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They don’t make them like Richard Byer. A real piece of work.
@David
Who is the legal beagle that commands such a hefty fee? No one can call him a han to mout barrister. That contract must have had some arcane language to interpret to generate such a fee. Wuh loss what is his hourly rate? Does he charge by the word? How many billable hours?.
I suppose there is no such thing as auditing a lawyers bill in Bim to determine fairness in the case of disputes, the lawyer said this is my bill like it or lump it and he played the “poor black man card” too.
There’s gold in them there caves.
@ David | November 20, 2014 at 12:07 AM |
“They don’t make them like Richard Byer. A real piece of work.”
Richard Byer……… “a real piece of work”, David?
We all know Byer has realigned himself with the DLP. But to charge $766,855.24 as legal fees to give an opinion on a loan, in my opinion, is utter nonsense. It is interesting to note:
1) Correspondence was sent to Minister Lowe and Acting Minister Kellman, by the then Chairman and the CEO to draw to make them aware of the matter, while asking them to intervene. Lowe was also informed similar legal services attracted a few of $17,000 plus VAT.
2) On April 12, 2010, Byer sent a strongly worded e-mail to the CEO, which also included an expletive.
3) The new Chairman, Ian Broome, was able to renegotiate a settlement of the fees from $766,855.24 to $487,817.40, and interpreting the CEO’s contract from $38,187.50 to $23,000.
4) The CEO sent correspondence to Lowe informing him of the difficulties she was experiencing with former Chairman Dottin.
From the information received, we can conclude that Lowe failed, as Minister, to intervene in all matters arising at Caves of Barbados and resolve them. Additionally, he had to be informed by Chairman Broome about the resolution of the matter between the cave and Byer.
What is more disturbing is the fact Lowe and the new Chairman did not act on the information, to wit, $17,000 plus VAT was previously charged for providing a legal opinion of a loan for $33.7M, while Byer charged $766,855.24 for providing an opinion on a $25.7M loan.
In an environment, where government keeps reminding Barbadians that Barbados is in a recession and they must “wrap themselves in the flag” and “all hands on deck”….. and we have DLP yard-ducks come to BU saying those former workers of Transport Board, NCC, Drainage Unit and Beautify Barbados should view their retrenchment as a sacrifice for the betterment of the island, we have a DLP charging an exorbitant fee and being paid.
This sacrifice only extends to poor people and not the big boy members of the Democratic Labour Party.
This issue may explain why Byer gave up his job as clerk of parliament.
Why bother, it is only taxpayer dollars, and Byer is a member of the boys club (lawyer).
Barbados is a wonderful island known for its double standards, especially when it comes to politics. The previous BLP administration was heavily criticized, and rightfully so, for the $11,000 ackee tree debacle, which happened under Hamilton Lashley’s watch, when he was Minister of Social Transformation.
And now, under this administration, a DLP affiliate charged $766,855 [under Denis Lowe’s watch] to give a legal opinion, and all critics remain silent.
These are things Douglas should be writing ‘bout too.
This is why it is so infuriating when we hear media moguls opine that there is justification in the salaries paid to politicians today. The people of Barbados pays Dennis Lowe better than seventeen thousand dollars every month. What for? To screw us, I suppose. It has got to be, for this country is corruption free.
@Hamilton Hill
The buck stops with the Prime Minister, he appoints and disappoints. If ministers are non performing they do so with the blessings of those who have the authority to fire them.
PM says “don’t worry be happy”….this is why the political class gets the big bucks!!!..You couldn’t make this stuff up. Comedy hour in Buhbaydoss…God might be a Bajan but God don’t like UGLY.
Well, Well, Well, you really can’t make this up, an invoice for over 3/4 million $ is then cut to little less than 1/2 million $ while a previous SAME service for a higher loan was charger only $17,000 plus VAT from another company.
I know of cases under this same Ministry (they provide water to us) where vehicles were sent for repair and body work to a private shop. The bodywork shop originally quoted approximately $4000 ORALLY and then was asked by a former Chairman (DLP) before they sent it in to change the quote to over $17,000 per vehicle for the same work.
The bodywork shop got the work at the new (HIGHLY INFLATED) WRITTEN price when submitted for payment.
However the bodywork shop upon receiving check only got to keep the approximately $4000 per vehicle as per ORAL quote, you can deduce who got the difference.
