Hal Austin
Introduction:
Now that we are having the debate over the mismanagement of the Barbados economy and the failure of monetary and fiscal policy, it is important that we turn our attention to the question of the wider macro-economic winds facing us in 2014. First, however, it is necessary to note that although the big battalions of the International Monetary Fund are waiting to invade with their rejuvenated Washington Consensus prescriptions, those in charge of monetary and fiscal policy are still locked in a policy-making vegetative state unable to even think for themselves. Here is Dr DeLisle Worrell, governor of the central bank, in a so-called sponsored statement (was this paid for by the central bank?) stating: “Barbados’s recent economic performance has been commendable given the unprecedented recession in the markets for our tourism and treaded services.” This is a blatant untruth; which ‘markets’ is he talking about? Is he talking about the UK, eurozone, in particular Germany, Canada, the US? If so, Dr Worrell is either not keeping up with global macro-economic data or he is attempting to mislead financial economists, deliberately or otherwise. If so, it is bound to fail because all fund houses have more economic data than he and his colleagues imagine.
All the major developed economies are now showing growth; the eurozone may be a bit more fragile, but the IMF is not so impressed that it is about to revise upwards the fund’s growth forecasts for this year. He goes on “…Barbados brings a number of competitive strengths to the international market. The country’s social and political institutions are stable, the labour force skilled and educated, the physical infrastructure good, and there are strong institutions for information-sharing, discussion and democratic decision-making.” Again this is waffle. There is an enormous skills deficit that is weighing down the economy; people are ‘educated’ in the sense that they are not illiterate in real terms, however they are uneducated to function in a highly technological and sophisticated world. Our claims to being 98 per cent literate are bogus and, as a nation, we should stop advertising what we do not have in stock. He goes on to claim: “The financial regulatory systems are of a high standard, judged by the norms of the Basle Committee on Banking Supervision and other international regulatory bodies.”
Is he referring to the Financial Services Commission, which cannot even understand the business model of the mismanaged Clico and is still allowing this awful regulatory mess to hang with investors and annuitants still waiting for settlement when Clico apparently still owns Todds, Henley, Poole and Wakefield plantations – a classic example of its investment incompetence?
Or is Dr Worrell talking about the central bank, which he heads, which has just allowed a foreign-owned company to tell an innocent businessman to move his money – a man who has not been arrested, tried or convicted in a court of law, whatever people may think about his involvement in Clico’s collapse. Why did the central bank not called in the bank’s senior executives and order them to come up with evidence to substantiate their damaging imputation of the man’s character? Why did the money-laundering authority not call in the bank’s compliance executives and ask them for evidence of suspected criminal behaviour failing which order them to continue providing a normal service to the customer? I am not a lawyer, but it me it seems like malice, a breach of the duty of care which a bank owes to its customers, breach of good faith, fiduciary duty, the list is endless.
The brutal truth is that the financial sector in Barbados, even with Chris Sinckler at the helm, is a classic example of a failed state. Its politicians and technocrats have failed the nation and themselves.
National:
What is now urgently needed is a strategy to deal with the short term problems, such as the massive high unemployment, high household debt, the current account deficit; the medium term, such as the awfully high debt-to-GDP ratio,; and, the long-term, growth and prosperity to take us in to the middle of the century. There are two dominant negative influences on the macro-economics of Barbados. First, narrow party political self-interest is continuing to dominate economics; and, second, there is an epidemic of under-productivity that no one wants to talk about. But the failure is not just that of the DLP government, at least Chris Sinckler is right about that. It is a national failure of imagination that goes right across the board, from the civil service and wider public sector, to the cosy family-run and badly managed small hotels who are always extending their hands for state help.
From a university that is happy tickling its own belly with courses that are largely a waste of public funds, while over-supplying the nation with lawyers, humanities, social science and history graduates – a non-producing caste. A nation that is rightly proud of its education and training institutions, yet can have dozens of state-owned historic buildings in various states of dereliction yet have a skill training centre, the Samuel Jackson Prescod Polytechnic, which does not think it part of its brief to renovate some of these buildings. Despite all the economic problems, the DLP government has still failed to draft a sustainable programme of spending reductions. Just look at the mess that Sinckler has made of the proposed public sector redundancies. One minute 3000 people are going, next he is discussing the matter with the puffed trade unions, the very architects of much of this national down fall. Why is he talking to Sir Roy Trotman? Why is the BWU still pretending that Sir Roy has anything of relevance to say about industrial relations? Yet, in typical Barbadian style, this government is still determined to live beyond its means, with all the trappings of wealth held up by a false pride, while it is neck-deep in debt. For example, why do we need a Defence Force, when a nation like Iceland – geographically bigger but with a population similar to our own – does not? What about spending money to introduction modern technology right across government which, within a single parliamentary term, will pay for itself in productivity gains? One other obvious gap in the government’s policymaking is the urgent need for proper financialisation of the small and medium business sector. The Trinidad and Canadian-owned banks have gone on strike; it is clear to anyone who cares to watch that they are hellbent on not lending to local businesses. And, as every first year economics students knows, it is this business sector that creates the bulk of the jobs and drives the economy. The DLP can capitalise on the flawed decision by the BLP government to sell off the Barbados National Bank, one of the worst policy decisions by any post-independence Barbadian government, by righting this wrong. A small retail bank, trading on its balance sheet, could meet most of the needs of households and local businesses.
Impose a swingeing windfall tax on the retail banks and use that money to fund a small balance sheet bank? Ignore the bad economic suggestion from those on the periphery of national life and print money; use some of the remaining foreign reserves to fund the bank. Tax mobile (cell) phones; tax sugary soft drinks; impose higher taxes on tobacco and alcohol; make vehicle owners pay to have them on the road by imposing higher petrol duty and road taxes.
