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BU Calls for the Immediate Resignation of Speaker Michael Carrington and Deputy Speaker Mara Thompson

The Barbados Underground household listened today with deep sadness to the news Deputy Speaker Mara Thompson denied the request from the Opposition to debate a No Confidence Motion against Speaker Michael Carrington. Barbados finds itself in a position where the Speaker of the House was recently directed by by a Barbados Court to pay a…

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Speaker and Deputy Speaker Michael Carrington and Mara Thompson
Speaker and Deputy Speaker Michael Carrington and Mara Thompson

The Barbados Underground household listened today with deep sadness to the news Deputy Speaker Mara Thompson denied the request from the Opposition to debate a No Confidence Motion against Speaker Michael Carrington. Barbados finds itself in a position where the Speaker of the House was recently directed by by a Barbados Court to pay a former client over $250,000 after he was found to have withheld monies owed for years. And we have a Deputy Speaker who was named in a recent filing to the Court by the CLICO Judicial Manager.

Where is the outrage?

88 responses to “BU Calls for the Immediate Resignation of Speaker Michael Carrington and Deputy Speaker Mara Thompson”

  1. The People's Democratic Congress Avatar
    The People’s Democratic Congress

    The PDC post just above was submitted by error.

    In the first paragraph there is an unintentional abrupt discontinuation of the paragraph itself.

    It should have been continued as follows: “serious national and subnational problems emerge sufficient for many of those same people to call for organized and concerted political action in response to those problems”.

    Our apologies for the error.

    PDC

  2. Prodigal Son Avatar
    Prodigal Son

    @ old onion bags March 12, 2015 at 7:02 AM #

    What shall Stuart say now to protect Mara…….”the matter is a private matter” or “get a lawyer”? Time to stop this foolishness Stuart…………

    Remind me again why this woman really got into elective politics!

    First she is no politician, that’s clear. She has no charm, no charisma at all, at all. There is nothing to this woman that would attract any sane person yet she was projected as a queen. She contributes very little to Parliament by way of debate, nothing of substance.

    Why the DLP ever thought that it was a good idea to allow her to run is beyond sane minds. I can only conclude that she knew what would eventually happen after her beloved husband’s death, the grim reaper called his number before he could cover all his tracks…… so she had to run to be “covered”.

    What a thing!

  3. David Avatar
    David

    All separating Mara from others in the House is this matter.

  4. Prodigal Son Avatar
    Prodigal Son

    @SITH March 12, 2015 at 12:53 PM #

    @David.

    That is exactly the point. The law firm was dissolved but the “client trust bank account” was not. That bank account was still open and payment deposited to it when it had nothing to do with client trust funds. ………………………

    SITH.

    From what I remember, the law firm was not dissolved until after the first JM report was made public and the lawyers at the firm said that they did not know nor had anything to do with the stolen monies. It was at that point that the remaining lawyers formed a new company.

    Is it not ironic that a man who claimed during a campaign that “I will not lie, cheat or steal” was at the time a big liar and a thief but had the gall to call out someone who was given a campaign contribution for peanuts compared to what he was stealing from CLICO and that when he actually became PM, he was still operating a law firm which was only a money laundering outfit!

    WOW!!!!!

  5. old onion bags Avatar
    old onion bags

    @ Lemuel

    Onions is a CIA man……Ha Ha ha ha…(MURDA)…..so by extention we can conclude Bushie is D pope !

    @ Hants

    Nice fish……

  6. Tell me something I don't know Avatar
    Tell me something I don’t know

    My reading of this is actually that Thompson was no longer a PARTNER in the firm of thompson & Associates BUT that he and/or his wife still had control of an account bearing the name of the firm but which the actual firm’s lawyers were neither aware or signatories to. Now this raises many Questions. Any company, firm, partnership etc could have many accounts with the same name at different banking institutions for legitimate reasons.

    It seems to me that in the case of this special firm – which had this big client in CLICO and its subsidiaries, the then Principal of the Firm, may have created several accounts not all of which were known to the other partners.

