iNews Briefs, More & Community Events
8th Annual CISPA Gala “Back to the Future-Celebrating 45 years of excellence”
Date: 10/10/2015
Time: 6:30 PM
Ritz Carlton Seven Mile Beach
Phone: 749 3360
Register
Event Description: The 8th Annual CISPA Gala “Back to the Future-Celebrating 45 years of excellence” is a time to celebrate Caymanians who recently attained their professional accounting designations as well as a chance to celebrate the past and look to the future
Directions: The Ritz Carlton, Grand Cayman
Annual Meals on Wheels Dress Down Day
SAVE THE DATE
Dress Down Day Friday, 20th November, 2015
Help feed our Seniors we believe no-one in Cayman should go hungry.
Individuals can help by purchasing an orange ribbon for $5.00 or a tee shirt for $15.00 and wearing them on Dress Down Day, we are encouraging companies to match employee donations.
For more information or to sign up to participate please feel free to contact us via email at [email protected] or via telephone at 949-3905.
The Lions Club of Tropical Gardens Presents a Diabetes Health Fair
Free A1C Testing
By the Cayman Islands Diabetic Association (CIDA) For Persons with diabetes and a
strong family history of Diabetes.
Where: Church of God of Prophecy, Eastern Avenue, George Town
When: Saturday 29th August, 2015
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon
CARE announces Cayman Islands 5th Annual Paws for wine
Sat Sept 26th Ristorante Pappagallo
Lions Club of Tropical Gardens Brenda Tibbetts-Lund Memorial 5K Walk/Run5K
Sunday October 3, 2015 in North Side at 6am
THU AUG 27
Thursday High School Orientation
The orientation meetings for high schools students start on Thursday (27 Aug.) New Transfer students Years 7 — 11 for Clifton Hunter will be meeting from 930am until 11am. These are for new students and they must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
Thursday Primary School Orientation
The orientation for George Town Primary School is Thursday (27 Aug) from 8 to 10am. Red Bay Primary School is from 9am until noon. Prospect Primary School is from 9 until 1030am. Edna Moyle Primary School is from 9 until 10am. West End Primary School is from 9am until 12pm and Creek and Spot Bay Primary schools are from 10am until 11. These are for new students and they must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
FRI AUG 28
Friday Primary School Orientations
The orientation for Sir John A Cumber Primary School is Friday (28 Aug) from 830 to 1230pm. Lighthouse school is from 9 until 10am and Savannah Primary is from 9am until 1030pm. Bodden Town Primary School is from 9am until 11am. East End Primary is from 9 until 12pm.These are for new students and they must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
2015 Orientation Dates for Cayman Islands Government Schools
Released on behalf of the Education Ministry.
Five managers face Madoff-related criminal trial in October in Geneva
From Opalesue
Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque Geneva:
Bernie Madoff, the 78-year-old New York fund manager, is currently serving a 150-year prison sentence in the U.S. after pleading guilty in 2009 to running a $17.5 billion Ponzi scheme.
Geneva, home of many wealth advisors and fund managers who had invested in his scheme, was deeply scared by his deception. At least seven firms in the region lost as much as $7 billion in the scheme that cost investors worldwide about $65 billion.
According to Swiss daily Le Temps, five wealth managers who invested heavily in Madoff are to be judged in court on 12th October, in Geneva. The five partners used to work for wealth management company Aurélia Finance SA. They were charged in April 2009 with mismanagement with the intent of profiting from the act. Marc Tappolet, a prosecutor, investigated the case for six years.
The trial will determine whether the partners should be held responsible for their clients’ losses, and whether they acted recklessly when investing in the convicted fraudster. Prosecution will claim they filled up their unwitting clients’ accounts with Madoff products, driven by greed and without regards for the basic rules of wealth management. Defense will retort the partners themselves were victims of the fraudster.
Aurelia was one of dozens of European vehicles that were known as “feeder funds” because they pooled assets to invest with Madoff, Bloomberg reported.
Legal sources told Reuters Aurelia had lost up to $800 million in Madoff-related funds.
According to Le Temps, the Aurelia case is one of the last two criminal cases related to Madoff to be concluded. The other one should be dealt with soon too, and also in Geneva; it is related to the Optimal funds, run by Santander, a Spanish bank.