The minister of transport, Michael Lashley, is doing the right thing by ‘restructuring’ the Transport Board, but his idea of a joint private/public system with a ‘social element’ seems off key. What this cash-strapped government should be doing is preparing the Transport Board for re-location, splitting off the various businesses and then selling it to the people of Barbados (but certainly not to Kyffin Simpson). In the process he should also be thinking of getting rid of those mobile vandals called ZR vans. There has been nothing on the government’s, or indeed the public’s, agenda about social enterprise, community-supported industry, cooperatives, or friendly societies. The government has failed to draft a rescue plan to save the nation because its ministers, advisers and senior civil servants do not have the imagination or necessary policy-making skills to create a sustainable plan.
Analysis and Conclusion:
As we dance around the damning challenges encircling Barbados few of our political and social leaders are even thinking about, far less acting on the building social tensions that threaten to tear our society apart. As I have said before, we cannot be one-dimensional people, we must see Barbados in the round, including the massive inequalities and injustices. One initiative that government should have introduced as soon as the David Thompson administration came to power was a programme to rescue the boys and girls on the block, the very foundation of our nation. As things stand, these young people are not even in the frame. This is a time when the government department that should have come in to its own is the Small Business Unit. Instead it has been viciously marginalised by a government that has little time for small businesses – a blind spot that we as a nation will later regret.
One dimension of the failure of the DLP government is its apparent inability to even devise an industrial strategy as one potential driver of change. This is because of the white-collar obsessed thinking of the power elite. And, of course, after this failure of thought and imagination, they are appealing for loyalty. But his appeal for loyalty is bogus, to do so genuinely he must admit policy failure and open up decision-making on a non-partisan basis, which he has failed to do. But, as Oscar Wilde said, patriotism is the virtue if the vicious.
A great part of our failure as a nation is that we have no post-independence collective memory, far less one that goes back to the early 20th century, so each generation is forced to re-invent the policy-making wheel. What our political and business leaders do not understand is that nobody owes Barbadians a living. They have to compete on level terms with the wider Caribbean, and indeed with the rest of the emerging world. The state of national denial is such that people still believe we are only in fiscal intensive care, they hardly believe we are now on a life-saving machine. After this is it lights out, kapput, the end of the line. The truth is, in a society that fools itself about its political maturity, the writing is on the wall. I must reiterate, since it is very important, these foreign-owned banks are the weak links in our financial architecture and the government and central bank are incapable of doing anything about them. They are bullies and cowards. Whatever many people may think of Leroy Parris as a person or political operative, the reality is that he has not been accused by any official body of any criminal act, he has not been arrested and brought before a court of law; he has not been convicted of any offence. Yet, our regulators, including a so-called money-laundering authority, have allowed a foreign-owned bank to publicly humiliate the man by ordering him to remove his savings within a set time, they no longer want to do business with him. The message, whether intended or not, is that he is not a fit and proper person to have a bank account with that institution; that his money may be ill-gotten, therefore, implicitly, he is deemed to be dishonest or immoral or both. Not a word to defend the honour of a Barbadian from the money-laundering authority, the central bank, the Financial Services Commission, the ministry of finance or the police. We are on our knees and these |Canadians know it.
We don’t read you too often but at this time of the year we tend to have a little more time than usual. Yuh made some fairly good points this week and while there is more that enough ammunition to attack we tend to the charitable. Given those circumstances, we are still fortified in the considered belief that you continue to misread the fundamental elements.
I stopped this article when the writer called the Governor of the Central a liar. while scrolling down Clico caught my eye so I stopped. May I ask the writer. does the Governor have the authouity to make a commercial close or open private accounts?
@Pachamama
“……. we are still fortified in the considered belief that you continue to misread the fundamental elements”
My translation, for those of us who live in less rarified places is: “you are talking bollocks”.
The Bank is not state owned or operated and Gov’t or CB Governor can’t instruct it to offer services to a particular individual if it decides it is not in its best interests to do this. When one opens an account there is an Operating Agreement which will contain clauses governing the operation of the account perhaps one of those clauses was infringed by the account holder. A decision of this consequence is not taken lightly and this issue would be the subject of highly confidential discussions between local management and HO in Toronto.
One has to look at the big picture the parent company was sued in the US because it was one of the Bankers/Lenders to Enron and paid a billion dollar settlement as a result, more recently RBC settled a class action suit in Canada because a man who ran an investment company swindled his clients. The clients beef with RBC? He operated his account at the bank and they said the Bank ought to have known or should have known that he was not operating his account in a legitimate manner.
There are also financial regulations which govern the operation of an International Bank which does business in many jurisdictions particularly the USA, perhaps one should acquaint oneself about the impact of flouting those regulations after all there is more in the mortar than the pestle.
One question why doesn’t the individual take his funds to another Financial Institution? Banks are always looking for deposits which they use to offset loans to bring in more filthy lucre.
THE WORST EVER GOVERNMENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD SINCE THE TIME OF ADAM IS THE DEMOCRATIC LABOUR PARTY UNDER FREU – DUL STUART WITH THE MINISTER OF FIASCO DULL-CHRIS AND THE MAN WITH THE BIGGEST MOUT FOR ANY MINISTER–RON-DULL JONES
I DID NOT EVEN KNOW THAT HARRY-DULBANDS GET FIRED FROM THE BEC YEARS AGO AFTER WORKING FOR 11 YEARS.
HE REFUSE TO DO BIG BOYS’ BIDDINGS
ISHARRY DULLBANDS A FAILURE IN A FAILING GOVERNMENT ?
WHERE IS FREUN- DUL STUART
HE IN A COMA OR WHAT ?
BRAIN FAILED ?
OR BRAIN FREEZE like the POLAR FREEZE -statesside ?
BRAIN FREEZED UP FROM POLAR-IZATION
Almost on Question and with impeccable and mature timing, Arthur digs out foundations from around and under Mottley’s palace with a delivery Malcolm Marshall would have been proud to have delivered.
His No Gimmicks speech which was delivered to make Mottley look more inept than she generally and usually looks was not wild Scud Missile lacking in a navigation system it was precise and calculated to perfection of timing and opportunity and placement.