    So it is entirely possible that this particular account was set up long before for the purposes of handling certain CLICO transactions “off the book” – maybe to keep any accrued earnings for the exclusive benefit of Thompson or from which other “off book” transactions could be dealt with – without knowledge of those who did not need to know.

    Mara as the Office Manager would have been well-placed to direct traffic – and deposit the various cheques into the appropriate accounts – Including this “off-book” account.

    Would be most interesting to find out what other transactions occurred on this particular account. That is where much of the CLICO money must have leaked.

  7. Colonel Buggy Avatar
    Colonel Buggy

    Prodigal Son March 12, 2015 at 6:46 PM #

    First she is no politician, that’s clear. She has no charm, no charisma at all, at all. There is nothing to this woman that would attract any sane person yet she was projected as a queen. She contributes very little to Parliament by way of debate, nothing of substance.
    …………………………………………………………………………………………………..
    A late politician / undertaker, is on record, stating that if he were to bring one of his pine coffins, to a certain constituency, of which he was the sitting MP, ,and mark his party initials on it, he would be assured that it would become a Member of Parliament. Mara is St John’s coffin.

  8. PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926TO 2015 MASSIVE FRAUD LANDTAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS, BARBADOS DLP/BLP MASSIVE PONZI FRAUD Avatar
    PLANTATION DEEDS FROM 1926TO 2015 MASSIVE FRAUD LANDTAX BILLS AND NO DEEDS, BARBADOS DLP/BLP MASSIVE PONZI FRAUD

    Violet Beckles warned you all years ago on the Massive land fraud , you all think it was a joke , Clico just the tip of this nasty lawyers and Minister raping a nation, Better learn to google and not listen to the BLP nor DLp same bunch of crooks liars and scumbags,
    PM Owen and ex AG Mia need to be in jail and take Richard Byer and Jackman with them

  9. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @David
    The premise of this article about “listening with deep sadness” is so much baloney , why do you expect a sitting Gov’t in Barbados to imperil itself?

    It is one thing for the JM to sue the Estate of Thompson to recover part of the proceeds of the 3.3 million but it is another thing to prove that Mara knew of the transaction as the court can’t force Mara to testify against about her late husband as I believe “spousal privilege” still applies. If the law in Bim says otherwise Mara could do a Sargeant Schultz (Hogans Heroes) “I hear nothing, I see nothing, I know nothing” or “I know nothing about nothing” and who is going to prove her wrong?

    It seems that people can’t see the forest for the trees and from reading the bit of the Report I believe that the $3.3 m was pocket money for some individuals who treated CLICO as their personal piggybank. With all the missing documentation, missing statements and missing copies of cheques it was fortuitous that they could trace the 3.3 m because with a little more time the 3.3 might have been wired off to a numbered account at a FI in Switzerland or the Cayman Islands and the JM would be whistling in the dark.

  10. are-we-there-yet Avatar
    are-we-there-yet

    Sargeant, re your post above.

    You may be right but I prefer to believe in right and wrong and karma and doing the right thing and I think that Bushie’s BBE arranged things that all the clues in the 3.333 million deal were fortuitously unravelled by the JM. I don’t think it is going to stop there. There are too many things going on at the present time for this to be glossed over.

    That 3.333 million dollar invoice may just be the thread that DeeWord talked about that will unravel the whole garment clothing the nakedness of this government and signal the start of the process of rebuilding by whoever takes over.

    I think that it is the attitude that you portray in that post that has Barbados in the position it is in today. Uncaring and absolutely selfishness in our leaders who can’t see that their amoral actions breeds a society of the same and which will sooner or later fall.

    Why would an intelligent man like you choose not to see the dark immorality of David Thompson’s misdeeds and the likelihood of Mara’s involvement and that, given the threads so far unravelled by the JM’s report, that it is almost certain that a significant sum of money purloined from CLICO in a serial money laundering scheme most likely resides in the Thompson estate which has been probated and that really that money should be tracked and used to help the myriad pensioners and other policyholders who have been sorely disadvantaged by the actions of Thompson and Parris.