If this is going on in Ministries and Statutory Corporations for close to 7 years no wonder the country is broke.
Just realised the former Chairman has the same name as this lawyer could they be ‘related’.
Surname
This is so ridiculous!You mean we must now calculate the difference between $17000.00 in the previous opinion and the $767,000.00 in the last opinion and give the difference to Denis to add to the $500,000.00
he got to split with the siblings.So is this the settlement to take care of the siblings.No prison is good enough for these…..er….rascals!
Barbados and US sign FATCA agreement
http://www.stabroeknews.com/2014/news/regional/11/19/barbados-us-sign-fatca-agreement/
Professor Henry Fraser must be sorry that he voiced an opinion on this matter when it came up recently in the Senate. He mind the bandit chaser and went after Caves of Barbados without the facts. He should have known better than to follow the bandit chaser blindly.
Now we know the facts why the accounts are behind………..there are outstanding matters……that said, the accountant could have put the outstanding credit card debt into receivables. But why was the Chairman using a corporate credit card for personal reasons. many an officer has been fired for mis-using corporate credit cards. These people are real moochers of the fatted calf mentality.
On to Richard Byer………what a moocher…….this money is maybe more than he ever worked for in his lackadaisical career. What percentage is this that he charged? My goodness, these people have NO heart or conscience. I heard of a story recently when a person contracted to do a job for government charged $5000 and someone said to the person are you ignorant or what……try and charge $90,000.
And we are sitting down and taking this nonsense. At least the political prostitute was moved for the $11,000 ackee tree!
Is it not practice to give large contracts to the law firms which can leverage resources to defend opinions?
What if?
What is Byers’s experience managing commercial agreements/law.
Morality is very “limited” in Bajan culture so let us deal with this from a LEGAL point of view.
Has fraud or a “crime” been committed ?
Nuh lotta long talk until that question has been answered.
David | November 20, 2014 at 12:07 AM |
They don’t make them like Richard Byer. A real piece of work.
Well Well DAVID ,
We know all well of Richard Buyer the dam crook and scumbag , he is not alone, So when you all who read wait on what Violet Beckles warn you all about, This shit lawyer is not alone, Dennis Lowe down dirty man and the rest of Ministers is in this mess also, Owen and MIA , Ham and COW,Ralph Thorne ,Todd and Sinkman MOF.. All just part of the Massive Land fraud with all the people you all print so nice about ,
You can never say PLANTATION DEEDS NEVER WARN YOU ALL , GO BACK AND READ THE POST , UNLESS THE MASTER BLOCKERS REMOVE THEM ,
NO FREE SMART OF THE PRESS BUT A LOT OF FREE AND DUMB
I am not condoning stealing or misappropriation or immoral billing or the unconscionable fatted calf style nipple sucking chocksuckers we seem to have in abundance within the political class in the Caribbean on the whole but only recently being exposed by the myriad social channels now available to Bajans.Panday in Trinidad informed us that politics has a
morality of its own.He got sometime in prison to show for his brand of politics.Stuart say there is a creature abroad in Barbados called a political class which has its own rules of engagement.I am sure the appeals available to him would render his ass safe from pandaystyle lockup.
History informs however it all started with the scribble at Holetown circa
1627……the now famous assertion: James K of E and of this island.And just so the Crung did own 166 sq miles ‘o paradise…
To add under this same Ministry (they provide water to us) within their fist term the former (DLP) Chairman was also under scrutiny for very large orders authorised with an overseas supplier.
The money wired being several hundred thousand $ was sent the goods never arrived.
You can deduce what happened also in this instance.
Embezzlement and high class robbery….what is this lil 13 x 11 place coming to?Who else will soon see the inside of a Dodds cell besides Rodney and the recent bank robbing youths….only time will tell
Listen wunna..Has fraud or a “crime” been committed ?
Answer de question nuh!
So wait with all that going on Hants….you could bet your bottom dollar that something sleazy has to surface….bet muh a grantley den
@ old onion bags,
I ask a question but nubody ent answering. I just want to know if the Lawyer in question was entitled to charge over $700,000 for the consultation.
Nuh lotta long talk. YES OR NO.
It is like if you ask me if I ever use a black sea egg as bait I would say YES.
So wait you feel that that is a reasonable amount ?I am no lawyer but from all appearances and utterances, it seems like it is a MIGHTY lot..