Let, etc enlighten your darkness and in doing so let me take you back to New Year’s Eve 2013 a few short weeks ago, when a hasty meeting of the present crop of BLP representatives in the Lower House were summoned to the home of Sir Fred Gollop to meet there to discuss the present issue of the Leadership and direction of the BLP under leadership of Mottley, on hand to decide on Mottley’s demise was a Who’s Who of those who try to determine outcomes from Board Rooms across this island.
The list of those attending is an interesting and instructive one, when people that attended the New Years Eve remove Mottley evening ranged from the Sirs of Sir Allan Fields, Sir Fred Gollop and Sir David Seale and Sir Charles Williams, it also included Mr Bizzy Williams, Mr Peter Harris, Mr Hallam Nicholls, Mr Peter Boos, Mr Lalu Vaswani, while all of these folks were on hand there was no sight of Mottley to attend her own trial and death by Arthur Firing Squad but the ones invited were invited for one common goal and it was to remove Mottley from the leadership of the BLP and this they did without a whisper to lend support to Mottley they met and reformed the BLP in a real pacy way,by voting to strip her as leader of the opposition with only the females in the Lower House lending support to Mottley in her muted bid to stay on as a part time leader.
So based on this sequence of events and the comfort and knowledge that Mottley has been put out to pasture once again it was no surprise to listen to Arthur dress down and humiliate Mottley with his No Gimmicks tirade he was armed with knowledge that Mottley have been discarded as Leader of The Opposition yet again, Arthur is obviously adamant to make her the door mat to Roebuck Street.
Also Arthur is armed with certain knowledge that Minister of Finance will very soon expose her as a liar and FRAUD so her days are numbered and sequenced to be shown the way out within the next few days and hours.
@ John A
I am not surprised to be misquoted, if happens quite often, but I did not call the governor a liar. I am not that rude. I said his claims were a ‘blatant untruth’.
You may play around with words, but an untruth is not the same as a lie in my book. A lie is a deliberate act, an untruth can be unintentional.
@ Sargeant
Banks are not just commercial enterprises, they provide a utility service. That is why in Britain banks must offer a basic account to customers, they cannot refuse unless there is evidence of criminality.
If a Canadian-owned bank is taking an extreme position it is the duty of the regulator to ask why.
“The DLP can capitalise on the flawed decision by the BLP government to sell off the Barbados National Bank, one of the worst policy decisions by any post-independence Barbadian government”
The BNB though with a wider policy portfolio would have eventually succumbed to interference by politicians and cronies as was the fate of other Govermental sponsored lending initiatives like the Agricultural Credit Bank and the Barbados Development Bank.
“Not a word to defend the honour of a Barbadian from the money-laundering authority, the central bank, the Financial Services Commission, the ministry of finance or the police. We are on our knees and these |Canadians know it.”
No doubt about it, we are indeed on our knees since according to newspaper reports the gentleman in question did receive support with intervention at the highest levels from namely The Prime Minister himself, the Minister of Finance and in the eyes of DLP apologists the greatest Governor of the Central Bank of Barbados in our history which from reports was ignored..
@ Balance
You are making a crucial and relevant point, but that extends the scope of this discussion.
Politicians in small states, independent or otherwise, have no real power or influence outside their jurisdictions.
Even NGOs have more influence. So, they hold on to power in their states so that by, for example, getting jobs for friends and constituents, they can still show they can be big boys and girls, even if in a small ponds.
Ideally politicians should have no say in the day to day running of state enterprises. That should be written in law.
Arthur told a London audience at Lambeth town hall about the sale of the BNB before staff in Barbados know.
That was on a Monday night; I arrived in Barbados on the Wednesday and asked a senior at the Independence Square BNB about the sale and she said she had heard it the previous night on the CBC news.
There was no economic, or logical, reason for selling the BNB. Any problems could have been worked out.
Far and balanced, Barbados is in a deep financial pickle and at this time people do not care much about the internal cock-fighting in either the BLP or DLP. They need to be confident that the current administration has the capacity to right the wrongs inflicted on the country in the last six years or if there is need for a change. If you read the interview and has the slightest of comprehension skills, you would recognise that the initial story about the issue was ‘a gimmick’..
“That was on a Monday night; I arrived in Barbados on the Wednesday and asked a senior at the Independence Square BNB about the sale and she said she had heard it the previous night on the CBC news.
There was no economic, or logical, reason for selling the BNB. Any problems could have been worked ”
Right or wrong Hal a lot of the policy decisions of successive governments in Barbados are made to audiences primarily in New York or other overseas jurisdictions perhaps for the politicians to feel big-up so that is no big thing since criticism of this action has always been muted. The tentacles of political interference and avenues to prey on the fatted calf in this country and I am sure other small island states as well judging from my interaction at the highest levels with work colleagues in other jurisdictions are more endemic than you think as those of us like Are-You-There who work in the system can testify.
@ balance
I agree. Sandiford announced the general election in New York. I got a call in London within minutes and then caslled the late Leroy Harewood. He had not heard about it.
In a true democracy, based on the Westminster model which we like to talk about so erroneously, parliament should have been told first.
In our system even members of parliament have contempt for the institution. They even pull guns on each other.
“In our system even members of parliament have contempt for the institution. They even pull guns on each other.”
Yes everything has broken down. Even the priests seem to have contempt for the teachings of the church and seem to preaching something in which they do not believe. Do not pay much attention to the gun thing. it’s much ado about nothing in the political party fraternity. Dale Marshall’s pretence of feart reminded me very much of opposition leader Clyde Mascoll’s pretence of hurt with a teary-eyed response to a remark by a parliamentary colleague purportedly about his mother.
@Hal
We don’t know what the regulator has done concernig Parris. What we know is that our system is one where the government appoints the Governor of the Central Bank, “the governor is a creature of the government”.