    I read your post with “deep sadness” cause heaven help us if most of us think like you.

  11. David Avatar
    David

    @Sargent

    Don’t be naive, the 3.3. million some of it found its way into the estate of Thompson now controlled by Mara Thompson.

  12. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ are-we-there-yet
    …skippa, what Bushie tell wunna bout Sargeant?

    There are some issues and nuances that are above Non Commissioned Officers. If you want bravado and gusto and in-your-face big talk …call Sarge.

    ….but when he fire two grogs and start pontificating and philosophizing it is best to just ignore him until he sobers up and gets his uniform back on…..

  13. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @AWTY

    Not sure what you are reading into my post, first of all I was reacting to “David’s” indignation at the Deputy Speaker denying an Opposition request that would likely torpedo the Gov’t….. like if the Gov’t would let that happen and secondly the real world scenario of Mara reacting to potential legal issues and how her responses could be shaped.

    As to my other point about “forest for the trees”, the 3.3m is just the tip of the iceberg so while the focus on this blog has been on that figure much more was funnelled out from the “piggy bank” that was CLICO. The Report refers to an Appendix which was not included in the copy attached here so I don’t know what the terms of reference or the scope of the forensic audit except to say that there were troves of documents missing along with a potential uncooperative witness.

    Don’t know why you thought my comments were dismissive guess it’s my have seen/heard it all before attitude coming to the fore.

    @David

    Did you not read where I wrote that it’s one thing to sue the Estate of Thompson to recover part of the proceeds? Is that not an acknowledgement that I recognise that some of the funds may have found its way into the Estate?

  14. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @Bushie

    I guess you must have slept through those “Uses of English” classes that were common at Cave Hill back in the day.

  15. DEEP SILENCE Avatar
    DEEP SILENCE

    What do you expect of Michael Carrington and David Thompson?
    Both have a poor social background and therefore rob as much as they can.
    In former times plantations, in post-colonial times so-called business men and politicians.

    Foreign investors are well advised to go to international law firms and not local QCs if they want honest legal services.

    The Freundel administration will never resign before next election day. They need their big Mercedes and diamond pensions whereas average Barbadians drive rotten 10 year old Toyotas and lost pensions at CLICO.

  16. SITH Avatar
    SITH

    @Sargeant

    First Caribbean Bank have the cheques or other signed documentation that authorized the payout of the 3.3 million dollars. On it you will see the signature of the person who signed for the disbursement. We have already seen the Clico cheque with a 3rd party endorsement on it that deposited money into the client trust account when it should have gone into the business account. Who’s writing is that on the back of the cheque? We now need to see who signed for the monies to leave that bank trust account. It will be a Thompson. Normal procedure is for “office manages” to be signatories on this type of account.

    First Caribbean have all the answers. They need to be asked by the Policy Holders for copies of the authorization disbursing the 3.3 million from the trust account.

    Make no mistake the billing of fees and the then depositing of the payment into a trust account is clearly fraudulent.

  17. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ Sargeant March 12, 2015 at 11:50 PM

    Where is your moral compass in all of this, Sarge? Why are you finding excuses for the current administration and its leader for facilitating and covering up the massively deleterious fallout from the biggest fraud ever perpetuated against innocent policyholders and pensioners?

    It is obvious that Mara is ‘genuinely’ complicit in the scheme to defraud CLICO and launder money on behalf of a most estimable gentleman who happens to be the PM’s pal and ‘materialistic’ godfather to the MoF who happens to have a liking for hand-me-down designer clothing and status symbol vehicles as the photo op of the local equivalent of Ascot Day clearly confirmed the intimacy of such a cozy incestuous relationship.

    For once why can’t you be on the side of decency and integrity instead of justifying the actions of a blatant corrupt gang of crooks, swindlers and liars whose presence at the wheel of governance has brought your country Barbados (which you love so much) from the pinnacle of political respectability and envious international admiration, economic sustainability and social stability to the lowest depth of embarrassing vulgarity, depravity and financial shame of coming pariah proportions on the international scene.

