AG steps aside in Trinidad
Attorney General Anand Ramlogan has temporarily relinquished his responsibilities for the Central Authority, paving the way for the police investigating the e-mail matter to seek foreign assistance if they need it. Sources said yesterday that Ramlogan wrote to the head of the Central Authority, Netram Kowlessar, last month recusing himself from all duties and responsibilities affiliated with the investigation of the 31 e-mails raised by Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley in Parliament, and delegated all responsibilities to Kowlessar.
Kowlessar, the T&T Guardian learnt, in response to the AG’s letter, which was dated May 21, queried whether Ramlogan was sure he wanted to shift such a responsibility to him. The AG said yes. Under the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, the AG “may delegate any of his functions under this act to any public officer or legal officer employed in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs.”
The AG’s recusal now means Deputy Commissioner of Police Mervyn Richardson and his investigative team can go through the Central Authority to seek assistance from foreign parties. There had been a call from several quarters, both legal and political, for Ramlogan to step aside during the investigation, since via the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT), his office would have liaised with some of the international bodies the police would seek assistance from.
Calls to Ramlogan’s cellphone yesterday were not answered, but when the T&T Guardian contacted Kowlessar yesterday, he directed all calls to Ramlogan. “I would prefer not to comment. Seek a comment from the AG,” Kowlessar said. Asked whether any requests had come to the Central Authority seeking the invocation of the MLAT, Kowlessar said: “At this point in time, no written request has been made.”
He added that he would have to treat with such a request if it came. “Requests are confidential and we will not be making pronouncements where this is concerned,” he said. “It’s something not really published or advertised because of the level of confidentiality, hence the reason you will not get a release from the Central Authority stating this. It will not be proper for the Central Authority to make such statements because of the level of confidentiality.”
Two of the e-mail server domains which the police will have to probe—Gmail and Yahoo— are owned by companies based in the United States. On May 22, Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard, SC, also recused himself because he too was named in the e-mails, which Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley claimed were fed to him by a whistle-blower.
Gaspard, in a release then, said he felt duty-bound to do this “so that the public may feel that justice has not only been done, but is seen to be done.” He delegated the task of advising the police in this matter to one of his deputies, Joan Honore-Paul. Gaspard also said the e-mails presented by Rowley in Parliament required experts experienced “in both forensic analysis in the relevant foreign jurisdiction as well as in the conducting of investigations in matters of this type.”
The police have said they would be willing to seek assistance from their foreign counterparts if needed.
Source-Guardian
AG steps aside in Trinidad
Attorney General Anand Ramlogan has temporarily relinquished his responsibilities for the Central Authority, paving the way for the police investigating the e-mail matter to seek foreign assistance if they need it. Sources said yesterday that Ramlogan wrote to the head of the Central Authority, Netram Kowlessar, last month recusing himself from all duties and responsibilities affiliated with the investigation of the 31 e-mails raised by Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley in Parliament, and delegated all responsibilities to Kowlessar.
Kowlessar, the T&T Guardian learnt, in response to the AG’s letter, which was dated May 21, queried whether Ramlogan was sure he wanted to shift such a responsibility to him. The AG said yes. Under the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, the AG “may delegate any of his functions under this act to any public officer or legal officer employed in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs.”
The AG’s recusal now means Deputy Commissioner of Police Mervyn Richardson and his investigative team can go through the Central Authority to seek assistance from foreign parties. There had been a call from several quarters, both legal and political, for Ramlogan to step aside during the investigation, since via the Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT), his office would have liaised with some of the international bodies the police would seek assistance from.
Calls to Ramlogan’s cellphone yesterday were not answered, but when the T&T Guardian contacted Kowlessar yesterday, he directed all calls to Ramlogan. “I would prefer not to comment. Seek a comment from the AG,” Kowlessar said. Asked whether any requests had come to the Central Authority seeking the invocation of the MLAT, Kowlessar said: “At this point in time, no written request has been made.”
