Butch' reversed funds credited to his pension account
APPLIANCE Traders Limited (ATL) Chairman Gordon 'Butch' Stewart had taken steps to reverse funds credited to his account from the alleged unauthorised surplus distribution, the court was told yesterday during the fraud trial of three former ATL executives.
The evidence was given by ATL Global Chief Financial Officer David Davies under cross-examination by Queen's Counsel Frank Phipps in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court, Half-Way-Tree.
Davies had told Phipps earlier that he felt a "moral obligation" to have the funds that was credited to his own account in 2008 reversed after he learnt two years later that the distribution from the ATL pension scheme was done without the consent of founder Gorstew Limited, the holding company for Stewart's companies.
He said he wrote to the general manager of the fund in July 2011 asking that steps be taken to have the process reversed.
Questioned further, Davies said he spoke with ATL corporate lawyer Dmitri Singh about the issue and that Singh too agreed to a reversal.
Asked if he had advised the other beneficiaries by circular or any other means that they were to return their portion of the distributed surplus, Davies said 'no' because it was made clear by himself and accused Patrick Lynch at a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the ATL pension fund that the $1.7 billion distribution was done without proper authorisation and should be reversed.
But Davies' response drew a suggestion from Phipps, who is representing Lynch, that his response wasn't true. "To the best of my knowledge," Davies said, "that is what was said."
Phipps was continuing his cross examination of Davies following a break in the trial early last week.
Lynch, former chairman of the ATL Pension Fund; Dr Jeffery Pyne, former managing director of Gorstew Limited; and Catherine Barber, former administrator of the fund, are accused of conspiring to have $1.73 billion distributed from the surplus in the pension fund to workers and, in so doing, they allegedly benefited from the distribution, using forged documents to commit the alleged fraud.
Davies had testified during his examination-in-chief that he was "shocked and surprised" that the Trustees didn't seek Gorstew's consent for the distribution of the surplus from the funds, as stated by the Trust Deed and Rules, and at the "significant jump" in the amount that was distributed.
Yesterday, Phipps asked him if his shock and surprise were over the fact that the amount in the pension fund had moved from $14.8 million in December 1990 to $6.2 billion in December 2009. In response, Davies reiterated the reason for being "shocked and surprised" after explaining that he knew of the $6.2 billion figure but not what the figure was in December of 1990.
On another note, Phipps tackled Davies over whether or not there was anything in the Trust Deed that specified how Gorstew's consent should be obtained in relation to surplus distribution. Davies said it was obvious to him that consent was to be given on writing, adding," "That's why the auditors were looking for consent on the files."
In subsequent follow-up questions on the issue, Davies agreed that the Financial Services Commission had said in a report that a decision must be taken on the procedure to be taken in obtaining consent from founder Gorstew Limited.
Phipps ended his examination of Davies following the luncheon adjournment, but he's to continue with him when the prosecution makes available undisclosed documents.
Phipps also made heavy weather of the Observer's use of "pay out" instead of "distribution" of the pension surplus in previous news reports, asking Davies to agree that the two terms were not the same.
This cleared the way for Davies to be questioned by Queen's Counsel KD Knight, who appears for Pyne.
Knight suggested that the case against the three was about "fear, power, greed and evil", and that it had nothing to do with criminal activities, to which Davies disagreed.
In relation to a PricewaterhouseCoopers review of the pension fund towards the ending of 2010, Davies testified that the audit firm didn't "ascribe fraud" to the fact that no written consent was found for the distribution.
Knight is to continue his examination of Davies when the trial resumes tomorrow.
Toilet paper shortage in Venezuela causing panic
Venezuelans scrambled to stock up on toilet paper Thursday as fears of a bathroom emergency spread despite the socialist government’s promise to import 50 million rolls.
After years of economic dysfunction, the country has gotten used to shortages of medicines and basic food items like milk and sugar but the scarcity of bathroom tissue has caused unusual alarm.
“Even at my age, I’ve never seen this,” said 70-year-old Maria Rojas. She said she had been looking for toilet paper for two weeks when she finally found it at a supermarket in downtown Caracas.
Thousands of rolls flew off the store’s shelves as consumers streamed in and loaded up shopping carts Thursday morning. “I bought it because it’s hard to find,” said Maria Perez, walking out with several rolls of paper.
Economists say the shortages stem from price controls intended to make basic goods available to the poorest citizens and the government's controls on foreign currency.