    Why not give Bajans the chance to decide if they want to continue on this path? I am sure that in your adopted country or any other jurisdiction after which Barbados likes to model itself the culture of the ‘educated and informed’ citizens would require that the moral rule of decency and justice prevail.

    How can a political administration continue with this CLICO scandal enveloping its leaders, past and present, marked by a total loss of confidence from its clients the citizens while hoping for a turnaround in its economic fortunes when almost every promised made to the stakeholders have largely remained unfulfilled.
    Barbados needs a moral SOS appeal not a unrelenting farrago of lies and deception from its leaders.

    “We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people.” ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

  18. are-we-there-yet Avatar
    are-we-there-yet

    Miller, re. your 9:10 am post;

    My earlier post just sowed the seed. Your full blown fruit is par excellence.

    There should be outrage and disgust exhibited at the facts coming out of the opening of this cesspool. Not facile expressions suggesting that such actions by Thompson and his associates were OK and par for the course.

    Therein lies perdition.

    Now is the time for the Opposition to speak with a clear voice on these matters and the legal authorities to do their jobs, else they should all be made fodder in the coming day of the figurative wolves.

  19. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    A logical political strategy would be for the PM TO CALL A SNAP ELECTION.

    Then those with the biggest impending legal problems can focus on their defence and bow out of the political arena.

    Everything is out in the open and the best strategy is to “GET A LAWYER”

  20. Well Well Avatar
    Well Well

    These thieves and wannabe respectable criminals are a disgrace to Barbados.

  21. Sunny Sunshine Shine Avatar
    Sunny Sunshine Shine

    There are grounds for protest action. We have a wicked immoral prime minister residing over the people’s usiness. We have a corrupt immoral speaker of the house ruling in the speakers chair. We have an immoral crooked wife of a disgusting dispicable dead rat crooked and pretensive former prime minister. All the nastiness is coming to bare on what we all knew about these frauds. We were waiting for proof for years and got some now. What the ass are we waiting for. Time to pickett and protest against this government. Carrington got go And Mara we dont want anymore. CROOKERY MUST STOP WE DONT WANT NO MORE OF THAT.

  22. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @Miller & AWTY
    I see from your recent comments that both of you are of the opinion that I have not expressed an acceptable level of outrage at the recent revelations on the CLICO saga. I will be returning in the next few months and will journey to the residence of the impoverished CEO suitably armed with pitchfork and torches to wreak havoc on the palatial estate. My next stop will be at the boneyard in St. John where I will perform a similar duty at the mausoleum of the late PM.

    Pobre moi at trying to point out the legal hurdles that the plaintiffs face in this matter, poor me at writing about the vast sums that are unaccounted for while others were focused on the 3.3m, poor me at suggesting that some of those funds may have made their way to foreign lands invisible to Bajan eyes (didn’t CLICO also have a Corporate jet? Who has the flight manifests?).

    There has been enough outrage on this matter in the last few years on this blog to fill the Caribbean Sea, I like to keep my head while others are losing theirs.

  23. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ Sargeant March 13, 2015 at 10:06 PM
    “Pobre moi at trying to point out the legal hurdles that the plaintiffs face in this matter, poor me at writing about the vast sums that are unaccounted for while others were focused on the 3.3m, poor me at suggesting that some of those funds may have made their way to foreign lands invisible to Bajan eyes (didn’t CLICO also have a Corporate jet? Who has the flight manifests?).”

    What legal hurdles what?
    Legal hurdles like the lack evidence in the case of a boy from the block caught smoking a spliff and the police automatically charges him as if he is possession of a planted tradable quantity? What a waste of time in a country that would soon be importing marijuana products made in the USA!

    Or the self-inflicted wounding concocted story of how to get a man from facing the high court and jury for “accidentally” shooting his son while ‘playing’ with his gun?

    What about using social media to communicate what a Minister finds to be offensive and ends up in quick time before magistrate charged for the misuse of a computer?

    What about the frivolous and vexatious cases brought against the Nation newspaper journalists and management for showing hormone-driven school children engaging in ‘ordinary’ teenage hanky-panky birds and the bees entertainment in a co-educational environment which only served to fertilize the vulgar minds of the social media voyeurs?

