new recruits to the prison service, and said that it was an important step towards addressing the staff shortage in this important service.
The ten young recruits recently completed an intense training course to become prison officers and were presented with certificates by Overseas Territories Prison Advisor Steve Fradley and Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs Denise Saunders.
Ms Saunders, reflecting on the event said:
“I wish to congratulate the ten recruits who successfully completed the basic training course to become Prison Officers. It is very important to note that all the new officers are Belongers. This is very positive, as over the years we have had difficulty in recruiting enough Belongers to the Prison service. Consequently, we were forced to recruit Prison Officers from other Caribbean islands. These new officers will go a long way in addressing the severe staff shortage that the Prison Service was experiencing. I trust that their decision to become Prison Officers is an indication that they have chosen to build a career in corrections and I wish them much success in the future.”
Ms Saunders urged the new officers to make use of ongoing opportunities to continue improving their skills.
“With the induction training now complete and the on-the-job training about to begin, I would also like to congratulate the entire training team for their dedication and hard work to the Prison Service. We look forward to their continued support and the sustained effort by the new prison officers as we work together to build a safe and secure environment for everyone,” she said.
Over 20 topics were covered in the training including: Purpose of Prison Service, Foot Drill, Professional Conduct, Scenes of Crime, Report Writing, General Aspects of Security, Criminal Justice System and Sentence Planning.
The ten new prison officers are:
Meeklight Atherton Obiefuna Eze
Oliver Lightbourne Vanessa Smith
John Green Maxie Pierre
George Coleman Basil King
Edric Smith Lawanda Jennings
Prison Advisor Steve Fradley also praised the efforts of the officers and the work of the instructors, and expressed the hope that more young people will seek to join the prison service.
PDM WELCOMES 260M DOLLAR CAPITAL INJECTION AND STIMULUS
The Peoples Democratic Movement is today welcoming the announcement by United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) totaling some 260 Million US dollars in funding.
We remind all the voters and stakeholders in the Turks and Caicos Islands that the current financial condition was inherited by the Interim Administration and that new revenue and expenditure measures were inevitable after a devastating period of financial chaos in governance by the Progressive National Party (PNP) where much of what the people of the Turks and Caicos Islands had worked so hard for over the years was squandered and then compounded with the international economic downturn. The announcement today by the Governor’s office of a package of financial support for the TCI is good news and a great and bold step towards pulling the TCI Government and our people out of a period of uncertainty.
As we move closer towards detailing how these funds are to be spent we again call on the Interim Administration to keep our people at the forefront of all decisions: remembering that government employees should now be assured of their monthly and weekly paychecks in order to meet living expenses, landlords can be paid back rents due, students scholarship fees can be met and unpaid Government bills can be funded.
We further renew our call made yesterday to the Interim administration to stimulate the economy and repair much needed public infrastructure such as the Middle Caicos causeway, the Millennium highway in Blue Hills, the Airport Terminal in South Caicos and the damage caused to the Ona Glinton Primary school in Grand Turk.
Upon receiving the news Leader Douglas Parnell sent an email to top party brass which read:
“Let us press on toward the mark of restoring our country's solid standing in the region by rebuilding confidence in the Turks and Caicos Islands. One of the ways we can do this is by speaking positively and insisting that our God given right to grow and prosper and aspire to build a better tomorrow for our children is never forgotten by those in authority. We must move closer, even during interim administration, toward fulfilling this vision in our homeland. To supporters of our Great Party, we remind you that we promised our people after the last General Elections that even though we only received 43 percent of the vote that we would act as though we always represent 100 percent of the people.”
We congratulate all those in the Ministry of Finance and throughout the service who worked hard in making sure that accurate information was gathered to support the request for funding. We now further request that the true state of the financial condition of the Government over the past years be made public for all to see how matters were handled, so that the truth about what this Interim Administration inherited can be made known.
We also thank our former Chief Minister Derek Taylor, Samuel Harvey and Clarence Selver both former deputy Chief Ministers for accompanying the Leader of the party, Douglas Parnell, on trips to the United Kingdom to help make the political case for capital and financial support to those in DFID and at the FCO.
We have consistently called for greater financial assistance from the UK to help the TCI people cope with its dire financial circumstances, the latest call came in October when earlier estimates were increased from 122 million to 175 million.
TB found in HM Prison
Permanent Secretary of the the Ministry of Home Affairs and Public Safety Denise Saunders has confirmed to RTC News that a prisoner at Her
Majesty’s Prison in Grand Turk has been tested positive for TB on Wednesday, February 2 nd2011.