He added that he would have to treat with such a request if it came. “Requests are confidential and we will not be making pronouncements where this is concerned,” he said. “It’s something not really published or advertised because of the level of confidentiality, hence the reason you will not get a release from the Central Authority stating this. It will not be proper for the Central Authority to make such statements because of the level of confidentiality.”
Two of the e-mail server domains which the police will have to probe—Gmail and Yahoo— are owned by companies based in the United States. On May 22, Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard, SC, also recused himself because he too was named in the e-mails, which Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley claimed were fed to him by a whistle-blower.
Gaspard, in a release then, said he felt duty-bound to do this “so that the public may feel that justice has not only been done, but is seen to be done.” He delegated the task of advising the police in this matter to one of his deputies, Joan Honore-Paul. Gaspard also said the e-mails presented by Rowley in Parliament required experts experienced “in both forensic analysis in the relevant foreign jurisdiction as well as in the conducting of investigations in matters of this type.”
The police have said they would be willing to seek assistance from their foreign counterparts if needed.
Source-Guardian
BOJ continues to chase Jamaican dollars
The Bank of Jamaica will be offering another two variable rate Certificates of Deposit aimed at taking cash out of the system.
The CDs are special issues available for subscription from June 12 to June 18, at rates that are more than a percentage point above the regular CD issued by BOJ.
The offers are being used as tools by the central bank as an alternative to investors with cash that would otherwise be invested in the foreign exchange market, thereby taking downward pressure off the local currency.
However, the JMD ploughed through the psychological barrier of J$100 per share last Friday, June 7. It traded at J$100.30 against the USD on Wednesday.
BOJ says it aims to raise J$3 billion from a 183-day CD priced initially at 6.77 per cent for the first quarter and thereafter at the three-month treasury plus a reset price of 0.15 per cent.
For the other CD, a one-year issue, the BOJ has set no limits on the funds to be raised from the offer. The initial coupon rate is 6.85 per cent payable in the first quarter. The reset price in the following periods will be 0.23 per cent above the three-month treasury rate.
The offers are open to BOJ’s licensed primary dealers and commercial banks.
The central bank said it would continue to offer its regular 30-day CD at the current rate of 5.75 per cent.
The BOJ has already placed seven special variable rates CDs since April -- the current issues will bring the placements to nine year to date -- as well as a fixed rate USD-indexed bond under its liquidity management programme.
Source-gleanerjm.com
$12m in ganja seized in Toco and Tobago
Police seized more than $12 million worth of high-grade marijuana during two separate drug interdiction exercises in Tobago and Toco between Tuesday afternoon and yesterday. Twenty-nine kilos of marijuana were seized in Toco on Tuesday and another 800 kilos confiscated in Tobago yesterday. Investigators suspect the two were connected.
Two men were detained in the Tobago bust and a couple were held in Toco. The haul, police said, originated from St Vincent. Around 4 pm on Tuesday police from the Eastern Division Task Force, who had been involved in the search for missing hiker Bissoondaye Geeta Seenath, stopped a panel van on the Toco Main Road.
They searched the van and found three crocus bags of compressed marijuana. The 27-year-old driver, from San Juan, and his 31-year-old female companion, from Balandra, were held and taken into custody. Early yesterday, police from the Roxborough Police Station, the Criminal Gang and Intelligence Unit and the Divisional Task Force got a tip-off and went to an area close to the beach in Belle Garden where they found ten crocus bags of marijuana hidden in the bush.
They then headed to Englishman’s Bay and stopped a Nissan X-Trail on the North Side Road, with two occupants. The men escaped but while checking the vehicle the police found 11 more crocus bags filled with marijuana. Speaking at a news conference at the Scarborough Police Station yesterday Senior Supt Garfield Moore said the operation was part of an ongoing exercise to rid Tobago of illegal narcotics and the escalating drug trade.
“We are not going to let up because we realise that Tobago is being used as a transshipment point. Because of the information received about the amount of drugs arriving in Tobago, we want to ensure that is discouraged because Tobago is not the area we want drugs being offloaded in that quantity,” Moore said. Meanwhile, Assistant Police Commissioner of Tobago Heflin George commended the officers who made the bust, saying they went the extra mile.
