Local activist, Sandra Catron, last Tuesday (17) filed a lawsuit against the Cayman Islands government, claiming she is owed CI$13,400 from a paralegal instruction course that she taught online from her company, Micro Matrix, under the auspices of the Nation Building Fund.

According to the lawsuit, a previous amount for paralegal training courses totaling $50,250 was paid in two installments.

The writ states:

“Initially the premier* wanted to sponsor some 50 persons but that was not fiscally possible with the budgetary constraints at the time. The contract was to provide the paralegal certificate programme to sponsor 30 participants at the cost of CI$1,675 per person.

“The premier* decided to sponsor an additional group of students for the 2012/13 fiscal year for an additional eight persons. Numerous attempts to receive payment across three different administrations have been made with no positive results to date.”

*Note: The premier referred to in writ is former Cayman Islands Premier McKeeva Bush

Catron claims she invoiced the government for CI$13,400 on Aug. 29^th, 2012 for the additional group but has received nothing since.  She says she has made several attempts to receive payment.

This follows the Royal Cayman Islands Police Services (RCIPS) confirmation they are conducting a criminal investigation into more than CI$50,000 received by a Cayman Islands resident from the Nation Building Fund during the former United Democratic Party’s governance.

The resident has been identified as Sandra Catron.

The RCIPS statement issued this week upon the matter says:

“We can confirm that a complaint was received from the Ministry of Education, Employment and Gender Affairs on Sept. 4^th. The complaint centres on the misuse of monies allocated by the Nation Building Fund to an individual for the training of staff.”

Catron claims she sent an email to RCIPS Commissioner David Baines a week ago claiming someone was trying, for political reasons, to tarnish her business name in the community.

She wrote: “What began as a good faith effort with our service and the premier’s Nation Building Fund has now turned into the usual political foolishness and RCIPS vindictiveness.”

See also Colin Wilson’s Editorial published in iNews Cayman on September 17^th 2013 “The Editor speaks: Is there a vendetta against Catron?” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/2013/09/the-editor-speaks-is-there-a-vendetta-against-catron/