The diagnosed prisoner and his two cell mates were immediately moved to another part of the prison away from the rest of the prison population. There are no indications at this time that anyone else is affected.
The Prison and Health authorities have moved quickly to establish approved containment and testing measures, and all staff and prisoners have been notified.. Health Service personnel will begin the prescribed Mantoux tests for staff and prisoners from tomorrow.
RTC News has learned that prison authorities are receiving the full cooperation of all concerned including the prisoners.
Our reporter was unable to obtain the names of the prisoners due to the sensitivity of the case.
Statement by the Governor: Turks and Caicos Islands’ financial stability
On 1 July 2010, as an urgent initial response to Turks and Caicos Islands’ worsening financial difficulties, the UK’s Secretary of State for International Development published a Written Ministerial Statement announcing that through his department, the UK Government would work to put in place a package of financial support together with commercial lenders as well as providing immediate short term lending.
Since then, while seeking commercial bank proposals on the package of financial support, the UK Government has provided short-term financing totalling £27.3 million - approximately $44 million. This vital support has allowed the TCI Government to meet unavoidable commitments including continuing to pay for public sector salaries for essential health, education and policing services.
As UK Ministers said in their joint Written Ministerial Statement dated 9th December 2010 ‘It has become clear to UK Ministers that the fiscal picture in Turks and Caicos Islands represents an unacceptable collapse in the fiscal governance of the Territory, which needs urgently to be addressed. Whilst funding the immediate unavoidable costs of the Turks and Caicos Islands Government, the Department for International Development has provided a Chief Financial Officer to the Turks and Caicos Islands Government, to meet the urgent task of addressing its structural deficit and putting it on a course towards a sustainable fiscal surplus in the financial year 2012/13’.
The UK’s Department for International Development has now informed Parliament of its intention to provide a loan guarantee to the TCI Government. This would enable us to secure a new commercial bank lending that will refinance existing debt and cover further projected deficits before we achieve a fiscal surplus in the financial year ending March 2013. Proposals for commercial lending have been received from a number of banks. The details of the package are still to be finalised. The lending will be for an amount of up to $260m for up to five years. Parliament will have until 17 February to consider the minute.
Securing commercial lending would be a vital step for the Turks and Caicos Islands. It would provide the time we need to rebuild financial stability and balance the budget. This guarantee would form an important step in our financial plan, and will help the achievement of key milestones that need to be reached before a date for elections can be set.
GORDON WETHERELL
FOOD FEST IN PROVO
The recently concluded World Gourmet Affair left more than a present taste in the mouths of attendees as schools in Provo benefitted from the event.
Organizer Michel Neutelings said they were proud to donate $8,910 to the schools, which includes, $2,000 from Scotia Private Client Group, a successful silent auction and ticket proceeds from the gala event
In addition, during the course of the week, each of the five guest chefs hosted a cooking lesson for students from several local schools including Maranatha High, the New Age Academy, Wesley Methodist, the Whole Gospel Academy, and Clement Howell High as well as from the Community College.
The impressive weeklong event hosted 480 guests over six nights, a turnout that organizers consider a tremendous success for its first year. The World Gourmet Affair ended with a gala event that not only delighted guests, but set the stage for many more to come.
“It shows that the Turks and Caicos community is ready for our Gourmet Affair showcasing the resorts and Turks and Caicos as a gourmet destination,” said Ingo Reckhorn, who helped organize the event. “We (the organizers) are thrilled about this level of support and look forward to making next year’s World Gourmet Affair an even bigger success.”
Oil hits US$101 a barrell as Egypt crisis mounts
Oil prices smashed through $100 a barrel Monday for the first time since the 2008 economic crisis, as traders worried that unrest in Egypt could disrupt oil flows through the Suez Canal.
Oil prices surged to $101 a barrel for London's main Brent North Sea crude contract, as protesters gathered for a seventh straight day amid threats of a general strike.
Egypt is not a major oil producer, but is home to the vitally important Suez Canal, which carries around 2.4 million barrels of oil a day - roughly equivalent to the daily output of Iraq or Brazil.
Egyptian authorities insist the canal is still working at full capacity, but unrest has caused major shipping giants such as AP Moller-Maersk to halt operations in the country.
The threat of delays has prompted some normally reticent oil industry honchos to sound the alarm.