    What are the legal hurdles facing the prosecution in the criminal case brought by the CoP against Parris for his refusal to stop selling bogus insurance policies after the CLICO collapse and instructed to do so by the then SoI? Where is the justice for such a brave public officer for being so uppity resulting in Leroy “Don’t-you-know-who–I-am” Parris demanding her suspension?

    What are these legal hurdles preventing the BRA from investigating Parris for an open and shut case of tax evasion? Is it that the MoF and the Commissioner are beholden unto God the Father Parris the giver of all gifts to titillate the materialistic taste buds of people who are ashamed of their origins of poverty and would wish to distance themselves from such socially confining trappings exacerbated by their secondary school profile and the resulting stigma of a liar of a monkey permanently riding on their academic back.

    What are these legal hurdles to prevent the charging of Parris for obvious ‘blatant’ fraud and engaging in money laundering schemes? People get charged everyday for alleged misdemeanors far less serious than gross misconduct as outlined in the now unsealed Forensic report.

    Even some lawyers find who find themselves in such predicaments especially for financial improprieties have been known to attend court not as legal counsel for a defendant in a criminal matter or even as an amicus curiae but as the person in the dock having to plead guilty or not guilty to the charges brought by the Crown prosecution.

    Some so-called big up people find themselves facing charges like Rodney Wilkinson and end up on remand for a short period with the extended expectation a court will find then not guilty but with the experience of temporary incarceration indelibly etched in their mind and reflected in their physical appearance. But we suspect Parris would find such a staycation at her Majesty’s pleasure an enjoyable and fully satisfying outing for the rest of his life.

    The problem is not one of legal hurdles but one of gross disrespect for the rule of law as being demonstrated by the inactions of the authorities. Parris had many a corrupt official in his pocket from the lowly customs officer to the Top Brass in the termite infested cabinet. Any shaking of that piece of rotten political furniture would result not only in the naming and shaming of many elites in class-ridden Barbados but also in the iconoclastic fall of the false deity worshiped by the poor whose adoring motto was indeed “DLP- Developing the Lives of the Poor”.

    Can that once great party redeem itself under the stewardship of Fumble and turn Skippa Barrow’s ship around by renaming it the “RRDLP” for ‘Rehabilitated for the Retribution & Destruction of Leroy Parris’?

    Leroy Parris needs to be charged immediately for fraud and money laundering and his many travel documents confiscated. Let the courts decide his guilt or innocence while the BRA sells his assets to recover back taxes due to the Revenue.

    If he is found innocent then the State will be prepared to compensate him for bringing ‘false’ charges against him just like the “fake” invoice he personally approved to swindle poor CLICO pensioners and ordinary life insurance policyholders whose chances of being properly compensated for their losses are as far apart as the rings in Greenverbs anus. Any compensation due to Sam Pokey Parris for wrongful incarceration would not only suffer the fate as the long wait of Carrington’s 14 years’ refusal to pay his client but would be put in the same queue as Al Barack’s comfort to a fool millions.

  24. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ Miller
    Bushie withdraws all the many cussing that he had previously bestowed upon you on the basis of this posting above….
    …for the time being….

    Well said …. although is will likely be wasted on Sargeant due to it’s high level, commissioned-officer level slant.
    Those NCO types would much prefer you to fire two grogs and leggo some brass bowl swear words…
    …which you have been known to do on occasion here on BU… 🙂

  25. Sargeant Avatar
    Sargeant

    @Miller
    That was certainly more than a mouthful let it all out, the comment about legal hurdles was applied to any difficulties Mara was facing and whom this particular blog was about trust you to bring in Sam Poochie and the duppy. Everyone wants to see the law followed but law isn’t justice, while you are on that track how come you didn’t mention the lack of charges on the players responsible for the apartment collapse when five people (remember them?) died.

    I am not going to defend the indefensible but isn’t the CEO’s lawyer placing some legal barriers on the matter before the Court? We may not like it but he is doing what a lawyer is supposed to do for his client, Mara’s lawyers will do likewise.