@ David
That is true. But the thing about these professional appointments is a code of ethics which forbids governments from interfering with the day to day functioning of the organisation. All I am saying is that by implication the foreign-owned bank is suggesting something is wrong, may even be criminal, about Mr Parris’ money.
If so, all law-abiding individuals and corporations have a legal duty to report any such suspicions to the authorities. It is a bank and therefore the first port of call is the regulator.
All of us are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law That includes Mr Parris..
China institute of international studies: On Strengthening China’s Relations with Latin American and Caribbean Countries under New Situation
I have just read this article and it is a very interesting read.
http://www.ciis.org.cn/english/2012-10/30/content_5446364.htm
@ Hal Austin | 10/01/2014 at 6:00 am |
“All I am saying is that by implication the foreign-owned bank is suggesting something is wrong, may even be criminal, about [Mr.??’s] money.”
You are missing a crucial point here in regard to the man’s inability to maintain a commercial bank account.
It not just one particular bank institution that refuses to do business with the man. It is the entire foreign-owned banking system that sees Sonny Pookie and his money as commercially “persona non grata” and sullied by an exposed former money laundering machine.
Perhaps if the government had adopted the policy you are pushing for by maintaining an indigenous bank owned by the State but controlled by the politicians the dirty money would easily find a laundered home given the man’s well-heeled political connections with a special relationship with the man considered primus inter pares.
Although we take heed of your advice about the man being innocent until found guilty in a court of law we also take umbrage with your disingenuously naïve position taken in this situation. You are talking about a corrupt moribund justice system in a fast becoming banana republic called Barbados where justice is not meted out fairly but sold to the higher bidders. We are putting it to you, Hal, that if Greenverbs’s money’s was’ above board’ no banking institution would forego such a lucrative account.
The following are the questions you should be raising instead of attacking (without justifiable evidence) the bank’s decision.
Did the bank’s Head Office auditing staff recommend the closure of the account because sufficient evidence was collected to establish the money was ‘dirty’ and the account was in breach of not only local legislation but also the operating rules applicable to reputable international banking institutions?
Were these breaches of local financial rules and regulations reported to the relevant authorities including the Inland Revenue but because of the man’s high political association and known financial contributions to electoral politics in Barbados the alleged lawbreaker is seen as “untouchable” by the rank and file enforcers in the same regulatory and law enforcement agencies?
We are putting it to you, Hal, that blatant tax evasion applies here and those so-called gratuity payments and other remuneration for services rendered were never brought into the income tax net,
Are you aware if the same man Sonny “Pokey” is free to travel and to conduct financial transactions in more sophisticated and ‘law enforcing’ countries where those same international financial organizations that banned him from holding a bank account operate or must report their findings of financial malfeasance and their decisions to the regulatory agencies of those same countries where gross financial impropriety is seriously frowned upon?
Paradise lost. Taken from the Financial Times
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/39b0fac2-677a-11e3-8d3e-00144feabdc0.html
@ miller
If you are saying that the bank’s own investigations have led them to this position, then they have a legal obligation to pass this evidence on to the authorities, not sit on it and be judge and jury in their own case. The bank has a duty of fairness to its customers.
Mr Parris should seek legal advice, not in Barbados, but outside. For, as a senior businessperson, a retail bank refused to take his money, that can be damaging to his reputation.
As a non-lawyer it appears as if he has a case in law. You are making a number of assumptions that do not hold legal water about tax evasion (a crime). If there is criminal behaviour, then the authorities should move in.
As far as I know, he has not even been formal interviewed, under caution or otherwise. Play the ball and not the man.
@Austin
They do it in the UK too. No explanation required as well you know.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/savings/10273512/Banks-dump-thousands-of-loyal-customers.html
Stop trying to make the issue something that it is not.
@ Anon
Why is it that every time we raise an issue about Barbados some people refer to the UK? Do two wrongs make a right? Or is it just mental laziness?
@ Anon
This man’s general disposition is that he has some perch near HM and thus is in a position to dictate terms to us ‘rabble’. London, as a financial centre, is responsible for the most criminal acts known to Christendom and yet this old Austin car, would not write a word about these bastards.
@ Hal Austin | 10/01/2014 at 8:08 am |
We are not playing any “man”; neither are we playing any ball. This not any game here, man. This is about the image and reputation of a once proud country and its legacy of proper governance and law as a highly respected law-abiding educated nation.
The ‘man’ has already sought the best legal advice and can’t do a thing about the bank(s) decision to treat him as a leper unlike the man in control of this country.
What assumptions what about tax evasion? It is known from the forensic report that money ended up in the man’s control by way of so-called gratuity payments via the legal fees route paid to DT Associates.
These receipts did not pass through the tax route and, to this day, the relevant income tax has not been collected on these undeclared earnings. That is a fact.
The man being fingered is practically above the law in that banana republic where very senior government officials can witness with their own eyes criminal activities (involving electoral fraud, bribery and marijuana smoking) taking place but nothing is done.
What about the MoF’s claim to his life being threatened by two goons but nothing is done about it? What about the same MoF’s claim that the reason for his DLP administration implementing the free bus rides for school children is because there was ample evidence of school children being ferried by ZR drivers to engage in prostitution but yet not one person is charged for such a criminal offence. Are we playing the man or men here too, Hal?
Are we also playing the ‘man’ here too, Hal, when a governor of a central bank can confirm $300 million in foreign reserves just disappears into the financial ether but has no idea who is responsible for this illegal “leakage” of forex over a three month period without the Central Bank’s knowledge or approval?
Hal this is Bim we are talking about; not the UK where politicians go to fail for far, far less impropriety in public office or are forced to resign after making such dangerously idiotic statements that confirm the cover-up of criminal activities especially those involving vulnerable children that the State is clearly mandated to protect.
The banks are well aware that the Clico policyholders may bring a civil suit , therefore to mitigate damages their will act against Parris. Refer to situation of Chase bank and Madoff in New York.
@ Miller
Let me say again. All you say may be true, and I have read as much as the general public on this matter.