President Nicolas Maduro, who was selected by the dying Hugo Chavez to carry on his “Bolivarian revolution,” claims that anti-government forces, including the private sector, are causing the shortages in an effort to destabilize the country.
The government this week announced it would import 760,000 tons of food and 50 million rolls of toilet paper.
Commerce Minister Alejandro Fleming said “excessive demand” for tissue had built up due to a “media campaign that has been generated to disrupt the country.”
Caribbean Challenge Initiative to address environmental threats to the region
The Caribbean Summit of Political and Business Leaders, May 17-18, [brought] together heads of state and corporate executives to launch Phase II of the Caribbean Challenge Initiative (CCI) to address environmental threats to the Caribbean region. With the goal of protecting 20 percent of the Caribbean’s marine and coastal resources by 2020, the CCI is among the most ambitious conservation initiatives ever undertaken.
Hosted by Prime Minister Dr. the Right Honorable Keith C. Mitchell of Grenada, Premier Dr. the Honorable D. Orlando Smith, OBE of the British Virgin Islands and Sir Richard Branson, Founder of Virgin Group, the Summit will serve as a forum to announce new CCI partners and large-scale public and private funding commitments to advance the goals of safeguarding the Caribbean region’s tourism-based economy. It will be an opportunity to exchange ideas, share experiences and successful stories, and discuss collaboration mechanisms going forward. Government leaders are also negotiating a Leaders Declaration designed to accelerate Phase II of the CCI.
“Protecting our natural resources is one of the biggest opportunities of our lifetime, and nowhere is it more evident than in the Caribbean,” said Sir Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group. “This Summit is a milestone on the path to protecting the Caribbean’s environment and helping empower the region’s communities and economy.”
The Summit [took] place in the North Sound region of Virgin Gorda and a press conference [was] held Friday, May 17 on Necker Island with key stakeholders, and field visits can be arranged through The Nature Conservancy to see conservation projects including coral reef nurseries and marine protected areas.
“In the Caribbean, the economy and public health of coastal communities, as well as the region’s largest economic sector, tourism, is inextricably linked to a healthy marine and coastal environment. Coral loss and other threats to the coast could cost the local economy up to $420 million each year,” said Glenn Prickett, Chief External Affairs Officer from The Nature Conservancy. “Investing in the sustainable management of these coastal resources will help ensure livelihoods for fishers, a thriving coastal tourism sector, and greater shoreline protection from future storms.”
Source-eTurboNews
Man who attacked Jamaica's PM brother further remanded
The man accused of attacking the elder brother of Prime Minister, Portia Simpson Miller, has been further remanded.
Andre Foreman is charged with robbery with aggravation, wounding with intent and illegal possession of firearm.
He was ordered to return to the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court on June 26.
It’s reported that on May 3, 70-year-old Vincent Simpson, was at his business establishment in downtown Kingston, when two armed robbers entered and demanded money.
When he refused he was hit on the head with a blunt object.
The robbers left with his licensed firearm, a flat screen TV and $40,000 in cash.
A second suspect was released after he was not pointed out in an identification parade.
US tornado rescue effort nears end
Emergency crews' search in the ruins left by the gigantic tornado that killed two dozen people in Oklahoma on Monday is almost over, say officials.
Fire chief Gary Bird said he was "98% sure" there were no more survivors or bodies to recover from the rubble.
The storm, which also killed nine children, has meanwhile been upgraded to the most powerful level of twister.
Packing winds of at least 200mph (320km/h), the tornado razed a swathe of the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore.
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin said the death toll may rise above 24 as some bodies could have been taken directly to funeral homes.
The body count was revised down from 51 after the state medical examiner said some victims may have been counted twice in the confusion.
Eritrea Returns to Calm
Calm has reportedly returned to the east African nation of Eritrea a day after a group of mutinous soldiers attempted to take over the country's information ministry.
More than 100 dissident soldiers stormed the ministry in Asmara early Monday, ordering state television announcers to read a statement calling for the release of political prisoners and saying the 1997 constitution would be respected.
It is unclear how the situation was resolved, but the soldiers are believed to have left the ministry by late Monday.
In a message posted on Twitter Tuesday, the director of the Eritrean president's office, Yemane Ghebremeskel, said “all is calm today as it was yesterday.”
Diplomats and residents say the situation in the capital is quiet with no military presence seen on the streets.