Source-Guardian
House Suspends Debate on Revenue Administration Act in Jamaica
Debate on the Revenue Administration (Amendment) Act in Jamaica has been suspended until June 18, to allow for further deliberations on the proposals contained in the Act.
The move came after the Opposition raised concern about some of the provisions in the legislation, which seeks to, among other things, bring about significant improvements to the ability of the tax authorities to access tax-related information held by various parties.
Finance and Planning Minister, Dr. the Hon. Peter Phillips, who opened the debate in the House of Representatives yesterday (June 12), said the legislation will give the Commissioner General of Tax Administration Jamaica (TAJ) the power to demand useful and useable information in a form appropriate to the individual sectors.
He said it will facilitate more efficient and effective exercise of the powers of investigation, audit, assessment collection, and enforcement by TAJ, and improve the quality and usefulness of information supplied to TAJ by various parties on a periodic basis.
“Revenue authorities are currently restricted in their efforts to promote compliance in all sectors of the economy because of their inability to collect and use information that is needed and to identify, register, audit and access certain taxpayers. Lack of information is acknowledged to be one of the main obstacles to tax collections with some known sources of information being sealed off by the present laws,”
Dr. Phillips stated. He argued that there is a high rate of delinquency associated with the undetectable income-generating activities of unregistered persons.
“As the law now stands there are too many opportunities for those who seek to evade taxes and find grounds of resistance to the tax authorities in the form of the secrecy provisions that exists in the current legislation and the overly circumscribed narrow powers of the Commissioner General,” Dr. Phillips stated.
The Act also intends to facilitate a more effective exchange of information with Jamaica’s treaty partners under the various double taxation agreements.
It will also ensure that the information provided will enable Jamaica to meet the international standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.
In his remarks, Opposition Spokesperson on Finance, Audley Shaw, argued that more time is needed to get feedback on the provisions on the Bill as the consequences are far reaching.
He noted that the proposed amendments seek to give tax authorities more power than they already have. Mr. Shaw recommended that a Committee of Parliament be formed to hold discussions on the legislation.
Source-JIS
Three Shot at Port of Spain General Hospital
Police scrambled to the Port of Spain General Hospital Thursday afternoon after three persons, among them a nurse, were shot.
Initial reports are that at around 2 p.m, the nurse was walking past the
food court located on the hospital compound, when she was grabbed
by a man who used her as a human shield against a gunman who
was pointing a gun.
Nurse Alexis Bhagan, 30, was shot along with the man who was hiding behind her. A second woman, said to be a janitor at a secondary school in east Trinidad, was also shot. Bhagan was shot in the face and transferred to the St Clair Medical Centre for a CT scan to be performed to determine the extent of her head injuries.
The suspect escaped. The area where the attack happened is manned by hospital security guards. However, the shooting incident was over within seconds, and there was no time for the guards to react, the Express was told.
Hospital workers noted that there were no CCTV cameras set up near the area of the attack.
Source-T.E.N
Assad Used Chemical Weapons in Syria
The White House says it now has conclusive evidence that Syrian troops have used chemical weapons against rebels -- a move President Barack Obama has said would cross a "red line."
Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters Thursday that President Obama has decided to send direct military support to the rebel fighters. But he declined to say what that support would be or when it will arrive.
Rhodes said that according to intelligence, as many as 150 people have died from multiple small-scale chemical weapons attacks over the past year. He said those numbers are likely not complete.
The national security official said sarin gas is among the chemicals used by the Syrian army. He said there is no reliable corroborated reports that the rebels also have acquired or used chemical weapons.
U.S. intelligence officials have been saying for months they were confident that chemical weapons have been used by the Syrian government . But Mr. Obama had said he needed to see firm evidence before deciding his next move.