If there is evidence of, or suspected, criminal behaviour then the onus is on the part of the authorities: central bank as the regulator, the money laundering authority, the police and the judicial authorities following the inquiry, to take action.
That they have not shows either that they are still compiling a case, or there is none. In other words, let us follow due process.
About the bank, the regulator has a right to call in the bank’s executive and ask them what is going on. Either they have not done so, or if they have it is being kept private.
@Balance
The BNB though with a wider policy portfolio would have eventually succumbed to interference by politicians and cronies as was the fate of other Govermental sponsored lending initiatives like the Agricultural Credit Bank and the Barbados Development Bank.
************/\/\/\/\/****************
What a novel excuse or should I say the lamest of excuses, in other words they sold the BNB because they were afraid that it might fall under political influence. Hey folks we are doing you a favour we sold the bank because we were afraid it would come under the clutches of politicians we are saving the politicians from themselves.
Absolute balderdash and poppycock, in the local parlance “wheel and come again”
@Miller etc
We are putting it to you, Hal, that blatant tax evasion applies here and those so-called gratuity payments and other remuneration for services rendered were never brought into the income tax net
*********/\/\/********
Not sure what you are implying but tax evasion is a matter for the Barbados authorities, it is not up to the Bank to make a determination that taxes were not paid on the funds so they can request the individual to close the account. That only changes if the individual is a citizen of e.g. the USA where he has to declare all worldwide income and would be subject to US laws and Canadian banks have to comply with US laws and will request that you close an account if you refuse to sign an agreement where disclosure can be made to third parties. i.e. the US Gov’t.
If it was a matter of tax evasion then the Barbadian Authorities should be thrilled to know where the funds are held so they can garnish same to satisfy any tax liability, but a friend received a ix figure severance from his employer and when I asked about tax liability he said ‘that don’t work ‘bout here’ or words to that effect so I am not sure that the Tax dept. views these funds as taxable (BTW wasn’t this was one of the issues that concerned the IMF sometime ago?)
@ Sargeant
You may be right. All I am saying is that Mr Parris has not been accused officially of any criminal offence, he has not been formally interviewed under caution, has not been charged and has not been convicted. Therefore he is an innocent man.
Am I wrong.
The various contributions on this blog indicate why we are where we are as a country.
It has come to this because our Education system was hijacked somewhere around the late 1970s–1980s
The single act of hijacking the Education system, polluting and infecting it has brought us to this situation.
“Not a word to defend the honour of a Barbadian from the money-laundering authority, the central bank, the Financial Services Commission, the ministry of finance or the police. We are on our knees and these |Canadians know it.”
Just a clarification: the Financial Services Commission does not have the oversight of banks, that lies solely with the Central Bank.
@ Hal Austin | 10/01/2014 at 8:46 am |
“All you say may be true, and I have read as much as the general public on this matter.”
Then you should not comment so authoritatively on the actions of the bank(s).
You still are not getting the bigger picture regarding the state of regulatory competence or law enforcement and the workings of the justice system in Bim, are you now?
Do you really believe the so-called law enforcers who can’t even deal with the ZR’s behaviour, sort out the 30,000 odd unisured and untaxed vehicles on the roads, enforce simple litter laws or environmental protection requirements, collect the hundreds of millions owed in taxes (including some from the foreign rich you say use Barbados) as a free playground how on earth can you expect them to build a case and prosecute charges against a man who has been a most important financial backer of both political parties and heavily protected by the ruling administration?
We are putting it to you, Hal, the bank has very good grounds for taking the action it has taken not only to protect its image and to insulate itself and its very senior local officials from probable litigation but also it runs the very high risks of losing its banking licence or subject to very heavy fines in more serious jurisdictions, like Canada.
BTW, the charge of tax evasion is nothing to be taken lightly given the parlous state of government finances and ordinary working people are being asked to make such hard sacrifices including loss of employment opportunities.
This matter has been drawn to the attention of people who should matter.
Do you think something has been done about it given the man ambit of political influence and control? Check out who are the legal people he has on board.
You only have to query why so much VAT and land taxes are still outstanding to understand the state of political intrusion into the local tax administration system.
Thank goodness the IMF will soon be here to stem the tide of crap that prevails for tax enforcement and collection in order to make sure the country is financially viable to service the loans it has like millstones around its fiscal neck.
Clico is/was an insurance company. Who regulates insurance companies? Was Parris an executive of an insurance company?
And once the DLP is the government, he never will be accused or formally charged.
This acting COP found a case to be brought against the Nation as well as the BLP and the DPP found that they had a case to answer for far less. I await the day when the DPP has found a case for LP to answer for re the CLICO policyholders’ monies!
Hal you are so far out in left field over the banks’ refusal to hold a certain person’s money, that you are about to fall into the crowd. To say that, because the authorities in Barbados have not pursued this person legally, then there must be no evidence is obvious poppycock. Everyone except you, it seems, is aware of what went on when the surface has barely been scratched. You may want to take into consideration that a former judicial manager of CLICO is now a senior executive at CIBC. Don’t forget that the forensic audit has been sealed. Hmmm!
@ miller
Is it me or you? I am prepared to admit I am a bit thick. All I am saying, Miller, is that we claim to be a democracy, one of the pillars of which is the rule of law. A key oart of the rule of law is innocent until proven guilty.
I am not talking about gossip and hints and innuendo. As far as I know Mr Parris has not been convicted of any fianncial crime, unless you know better.
Claims of tax evasion and all that are just claims. I do not know about Barbados, but under English common law, a judicial inquiry is ‘judicial’ because it has a right to bring charges against any of those appearing before it. That is why they give evidence on oath.
Did the judicial report call for charges to be brought against Mr Parris?
Until he is convicted he is innocent.
I hope the day that FCIB gives LP his money in cash (as he would not be able to deposit any cheques to any bank) that the bank let the policyholders know and that they surround him as he exits the bank and that they take every dollar from him!