The U.S.-based Eritrean opposition website, Awate.com, says the mutiny was led by a prominent military commander, named Saleh Osman, in an attempt to restart stalled negotiations for the country's democratization.
President Isaias Afewerki has ruled Eritrea since 1993. His government has kept tight control on the country, allowing little dissent and no independent media.
The government is believed to hold thousands of political prisoners, including journalists and officials who questioned the president's leadership.
The United Nations human rights office has said the country of about six million people holds between 5,000 and 10,000 political prisoners.
Car Bomb Toll at Least 42 -Syrian Activists
Syrian rights activists say the death toll from a suicide car bombing in the central province of Hama late Monday has risen to at least 42 people.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the attack targeted a building used by pro-government militiamen in the town of Salamiyah. It said civilians were among the dead.
Syrian state news agency SANA gave a death toll of 32 people and blamed the bombing on terrorists whom it says are behind a 22-month rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad.
The Observatory also reported deadly battles between mostly Sunni anti-government rebels and minority Kurdish fighters in the northeastern town of Ras al-Ain, on the border with Turkey.
It said at least 56 fighters have been killed in a week of fighting in the area. Syria's minority Kurds have largely remained on the sidelines of the majority-Sunni led rebellion, but have long sought greater autonomy from Damascus.
The Observatory said pro-Assad troops and rebels engaged in more battles in Damascus province on Tuesday.
Dozens of Russians boarded buses from Syria to neighboring Lebanon in the first evacuation organized by Moscow since the start of the Syrian uprising in 2011.
The Russian government had sent two planes to the Lebanese capital Beirut to fly the Russians back home. Syria's main international airport outside Damascus has been largely devoid of traffic in recent weeks due to fighting along the road to the capital.
Russia is one of the few remaining international allies of Mr. Assad's government. But, it has been distancing itself from the Syrian leader, acknowledging that he may be ousted by the uprising.
Separately, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on U.N. members to send senior delegations to an international donor conference for Syria, to be held in Kuwait on January 30. He said the international community must do everything it can to help Syrians in need.
The UNHCR reported Tuesday that it is dramatically scaling up its operations for Syrian refugees. The agency says it is hard to keep pace with the increasing numbers of people fleeing Syria into neighboring countries.
Japan Moves to Stimulate Its Stalled Economy
Japan's central bank is embarking on an American-like plan to stimulate the country's stalled economy by pumping more money into it.
The Bank of Japan, under pressure from the new government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, agreed Tuesday to double its inflation target to 2 percent and stimulate the world's third largest economy for an indefinite period through asset purchases. The economic boost is similar to that undertaken in recent years by the U.S. central bank, the Federal Reserve.
Japan's economy has been long stalled, restrained by deflation, with falling prices. Mr. Abe said the new policy marked a significant change.
“In terms of making a bold review of monetary policy, I believe (the agreement with the bank) is a ground-breaking statement. A macroeconomic regime change clearly is under way.”
A governor for the Bank of Japan, Masaaki Shirakawa, is optimistic that the stimulus will boost the country's economy.
“They (the government) have again pledged to take concrete steps towards a sustainable fiscal structure. We have high expectations for the government's measures.”
Car Bombs Kill 16 in Iraq Tuesday
A wave of car bombings in and around the Iraqi capital has killed at least 16 people.
The blasts Tuesday included an attack near an army base in Taji, 25 kilometers north of Baghdad, which killed six people and wounded at least 20 others.
Another car bomb killed five people, including two soldiers, near a security checkpoint in Mahmudiyah, south of the capital.
A third attack hit Baghdad's Shula neighborhood, killing five others.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the bombings.
Last week, a string of attacks across the country killed at least 59 people.
Earthquake shakes Antigua
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An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.8 was felt in Antigua and Barbuda and the French island of Martinique Saturday night, but there were no immediate reports of injury of destruction.
The US-based National Earthquake Information Centre said that the quake occurred at 7.50 pm (local time) and had a depth of 20 kilometres. It was located 17.42 north, 62.01 west.
Residents in Antigua and Barbuda said the tremor lasted more than a minute.
Late last month, Antigua and Barbuda and several other countries in the Leeward Islands were rocked by a quake with a magnitude of 5.1 and Saturday night’s earthquake is the latest in a series of tremors that have occurring in several Caribbean countries in recent months.
Earlier this month Trinidad and Tobago was shaken by a quake with a magnitude of 3.7 as officials warn residents of the oil rich twin-island country to be prepared for a major earthquake.