For more: http://www.opalesque.com/656734/Five_managers_face_criminal_trial_in_October673.html
Hamid Gul, a Pakistan spy master tied to militants, dies
By Zarar Khan, Associated Press From Business Insider
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Family members say Hamid Gul, the former head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency during the end of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and who supported Islamic militants, has died of a brain hemorrhage. He was 79.
His daughter, Uzma Gul, told The Associated Press on Sunday that her father died late Saturday (15) night at the hill resort of Murree near the capital, Islamabad.
Born in 1936, Gul served in the army and fought in two wars against India. He always advocated that nuclear-armed Pakistan should confront its atomic-armed neighbor India.
As ISI chief from 1987 to 1989, he helped the CIA funnel weapons and money to jihadis fighting Soviet troops in Afghanistan. He later broke with the U.S. and loudly supported Islamic militants, including al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
Guatemala detains ex-VP who resigned amid graft scandal
From Business Insider
GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemalan authorities have detained former Vice President Roxana Baldetti, who resigned earlier this year after a corruption scandal reached into her inner circle.
The prosecutor’s office said Friday that she is suspected of fiscal fraud.
The scandal at the customs agency involved kickbacks paid in exchange for lower import duties.
The corruption ring allegedly was led by Baldetti’s private secretary.
CNN: Obama gives Biden ‘Blessing’ to run for President
By Jason Devaney From Newsmax
President Barack Obama has given Vice President Joe Biden his “blessing” if he chooses to launch a White House run.
A CNN report cites a senior Democrat in the story, saying the pair met for a regularly scheduled lunch meeting Monday.
Biden was also scheduled to meet with two key Obama advisers — Anita Dunn and Bob Bauer — Monday evening at his residence on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory. Dunn and Bauer, who are married, have worked in the Obama White House off and on since 2009 and are still close to the president, CNN reports.
Speculation is growing that Biden will join the Democratic race for president in the near future. A Monday morning report claimed it’s looking more and more likely that Biden will run, while it was reported elsewhere that Biden will meet with several big donors in two weeks.
Hillary Clinton is the leading candidate for president on the left, but a scandal surrounding her use of a private email address and server while she was secretary of state threatens to derail her campaign — and possibly bring an indictment.
‘Super’ London residential property fund targets 10% yield
By Dylan from Citywire UK
Investors are being offered the opportunity to profit from prime residential property price inflation in the heart of London.
London Central Portfolio (LCP) dubs its London Central Apartments III (LCA III) a ‘super’ property fund, which invests exclusively in the mainstream private rented sector in prime central London.
The fund will contain a portfolio of around 50 properties in some of London’s most expensive postcodes, which it believes can deliver a target yield of around 10% over a five-year period.
LCA III is listed on the Channel Islands Stock Exchange and the company aims to raise £100 million. It intends to use the proceeds to acquire one and two bedroom properties, along with studio flats.
‘These smaller properties form the bedrock of Prime Central London’s rental market and are attractively priced at a level where the recent changes in stamp duty rates helps, rather than hurts,’ LCP chief executive Naomi Heaton said.
‘As the properties are being let on a commercial basis – primarily to blue chip tenants, they also do not fall foul of the annual tax on Enveloped Dwellings, which takes aim at owner-occupiers.’
Heaton also pointed out LCA III is exempt from a ‘slew’ of new taxes, which buyers acting on their own are now asked to pay.
These include the new capital gains charges levied on non-residents and the non-domiciled inheritance tax soon to be applied to all privately-owned residential property in the UK, whether or not it is held in an offshore vehicle.
The minimum subscription on the fund is £75,000, although this limit does not apply if investments are made through a Sipp, ISA or Ssas.
LCA III levies a 1% annual charge and a 20% performance fee subject to an 8.5% hurdle rate.
Royal Caribbean in Billion Dollar Singapore Deal
By MarEx From The Maritime Executive
Royal Caribbean International has signed a first-ever multi-million dollar marketing collaboration with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and Changi Airport Group (CAG) to promote cruising out of Singapore and, in turn, attract the cruise line’s largest number of overseas fly-cruise guests to the nation.
The tripartite collaboration – which runs between 2015 and 2018 – is estimated to pull in over 170,000 overseas visitors to Singapore to sail on Royal Caribbean’s cruises over that period, resulting in a projected growth of over 50 per cent.
This will be done via a series of marketing campaigns, research studies and channel development activities, such as partnerships with the media and trade, in markets not only within Asia such as India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea and Taiwan, but also beyond the region in Australia, Europe and North America.