ALL OF YOU CAN SEE WHAT THE PROBLEMS ARE BUT YOU ARE NOT DOING ANYTHING ABOUT THEM. YOU EXPECT THE SAME PEOPLE WHO CREATED OR CONTRIBUTED TO THE PROBLEM TO SOLVE SAID PROBLEMS. YOU ALL ARE WORST THAN SLAVES. AT LEAST REBELLED
DENNIS JOHNSON –Please start the show and forget the show-your show
BACK TO THE POLLS IS THE ONLY SOLUTION TO RESTORE CONFIDENCE –
IF -IT IS THE SAME RESULT WHAT ? Forget that crap talk
THE PEOPLE WERE TRICKED -IPADS ; FOOD -MONEY -notwithstanding-
THE ELECTORATE NEEDS TO BE GIVEN AN IMMEDIATE CHANCE TO RIGHT THE WRONGS !!
@ Sargeant | 10/01/2014 at 9:19 am |
Tax evasion is an inevitable consequence of money laundering.
If the banks have reasonable evidence that the sources of deposits made to accounts in their fiduciary portfolio are not “above board” in activity and which could be in breach of legislation that protects the integrity of the local financial system then the banks have the right to close or temporarily deactivate the account and accordingly inform the relevant regulatory and law enforcement agencies of State.
The legislation governing anti-money laundering requires in addition to serious reporting responsibilities the following:
Section 8: Duties of financial institutions.
Every financial institution:
shall forthwith report to the Authority any business transaction where the identity of the person involved, the transaction or any other circumstance concerning that business
transaction gives any officer or employee of the financial institution reasonable grounds to suspect that the transaction
(i) involves proceeds of crime;
(ii) involves the financing of terrorism; or
(iii) is of a suspicious or an unusual nature.
The Act at section 8 (e) goes on to give the banks further authority that would allow them to protect themselves from liability even it requires terminating a business relationship with any customer:
Every financial institution shall:
(i) develop and apply internal policies, procedures and controls to combat money laundering; and
(ii) develop audit functions to evaluate such policies, procedures and controls;
@ Miller
And, a bank or financial institution that fails to notify the authorities of such suspicion is itself guilty of a criminal act.
Hal Austin | 10/01/2014 at 9:51 am |
Don’t be a blasted ass Austin, as your old alma mater Headmaster Gittens would have referred to you.
Do you really feel reputable subsidiary banks operating in Bim with parents domiciled in countries that are not keen in allowing banks to do as their like as they did prior to 2007 would take such risks to damage a man’s business and personal reputation without sound legal advice (especially that from foreign experts as you recommend to the man) before taking such a quantum leap?
We certainly agree that the law should be allowed to take its course and let ‘justice prevail’. But as you are quite aware such things don’t happen in Bim especially when your (hated by you) Guyanese bête noire has the say as to who gets justice meted out.
Have you conveniently forgotten about the younger jada man situation and the outcome?
Stop pointing your fingers at the banks that have done their jobs and start looking for where the corruption of the legal and justice systems is being exercised.
@ Miller
You now say I hate my Guyanese bete noire. I have not said, nor do I use the language of hate. Not even in private conversions.
You are attributing to me something I have never said.
Almost on Question and with impeccable and mature timing, Arthur digs out foundations from around and under Mottley’s palace with a delivery Malcolm Marshall would have been proud to have delivered..
His No Gimmicks speech which was delivered to make Mottley look more inept than she generally and usually looks was not wild Scud Missile lacking in a navigation system it was precise and calculated to perfection of timing and opportunity and placement.
Let, etc enlighten your darkness and in doing so let me take you back to New Year’s Eve 2013 a few short weeks ago, when a hasty meeting of the present crop of BLP representatives in the Lower House were summoned to the home of Sir Fred Gollop to meet there to discuss the present issue of the Leadership and direction of the BLP under leadership of Mottley, on hand to decide on Mottley’s demise was a Who’s Who of those who try to determine outcomes from Board Rooms across this island.
The list of those attending is an interesting and instructive one, when people that attended the New Years Eve remove Mottley evening ranged from the Sirs of Sir Allan Fields, Sir Fred Gollop and Sir David Seale and Sir Charles Williams, it also included Mr Bizzy Williams, Mr Peter Harris, Mr Hallam Nicholls, Mr Peter Boos, Mr Lalu Vaswani, while all of these folks were on hand there was no sight of Mottley to attend her own trial and death by Arthur Firing Squad but the ones invited were invited for one common goal and it was to remove Mottley from the leadership of the BLP and this they did without a whisper to lend support to Mottley they met and reformed the BLP in a real pacy way,by voting to strip her as leader of the opposition with only the females in the Lower House lending support to Mottley in her muted bid to stay on as a part time leader.
So based on this sequence of events and the comfort and knowledge that Mottley has been put out to pasture once again it was no surprise to listen to Arthur dress down and humiliate Mottley with his No Gimmicks tirade he was armed with knowledge that Mottley have been discarded as Leader of The Opposition yet again, Arthur is obviously adamant to make her the door mat to Roebuck Street.
Also Arthur is armed with certain knowledge that Minister of Finance will very soon expose her as a liar and FRAUD so her days are numbered and sequenced to be shown the way out within the next few days and hours.
@ Hal Austin | 10/01/2014 at 10:41 am |
“You are attributing to me something I have never said.”
On that technicality I am sincerely sorry.
Expression and implication can sometimes be the same side of an odd-shaped coin.
The point is you just don’t trust the “foreigner” man competence, right Baje?
@miller
It is not a technicality. It is an untruth, but apology accepted.
You go to a bank for a mortgage, or a credit card and get turned down that is their choice to do business with you or not.
When you try and deposit any money of ten thousand dollars or more they want to know where it is from, and can choose to take it or not Tell them you made it selling drugs and see how fast your shown the door.
But Hal you are right I would like to see all my countries banks get out of Barbados at least before they are on the hook for mortgages that are higher than the value of the homes.