    @Bush Tee
    As in Tee Hee, with all this talk about grog have you fallen off the wagon again? The local Branch of AA will welcome you back or you could always talk to BBE he/they will understand.

  26. David Avatar
    David

    @Sargeant

    Of course the parties are entitled to exhaust legal avenues but political fallout is a consequence.

    On 14 March 2015 at 21:48, Barbados Underground wrote:

    >

  27. Simple Simon Avatar
    Simple Simon

    @Sargeant March 12, 2015 at 9:52 PM “the court can’t force Mara to testify against about her late husband as I believe “spousal privilege” still applies.”

    Wrong Sarge.

    Death ends a marriage.

    Spousal privilege does not apply as a widow has no spouse.

    Never mind that I read every single Sunday in the Sunday Sun “wife of the late”

    If the man who used to be your husband is dead then you are NOT A WIFE, and spousal privilege cannot possibly apply.

  28. The People's Democratic Congress Avatar
    The People’s Democratic Congress

    Once again some of the supposed findings of another joke national public opinion poll is published in today’s Sunday Sun, March 15, 2015.

    Again, too, this poll, some of its findings and their publication in a couple sections of the local news media are being made food by the pollsters for influencing many thousands of people in the lead up to the next elections in Barbados.

    Again the principle of the holding of free and fair elections in this country will again be seriously undermined to make sure that this rotten dreadful social and political status quo in Barbados continues.

    PDC

  29. Bush Tea Avatar
    Bush Tea

    @ PDC
    LOL …it look like the only way you will show up on that poll is if wunna interview Wickham yuh….

  30. Commander in Chief aka -Prankster the Mankster eating Mangoes sunnyside up and egging off while Alfing around to the Max Avatar
    Commander in Chief aka -Prankster the Mankster eating Mangoes sunnyside up and egging off while Alfing around to the Max

    Ha ! looka muh crosses doe
    BU calls for resignation and just stopped calling as though BU achieved its objective. Typical 9 day wonder has wandered. The guilty remains un-punished and BU has failed to keep the pressure on. Time for action BU

  31. David Avatar
    David

    @Commander in chief

    You remind us of Statler and Walforf located on the balcony doing what they do best.

  32. Weekend Reading | Barbados Aboveground

    […] aside your differences, local politics, mud-slinging, race, gossiping, name-calling, et cetera, and expand your mind. Black, white, […]

  33. Dompey Avatar
    Dompey

    Simple Simon

    Sir, you’re quite correct the surviving widow has no Spousal Privilege, but under US Law he or she has what is called: “Confidential Marital Communications Privilege” and this extends to persons whose marriages have been desolved through divorse and more importantly, the widow.
    Someone in the legal profession in Barbados, I am sure can speak more forcefully as to whether the same holds through for Barbadian Jurisprudence.

  34. LOOK Avatar
    LOOK

    Mia Mottley and Dale Marshall also should be asked to resign.

  35. pieter pieper Avatar
    pieter pieper

    Interesting to note that Ehud Olmert, former Prime Minister of Israel, was recently “convicted of accepting bribes to build an apartment complex when he was Mayor of Jerusalem”.It is alleged that he received $160,000.He was sentenced to 6 years in prison. Talk about integrity, transparency, accountability and freedom of information !

  36. David Avatar
    David

    The Governor of the central bank of T&T forced to resign, and his girlfriend.

    Lessons?

  37. Vincent Haynes Avatar
    Vincent Haynes

    @David December 31, 2015 at 1:10 PM #

    Chuckle…..you realy expect that to happen here?

  38. pieter pieper Avatar
    pieter pieper

    Shows that there is more integrity, transparency, accountability and freedom of information in T &T ! (Bajans have some damn nerve calling T&T “the Land of Bobol” ! Interesting to note that Basdeo Panday also had serious problems which, in great measure, accounted for the ending of his life as a politician !) “Little England” has indeed ‘lost its way’ and one must indeed question what is there to be gained by it becoming a republic in 2016 ?

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