@ Hants:
They tell me that fraud is a deception deliberately practiced in order to secure unfair or unlawful gain .
In this case, the 1st lawyer charged $17,000 for legal work on a contract of $33.7M.
Mr. Byer, the 2nd lawyer, charged $666,820.65 for legal work on a contract of $25.7M
That looks like a basic definition of fraud to me. BUT, but……
…of course there is always more to the mortar than the pestle so Mr. Byer must have had legitimate reasons for a fee that was 39 times higher.
So clearly there was no fraud here.
Just a simple case of the 2nd lawyer doing an absolutely more comprehensive review to better advise his client.
That first lawyer was certainly delinquent in his work. He should be ashamed of himself.
Hants
Cannot answer definitively without knowing the true story for which there are customarily three sides.However I can see why the CEO was made the scapegoat.I too, would have demanded chapter and verse from Byer.He would have to give me time and motion studies as to how he arrived at this big bill.
I am sure Byer being an honest former honourable member of the political class who was made to see the error of his ways and made up with the DLP
like the Hammi-La fellow,knew what he was doing when he submitted that invoice. I believe he had ministerial backing.This file should be called for by the PM to see if there is a breach of the law.It is also abundantly clear that Irene Sandiford-Garner is withholding information from the public.Note how the big ups like the Minister of Tourism and the Minister of the Environment skilfully side stepped the issue and put the woman from the Ho and Sickle bar in Belleplaine, to face the heat.Dare we hope that the next party to form the government would bring all this sordid mess to a halt and make these excuses for ministers pay back all moneys unaccounted for?
@ old onion bags,
Given that it was a CDB loan and the lawyer might not have seen that type of loan documents before, he might have had to hire several specialists consultants to assist him.
He may have had to open a special office and employ 2 young lawyers and support staff for a year to peruse the documents. That would easily explain at least $500,000 of the fee.
We must not jump to conclusions Onions. Just like some fellas would conclude that I is a idiot fuh using black sea eggs as bait but a ole sea dog like you done know that pompas love black sea eggs.
@Hants
The question you need to ask is why the legal fee was not negotiated/requested before contracting the work and does the government not have lawyers on retainer? Would it not be cheaper?
Listen David. You is a boy I like but sometimes you does forget to read between the lines when I trying to be “agent provacateur”. lol
The transaction stinks and it is obvious there are were questionable payments and the minister must have had a sniff of it.
All these transactions need to be exposed to public scrutiny.
NOT THAT IT WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE…
What is amazing – even for bajan caliber Brass bowls- is the brazen nature in which these well-known scamps raid the public treasury.. ….and then the docile, stupid, passive, idiot-like acceptance by a gullible public…
Imagine Leroy Paris and various other Board members of “non-lepers” have been able to rob THOUSANDS of their savings, ….and he – along with all these anonymous “Board Members” are comfortably enjoying these spoils RIGHT HERE while the robbed scrunt and cry….
Byer is typical of the legal profession. shamelessly looking to see hw far they can go in getting their hands on people’s properties and money…
…and we attack Plantation DEEDS for persisting in his complaints….
Bajans must surely be the ultimate brass bowls topsies….
There is additional mortar in the pestle because the CDB members should now force Dr Warren Smith to explain why funds he committed to Caves include a low level legal operative to be paid an outrageous super fee of nearly a million dollars out of the said same funds.This kind of reckless corrosive spending can have implifications for future loan drawdowns from CDB.The countries which fund the CDB would be in their right to call Barbados Government to account for this crap.I don’t think we have heard the last of this sad saga….
What is the fee that should have been charged according to the Bar Association guidelines?
Are there any of the BU legal maguffees like Amused,Robert Ross Jeff Cumberbatch willing to gives us an opinion/answer…..
Implications………..
@David and Gabriel: This transaction does indeed stink and I too hope that there are repercussion for this willful over-billing.
To the point David made, this starts at the board of directors because they WOULD HAVE HAD to know what was the method of fee determination.
Attorney’s fees vary depending on the nature of the transaction and according to their doc ‘Legal Profession Remuneration for Non-Contentious Business’ the basic options tend to be by a gross sum, percentage, commission, retainer or otherwise;
Whatever method Byer used he could only do that if the Board agreed. Right!