Where is PM Stuart getting all this money from to wine and dine tourists, he still has not addressed the mess he helped create, he will probably do so in NY or Canada to people who do not even live in Barbados,instead of doing so to the local taxpayers and voters IN BARBADOS….where else in the world does any government wine and dine tourists…..i know it’s one of David Thompson’s idiotic ideas, but it would do Stuart well to bear in mind that the country has financial problems and I don’t believe they have enough cash flow to spend on tourists every month for the next 10 years, unless they are lying that the country is in financial trouble………..when will the idiocy end…
Society in every State is a Blessing, but Government in its best state is but a necessary evil, in its worst state an intolerable one. Thomas Payne 1716
Canadian banks have reporting requirements under FINTRAC which is a government agency of Canada. Fintrac is also related to the Egmont Group (http://www.egmontgroup.org/). Barbados is a member of the Egmont Group.. It is correct to assume that when one sees a bank name that references Canada be it the CIBC, Royal Bank of Canada, or the Bank of Nova Scotia that the bank is operating under the laws of the Government of Canada. Local Canadian banks in Barbados are controlled by their head office and ultimately the Government of Canada. It is Fintrac and Egmont that all financial transactions exceeding $10,000 are controlled by.
Canadian banks are among the finest in the world because of their tight operating systems and the control exercised over them by the Government of Canada. Barbados is fortunate to have such well run strong banks available to conduct their business with. The issue of being asked to move ones accounts is always open to appeal but that process would require a public vetting of the reason one was asked to leave in the first place. That could be supplemented with an inquiry with the Barbados representative to Egmont.. If there were no reason whatsoever for a person being asked to move an account then there is a good legal case to seek damages. If no case is started then that tells us a lot as well.
So the three men held for the last 3 years have been released from Dodds and Ralph Thorne thinks they have a case for compensation.Is this not the same case in which the interest of the US was represented by the said bete-noir of which Miller speaks.Was Hal Gollop not railing against this usurpation of local taxpayers money?Ross and Amused,you know anything to enlighten us laymen on this matter?
And another thing Ross,how you allow this bete-noir to become a big up chancellor in your church belonging to england?This bete-noir speaking for england and amurca too?What ’bout barbados that paying his donkey to bray for justice!And i ‘en mean justice like wat rickie sings’s boys get for the lotta ganja they pleaded guilty for!
Regarding that case, the DPP should spend some quality time in Dodds for wasting taxpayers money on the Hawkesworth et al case, about 6-7 years ago a Guyanese whose name was connected to those 3 was kidnapped while in Trinidad and extradited to the US to be tried on the drug matter, a Federal District Judge blasted the prosecutors and FBI involved and demanded that the Guyanese be released and returned to his country, he also warned the prosecutors to never, ever bring that case before his court again, mind you this case made CaribNews New York, up comes the PIMP DPP Leacock and arrest these young men in Barbados knowing full well that the US did not have a case against them and money would only have been wasted extraditing them to the US for the District Federal Judge to once again tell them get out of his damn court room…….local title holders in the court system and political system need to stop pimping for the US, England, etc, then they will not find themselves embarrassed as in this case where the US has now said unequivocally that they are no longer interested in pursuing the case, release the men…….. the US has known this for some years, but the pimp for a DPP could do nothing unless commanded because he is just a pimp, not a real person with any powers.
@ Well, well
It is part of our subservience. I remember a few years ago going to St Kitts on a story for the Sunday Express relating to US requests for extraditions. I was told then quite reliably that a plane flying one of the want ed men back to Canada was ‘diverted’ to the US when he was taken off.
America is not as democratic as it claims. Just look at Guantanamo. Also look at the Latin American generals that it has trained. Now they are training our Defence Force. Get rid of it before they stage a coup.
Hal….most people in the US and certain countries are well aware that the US is the biggest prison in the world, yet the local black politicians have not the balls to prevent their own people from being rail-roaded into US prisons, as a matter of fact they are very proud to help imprison their own people, thinking they will get themselves a pat on the back from the US or another useless title, quite unaware that the US will gladly put some handcuffs and shackles on the said politicians and court officials themselves, given the opportunity…..black people and their idiocy as usual….
I am surprised to note that Sir Allan Fields is on @Fair and Balanced’s list of eminent attendees at a meeting he/she alleges took place on New Year’s Eve. Sir Allan and his wife kindly invited my wife and me to spend New Year’s Eve with them. We had a most enjoyable time, but – most important – Sir Allan was with us throughout and clearly cannot have been present at any such meeting.
As a first step, it would probably be in order for the moderator of Barbados Underground to place on record an apology to Sir Allan, as well as erasing the offending comment with a note explaining why it has been removed.
I am a great supporter of the Barbados Underground – it is an eminent forum in which people should be allowed to express their views on facts. However, I believe it is incumbent on the moderators of Barbados Underground, along with authors of posts and comments, to make strenuous efforts to ensure that those facts are correct, especially when their statement involves potential damage to a person’s reputation.
@ John
Why would we have an interest in the protection of the band of elites?If Fields was not at the meeting cited it is fair to assume that he has been at other meeting of the type. We should never be enamored by your name dropping? Why should not give a horse’s ass about people like Fields.
John Williams
Did you guys drink champagne together old years nite? Did he can you down stairs and show you the vault with all the money from 14 years of Al Babba rule?
And joining Efyamama comment and observation,John,who are you to speak obo suhrallan and who is to say as Sparrow did in the song Patsy”dat you talkin’de trute”.Let surallan defen’ eself.All a set ‘o jokers.A man selling batteries for a living wunna mek hed ‘o the biggest conglomerate in buhbaydus and he turn roun and sell it to trinidadians!Hummuch he get?
OK then, Gabrieline
They take these eminent persons with the pimp titles thing way too far, these people have to stoop or stand to pee, stoop to shit, eat and drink or die, die anyway and get buried.what eminent persons what, get a freaking life….there are people in the world suffering, think about that for once,….make a difference, name dropping is crap.