OPEC secretary general Abdalla Salem El-Badri warned "there could be a real shortage" of crude oil passing through Suez.
While stressing that the market was still well supplied, El-Badri said "if we see a real shortage, we will need to act."
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) pumps about 40 per cent of the world's oil, with the bulk coming from member Saudi Arabia.
No emergency meeting
The oil cartel chief said there was no need for an emergency production meeting ahead of the next scheduled gathering in Vienna in June.
According to figures from Barclays Capital, around two thirds of energy that flows through the Suez Canal heads northward toward the Mediterranean.
That dependence was enough to send European oil prices soaring above those in the United States.
Prices on London's InterContinental exchange ended the day up $1.59 per barrel after touching $101.73 during the day, the highest level since October 2008.
New York's main contract, WTI light sweet crude for March delivery, was up $2.85 to $92.19.
The market is pricing in an "Egypt risk premium", according to analysts at BMO.
But they said it was difficult to see supplies at crushingly low levels, given OPEC's promise and large stockpiles at key US facilities.
"OPEC has already said that they will 'add barrels' if there is a supply disruption, and (the US central plains depot) Cushing has ample inventories, so it is hard to imagine a sustained global supply crunch."
High prices warranted
But SEB Commodity Research analyst Filip Petersson said the threats to the canal and the Suez-Mediterranean oil pipeline (SUMED) warranted the higher prices.
"In the light of uncertainty regarding the Suez Channel, the SUMED pipeline and a spread of political unrest in the region, we consider the risk premium justified," he told AFP.
A sea of protesters flooded downtown Cairo on Monday, brushing aside concessions by President Hosni Mubarak and vowing to topple his regime with strikes and million-strong marches in the capital and Alexandria.
Protesters in Cairo vowed they would only be satisfied when Mubarak quits, and promised to step up their efforts to bring down his creaking regime, after a week of revolt in which at least 125 people have been killed.
Emma Pinnock, an analyst at UK energy consultancy Inenco, predicted that oil could soon strike $110, in part thanks to unrest in Egypt.
"Oil prices are set to move rapidly towards $110 a barrel as a weak dollar, greater global demand and tighter supplies create similar conditions to when prices reached a record high of $147 in 2008," she said.
"Prices rose by more than 15 per cent during 2010 and $110 a barrel is looking more likely as we can see similar market conditions to when oil reached a record high in 2008."
She added: "The situation in Egypt has caused the market to worry about the flow of oil in the Middle East - and obviously, decisions made by OPEC in the next few months will also have a huge impact on oil prices."
Source- AP
Chinese government committed to strengthening Jamaica partnership
THE GOVERNMENT of China says it remains committed to strengthening the China-Jamaica partnership of common prosperity in the Chinese New Year, which begins today.
His Excellency Chen Jinghua, ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Jamaica, gave this assurance at the New Year's reception at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel on Monday.
"The Chinese Embassy in Jamaica will remain relentless in its efforts to push forward the bilateral exchange and cooperation between the two nations. The China-Jamaica friendship will grow by leaps and bounds," said Jinghua, as he sought support from his audience to bolster the China-Jamaica ties.
In disclosing that a classical Chinese garden would be added to Hope Gardens, he cited some initiatives already implemented to advance educational and economic cooperation between the two countries.
"A Confucius Institute, first of its kind in the English-speaking Caribbean, opened its door at UWI Mona campus. Chinese companies are reaching out to help Jamaica build the Montego Bay Convention Centre, an islandwide road network and several economic housing projects," Ambassador Jinghua outlined.
Closer connections
According to the ambassador, Prime Minister Bruce Golding's visit to his country in February, 2010, has significantly boosted the China-Jamaica relations. He hinted that the closer connections would become even more evident, with an increased presence and availability of Blue Mountain Coffee at Chinese bars and restaurants.
Other possibilities, he claimed, were being pursued to augment the alliance.
"A few months ago, I even bumped into a group of Chinese tourism professionals in Kingston exploring ways to attract more Chinese to come and enjoy holidays in Jamaica," stated the ambassador.
The Chinese government has much cause to celebrate, as last year its economy grew by 10.3 per cent, making it the world's second largest, with a gross domestic product (GDP) of US$6 trillion.
Ambassador Jinghua pointed out, however, that the country's leadership, not being complacent about its rapid GDP growth, has designed an outline of the 12th five-year plan for China's Economic and Social Development (2011-2015).