But heh the good lawyer is simply fulfilling the wondrous virtues of his profession as seen in Barbados and the world.
NOW THAT IS DEDICATION.
Byer got fancy office digs to maintain too, I’m sure.
Oh, you heard the one about lawyers and sharks:
Why won’t sharks attack lawyers?….
Thanks to the hard working Irene Sandiford – Garner who has raised these issues with the Cave to the Public. Irene is a patriot, a class act and hopefully soon with continued help from Mottley will manage to get George Payne out of St. Andrew- a seat that he holds on to only because of Orange Hill , St. James.
Now that the Cave is under the Ministry Of Tourism, Irene will ensure that all the facts come out.
Great plans once again are being made for the redevelopment of Harrisons Caves,which entails the relocation of residents immediately over the Caves. Given the fact that, the Caves are broke and that a single home owner was compensated to the tune of almost $1Million , when his property was acquired to carry out the last renovations to the Caves, where is this money going to come from to compensate/relocate the considerable number of residents now involved.
Will they be given an IOU or referred to a tribunal?
I have been saying for years that statutory corporations and Government-owned private companies are set up by politicians to be avenues for misappropriation of government money. It is much harder to steal funds from central government, so you can see why politicians prefer boards.
On the issue of over billing, I am sure that Prodigal will admit that this is an issue that needs stronger checks and balances across the public sector. Also, I am sure that in his haste to score political points Prodigal will also admit that the BLP government in which Mottley sat for 14 years was filled with examples of over billing, phantom houses at Urban, hundreds of Millions in cost overuns and many other issues raised consistently by the auditor general.
Of interest is that the Cave has been declining in attendance from 2000. For the love of Barbados, let us ensure that there is transparency and accountability in this and other matters but do not insult our intelligence by having us believe that Mia Mottley, Glyne Clarke, Kerrie Symmonds Barney Lynch are the answer to raise the standards of transparency in Bim.
We are not surprised that this ongoing palaver involving the Caves of Barbados is yet more irrefutably clear evidence of the very obscene and macabre level to which so many of the affairs of government of the people of this country have been descending to.
We repeat – and with great passion – that the DLP and BLP must be ABSOLUTELY PERMANENTLY RIGHTLY REMOVED by the broad masses and middle classes from the parliament of this country in less than 4 years.
Indeed, both these extremely corrupt and decadent and ungodly factions have overstayed their time in the parliament of this country.
Moreso, they should have long gone from the political and governmental landscape of this country since the 1980s.
PDC
What ever social political material and financial means and methods that can be used by the said broad masses and middle classes at this stage of the intensifying and deepening of the dedevelopment and decay of this country to rid these two older intellectually and politically backward bankrupt and discredited disorganizations from the political governmental landscape of this country MUST BE USED NOW AND UNTIL THEY ARE REMOVED.
PDC
@Bajanfuhlife
You fuh real?
If Bandit Chaser was the Joan of Arc you trying to portray her as, she would be calling for the head of Denis Lowe or resigning from Cabinet. Instead they fired the woman who so far appears to have tried her best to prevent thievery of the highest order.
@enuff
What the unraveling saga at the Caves show is that both parties have allowed yarfowlism to to override their responsibility to serve the people with integrity. This matter is so serious like others that the MoT and PM should be making statements.
@Hants November 20, 2014 at 5:52 PM “I just want to know if the Lawyer in question was entitled to charge over $700,000 for the consultation.”
NO. The lawyer in question was not entitled to charge the over burdened taxpayers of Barbados a $766,855.24 legal fee
Not when a previous consultation cost $17,000
It seems to me [a taxpayer and citizen] that Cave’s of Barbados Chief Executive Officer Jo-Anne Grant was right to question the very large legal bill, and that the lawyer’s bill was inflated and unreasonable.
Why do some of you keep missing the point by focusing on low feeder Byer? The problem with this transactions rests with the Board and the minister who had oversight.
@enuff, give credit where credit is due.
Does anyone know if Richard Byer and Hadley Byer are related?
I am aware that Hadley Byer (former Chairman) says he is related to Esther Byer-Suckoo.
I am aware that Hadley Byer (former Chairman) says he is related to Esther Byer-Suckoo.
++++++++++++++++++++++
…so is Richard.
Shite man….,a whole family of crooks.The Rolling 20’s all over again…..all we need now is a Elliott Ness
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