@Sith
It depends on whether the bank in Barbados is a branch or subsidiary. The regulatory regime is different. But with the incompetents running the local show, it hardly matters.
We must the best system in the world.
Tax mobile (cell) phones; tax sugary soft drinks; impose higher taxes on tobacco and alcohol; make vehicle owners pay to have them on the road by imposing higher petrol duty and road taxes@
When ever you are looking, talking to raise money because of what the rich do or does , make sure you point the new Bills at the rich and the people that cause it ,Not the Poor.
Clico apparently still owns Todds, Henley, Poole and Wakefield plantations – a classic example of its investment incompetence?@
If these crooks own them , why cant they be sold to pay off their debts ? Unless they dont own them and put on the books as over priced assets as they walk off with the money, land laundering ? lawyer moving papers to make worth and cant be sold for what they looking for ?
If the system is cleaned up we may make more money over all with clean business with laws that are enforced , To many crooks looking out for crooks selling out the Island,
Full Audit , put the report in the papers, let people pull there money and open or move to another company, CLICO is Frist Caribbean are not the only Banks in the world.Shut them down , it seem they are costing the people more than the gains or it worth.
STOP baby sitting Crooks , liars and scumbags ,
No more taxes because of crooks on the people.Lock there asses up , AG and DPP need to do there work , and stop selling out the people and the laws.
@Hal Austin
It does not matter. It is a Canadian Bank end of story. All the Canadian banks in Barbados report to Canada. Local management reports to Canada. The reporting systems are designed by Canadians, the reporting guidelines are controlled by Canadians. The financial statements of the operations in Barbados are consolidated into the financial statements of the Canadian company. The Canadian banking system is tightly controlled by the Canadian Government. There is zero chance that CIBC would knowingly step outside of the Canadian regulatory system to accommodate something in Barbados they could not accommodate in Canada. I don’t know who represents Barbados in Egmont but it appears nobody made an appeal to them., That might have been a better action than having the PM phone the Barbados bank. I don’t think any of us need to be Harvard MBA’s to figure out the final decision was made in Canada by Canadians.
So here is the end result of CIBC or whichever bank told Parris to ‘cah long you stinking money from bout we bank man!’
The bank said if he does not collect/cash their final cheque,the funds will be remitted to the Central Bank of Barbados.Now a blind man on a trotting horse can see that if Sinckler the cochon,Staurt the top dog and Worrell,chamber carrier for the mess that the government is in on account of his advice,if these three blind mice were not able to beg the bank successfully to help out this poor sinjohn boy that street wise and
manipulate big people,the Central Bank which is in the business of printing money anyhow would hold the money and give the man some bond paper so he can earn a trallyah until there is a changing of the guard at Bay Street.QED
CIBC’s (and presumably CIBC FCIB’s) standard account operating agreement includes:
“CIBC’s right to freeze or close your Account. CIBC may freeze or close your Account without notice if required by law or if at any time CIBC has reasonable grounds to believe that you did or may commit fraud, use the Account for any unlawful or improper purpose, cause a loss to CIBC, operate the Account in a manner unsatisfactory to CIBC or contrary to CIBC policies, or violate the terms of any agreement applicable to the Account or any account-related service. CIBC may also freeze or close your Account if you are a victim of fraud or identity theft in order to prevent future losses.”
About the Egmont Group
Recognizing the importance of international cooperation in the fight against money laundering and financing of terrorism, a group of Financial Intelligence Units (FIUs) met at the Egmont Arenberg Palace in Brussels, Belgium, and decided to establish an informal network of FIUs for the stimulation of international co-operation. Now known as the Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units, Egmont Group FIUs meet regularly to find ways to promote the development of FIUs and to cooperate, especially in the areas of information exchange, training and the sharing of expertise.
So, if CIBC has reason to believe (suspect) that an account contains the proceeds of unlawful or improper activity, it has the right or obligation to freeze or close the account.
To John did you spend the entire day and night preventing Fields from attending this meeting?
You assume it was prior to midnight which quite honestly is not when he was doing his party political mission.
@Hal
At the end of the day we are all speculating. What we know is that there has to be a damn good reason several banks have turned their banks on hundreds if not millions of Parris dollars.
@ David
We hope the bank is acting on strong evidence. All I am saying if that if they have such evidence they are duty bound to turn it over to the authorities.
That is what happens under the rule of law.
@Hal
Agree, we have to assume that these banks which fall under the supervision of the central bank of Barbados makes one assume the regulator is in the know.
On 11 January 2014 15:44, Barbados Underground
The Saturday Sun Gossip column seems to be suggesting that the monied one has recently found a solution of where to put his monies, in Bridgetown. But the Saturday Sun does not specify exactly where or with whom the funds have been cleansed and lodged.
Wait! The Central Bank is in Bridgetown! hmmmm!
@ David
This comes under competent stress testing When regulators go in to stress test an bank or insurance company, they ask relevant questions, including the actuarial assumptions made by the business.
I reiterate, banks are not just commercial businesses, they are also utilities and in a financial architecture in which the global payment system is so central, this is even more important.
That is why not many people are paid in cash but by money transfer in to their personal account. It is important that individuals have personal bank accounts.
By the way, it is important to note that the rightwing Austrian School economics has been discredited, and has been since the early post-war years.
Even Chicago School monetarism has rejected Austrian School dogma. Legitimate revolutionaries challenge Austrian dogma, not support them.
It is the problem with being half-educated.
@Hal
If we have any Bajan financial journalist in the area maybe you are willing to extend an initation. Better is if we had a vibrant Barbados Association of Journalist to convene a similar forum in Barbados:
According to the Saturday sun the Bridgetown credit Union accepted the money.
According to the Cirrus Owners and Pilots Association (COPA),
there have been 36 known CAPS activations
as of July 24, 2012. Companies offer extended warranty automobile insurance plans at various levels.
One of the first complete necessities found in society relies on cash.