The president is under increasing pressure from some in Congress and other prominent voices, including former President Bill Clinton, to take more forceful action in Syria -- including arming the rebels.
The United Nations says nearly 93,000 people have been been killed in Syria over the last two years. The majority of them have been civilians.
Erdogan to Meet With Second Group of Protesters
Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has invited a second group of anti-government protesters to a surprise late-night meeting after giving what he called a "final warning" to the marchers.
The second delegation includes artists, actors and singers. The prime minister met with another group on Wednesday. But most demonstrators brushed off the talks, saying the government handpicked the delegation.
Earlier Thursday, Mr. Erdogan gave those he calls "troublemakers" 24 hours to clear out of Istanbul's Taksim Square.
The protests began two weeks ago as a march against plans to tear up a public park next to the square. They quickly built up into marches against the government and Mr. Erdogan.
The opposition accuses him of imposing his conservative Islamic views on secular Turks
Riot police have used tear gas, water cannons and stun grenades to drive off the marchers in Istanbul and Ankara. Four people have died, about 5,000 people hurt and thousands of others arrested.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki said the United States welcomes efforts to resolve Turkey's problems through dialogue. She also said U.S. officials are troubled by what they call pressure on media outlets covering the protests
Zimbabwe's PM Vows to Fight Election Decree
Zimbabwe's prime minister, Morgan Tsvangirai, has vowed to fight a unilateral decision by President Robert Mugabe to hold national elections on July 31.
Mr. Tsvangirai has accused his government coalition partner of acting "unconstitutionally." The prime minister says he cannot accept the date.
Mr. Tsvangirai commented on Thursday, shortly after Mr. Mugabe issued a presidential decree setting the election date, which complies with a constitutional court order that requires the country to hold elections by the end of July.
The constitutional court issued the ruling in May in response to a lawsuit from an activist who demanded Mr. Mugabe set an election date before parliament ends its term June 29.
Prime Minister Tsvangirai, however, has said he would not support any election date that comes before democratic reforms are enacted.
He vowed to take the matter to court.
"I will not accept a situation where Zimbabweans will yet again be railroaded and frog-marched to another illegitimate and violent election."
Zimbabwe's 2008 elections were marred by violence, most of it by supporters of Mr. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party. The unrest prompted the regional leaders with the Southern African Development Community to nullify Mr. Mugabe's election victory.
He formed a power-sharing government with Mr. Tsvangirai, at the behest of the SADC.
Mr. Tsvangarai has been seeking adjustments to electoral laws and other statues that affect freedom of expression and association, and the work of the news media.
He says the earliest the country could hold elections would be August 25.
Mr. Mugabe has ruled Zimbabwe since its independence from Britain in 1980. The 89-year-old president has said he intends to run again.
UN Says 93,000 Dead in Syria Conflict
The United Nations says nearly 93,000 people have been confirmed killed in Syria's war, although it warns the actual figure is probably much higher.
The U.N. human rights office says the latest toll, which accounted for deaths until the end of April, is most likely a minimum figure.
The U.N. said an average of more than 5,000 people have been killed monthly since last July. Navi Pillay, the U.N.'s top human rights official, said this reflects the "drastically deteriorating pattern of the conflict over the past year."
The report said at least 6,500 children have died in the conflict and documented cases of children being tortured and executed along with their families.
With no letup to the fighting, governments backing opposition forces are considering new ways to support the rebellion against embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with government troops now massing near rebel-held parts of the city of Aleppo.
The White House said Thursday that President Barack Obama is monitoring the situation in Syria, assessing the options available to the United States and its allies and that any further steps will be based on U.S. national interests.
Secretary of State John Kerry and his British counterpart, William Hague, met in Washington Wednesday to discuss Syria.
Kerry said the danger is made worse by Mr. Assad's allies Hezbollah and Iran and that the U.S. is focusing its efforts on supporting "the opposition as they work to change the balance on the ground."
Activists said Syrian rebels battled government troops Thursday for control of a key military base in central Hama province after chasing soldiers out and setting fire to installations there.