Money Not Going to John McLean, Jr.   

“It appears that certain members of the media and the opposition are determined to mislead the public by accusing me of making statements which I DID NOT make. Certain members of the media and the opposition are trying to create the impression that I am doing something wrong, when there is NOTHING wrong with allocating Government money to community projects.

“I listened to the recording of my remarks given at the East End meeting on Tuesday, 28 February and I confirm that I said my Government was going to allocate the entire $5M received through the National Roads Authority Agreement to community projects and programmes across these islands. What I said was that we were going to allocate $200,000 of this for projects, for PROJECTS, in East End and although I did say some of those projects were brought to my attention by John McLean Jr. at no time did I say the funds would be given to John McLean Jr.; and for absolute clarity the funds will not be given to John McLean Jr. . I repeat, he and other East Enders identified these projects and asked that Government do something about them. He did not ask that we give him any funds. Government will fund the projects for the district as they have asked.

“The funds provided by the Dart Group under the National Roads Authority Agreement were made payable to the Cayman Islands Government and deposited with the Treasury of the Cayman Islands Government.

“Any funding of community projects in East End, or in any other district, will be procured, dispersed and accounted for through the regular government processes. The elections are 14 months away, and I am not as concerned about votes as the opposition is, I am concerned with getting this country back on a sound financial footing and getting our people back to work.

 PRESS SECRETARY TO THE PREMIER 

“This attempt to create the impression of political funding to John McLean Jr. is preposterous and unfounded, and is just another tactic to delay getting the much needed investment in the communities they were designed to help.”

For those who wish to hear for themselves what the Premier said, the public meeting held in East End on Tuesday night will be broadcast on CITN on Friday, 2 March at 8pm.