Royal Caribbean also plans to increase its number of sailings from Singapore during this period to over 40 a year.
Currently, the cruise line’s 3,807-guest Mariner of the Seas makes around 30 voyages annually. Its next Singapore season which will be the largest ever, starting from this October, will feature more long cruises of seven to 15 nights, aimed at attracting more overseas fly-cruise guests.
Sean Treacy, Managing Director, Singapore and Southeast Asia of Royal Caribbean Cruises said: “Having deployed ships here regularly for the last seven years, Royal Caribbean now looks forward to its next phase of significant growth in Singapore. Our three-year deployment plan is our strongest commitment ever to this market and we see great potential in Singapore as a source market and regional cruise hub.”
Projected to generate over $100 million in tourism receipts, the collaboration with Royal Caribbean contributes substantially to Singapore’s cruise industry, with an estimated compounded annual growth of five to eight percent in throughput over the next three to four years. With the cruise industry already generating more than $500 million in direct spendingi in 2013, this development promises a further injection of significant economic impact into Singapore.
With more than 25,000 islands, Southeast Asia is an ideal cruising destination for travellers seeking to discover multiple cultures and new experiences in a warm, tropical year-round climate. The region appeals particularly strongly to Asian travellers due to its close proximity to home, with eight in 10 who have never cruised before expressing interest to embark on a cruise vacation within Southeast Asia.
Providing a link between Royal Caribbean International, Singapore and its regional neighbors is Changi Airport’s strong connectivity to 320 cities worldwide, along with some 6,700 weekly flights, giving Singapore a strategic advantage to effectively tap fly-cruise traffic from across the globe and serve as a cruise hub for Asia.
IMAGE: Mariner of the Seas
For more: http://maritime-executive.com/article/royal-caribbean-in-billion-dollar-singapore-deal
NLRB: Northwestern football players can’t form a union
By Rebekah Mintzer, From Corporate Counsel
More than a year after the case was appealed to the full National Labor Relations Board in Washington, D.C., the board finally issued a ruling Monday on the status of Northwestern University football players’ historic petition for unionization. In a unanimous decision, board members rejected the proposed union, but failed to specify whether the players are in fact “employees” of the university, a central question many expected the NLRB to answer.
The board based its rejection of the union petition on jurisdictional issues, asserting that since the vast majority of colleges and universities with grant-in-aid scholarship players are run by states, which are not covered by the NLRB, a ruling on the board’s part would work counter to the creation of labor stability.
The long-awaited ruling was the first time college athletes have attempted to form a union. In January 2014, former Northwestern Wildcats quarterback Kain Colter led team members in writing and submitting a petition to the NLRB asking for the right to use collective bargaining to gain such benefits as insurance coverage for sports-related injuries, concussion experts by the sidelines at games and an educational trust fund to help players graduate. The group explained that they believed the university and their coaches exerted enough control over them to make the Wildcats “employees” by the National Labor Relations Act’s definition.
By March, the players had the thumbs-up from an NLRB regional director, who ruled the players were in fact employees under the law. The following month, Northwestern appealed the ruling.
Alan Cubbage, Northwestern’s vice president for university relations, said in a statement the university is “pleased” with the board’s rejection of the union petition. “We applaud our players for bringing national attention to these important issues, but we believe strongly that unionization and collective bargaining are not the appropriate methods to address the concerns raised by student-athletes,” he said.
Monday’s decision marks the end of the road for the Wildcats’ petition, but it is certainly not the end of the debate over the nature of the work of college athletes. John Adam of Legghio & Israel, one of the attorneys who represented the players, pointed out that by punting the issue on jurisdictional grounds, the board’s decision did not close the door to the possibility of college athletes becoming employees under the law in the future or gaining other legal rights. “We’ll wait and see,” he told CorpCounsel.com. “These legal changes do not happen overnight. Along the way you suffer victories and defeats, and this is what happened.”
Photo: Michael Barera, via Wikimedia Commons
USA: Circuit ‘Troubled’ by assets held without probable cause
By Mark Hamblett, From New York Law Journal
The exigent circumstances exception to the Fourth Amendment’s requirement for warrants does not support seizing a defendant’s property indefinitely while awaiting forfeiture proceedings, a federal appeals court has ruled.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, saying it was “troubled” that the government held William Cosme’s property for two years, remanded the case for a lower court to determine whether there was probable cause to seize his assets in the first place in United States v. Cosme, 14-1625-cr.
Cosme was arrested in December 2012 on charges he stole $5.5 million from an international school in Korea. Agents seized three luxury cars from his driveway and, from one of the cars, a bag containing $634,894 in cash. They also sent letters to Scottrade and Sterling National Bank requesting a freeze on Cosme’s accounts, saying the government had probable cause to believe the accounts contained proceeds of unlawful activity and were subject to civil forfeiture.
The letters said the government was “in the process of obtaining a search warrant” for the accounts but that “exigent circumstances require” that the property be frozen immediately.
Cosme was indicted in the Southern District in 2013; the indictment stated that he “shall forfeit” the automobiles, the cash and the money in the two accounts as well as two other bank and investment accounts. On Aug. 6, 2013, Judge Harold Baer signed a pretrial restraining order allowing the government to maintain custody of the assets throughout the pending criminal case.
In September 2013, Baer signed an order releasing the $634,894 so Cosme could fund his defense. By January 2014, the government agreed to release monies in escrow so Cosme could pay David Touger, his seventh lawyer in the case.
Cosme’s eighth attorney, Steven Kessler, took over on Jan. 23, 2014 and moved to vacate the district court’s August order allowing the government to maintain custody of the remaining assets. The court denied the motion.
At the circuit on Oct. 24, Cosme, represented on appeal by Jeffrey Alberts, a partner at Pryor Cashman, argued before Judges John Walker, Jose Cabranes and Susan Carney that the restraining order issued by Baer violated the Fourth Amendment because there was no finding of probable cause.
At the outset, Walker agreed there was no finding of probable cause and said, “The government’s switch from civil forfeiture to criminal forfeiture in this case does not immunize it from having demonstrate probable cause.”
When the government seized the property, he said, it did so under civil forfeiture provision 18 U.S.C. §9819b)(2)(B)(ii) which allows seizure where “there is probable cause to believe that the property is subject to forfeiture” and an “exception to the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement would apply.”
But at the Aug. 6 hearing, Walker said, the government was only seeking criminal forfeiture. “We identify no inherent problem with the government’s pursuit of criminal forfeiture after first initiating civil forfeiture proceedings, but this tactic cannot serve as a tool for the government to seize assets without ever showing probable cause.”
Walker noted that the grand jury did not vote on the forfeiture allegations, which were simply notice provisions not subject to a grand jury vote. He said the lower court had a mistaken understanding of the grand jury’s actions. Prosecutors in the Southern District U.S. Attorney’s office acknowledged the judge’s misunderstanding but claimed it was harmless error.
The prosecutions said the warrantless seizure was justified under exigent circumstances as outlined in the case of U.S. v. Daccarett, 6 F.3d 37 (2d Cir. 1993).
Walker said Daccarett allowed the “initial freezing of electronic accounts because of their virtually instantaneous transfer cababilities—akin to the police securing or restricting access to premises while a warrant is obtained—but we do not read it to allow the perpetual restraint of a defendants’ property without a warrant.”
“Rather, the exigent circumstances exception only permits a seizure to continue for as long as reasonably necessary to secure a warrant, as the government promised but then failed to do so here,” the circuit said. “We are troubled that, in the absence of a warrant, the government has retained custody of Cosme’s bank accounts for over two years.”
The continued seizure, Walker said, violates the Fourth Amendment, and the case must be subject to a probable cause inquiry. The case has been remanded to Judge Loretta Preska.
Alberts said the decision would affect numerous cases, both criminal and those where there is only a civil forfeiture.
“There had been a practice by federal prosecutors of seizing funds in bank accounts on their own determinations that there was probable cause to believe that the money in the bank accounts would be subject to forfeiture,” he said. “In this case, the circuit clarifies the government must have a judge conduct an independent review before it seizes bank account funds.”
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Martin Bell, Sarah Paul and Brian Jacobs represent the government.
IMAGE: Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse at 40 Foley Square
Bjoertvedt/Wikimedia
Grassley grills Clinton lawyer David Kendall over emails
By Mike Sacks, From The National Law Journal
In letter, Senate Judiciary chairman questions Williams & Connolly lawyer about security clearances.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has given Williams & Connolly lawyer David Kendall a week to say whether he had the appropriate security clearance to handle thumb drives that contained sensitive emails on the private server of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
“Given the importance of securing and protecting classified information,” Grassley wrote in a letter on Monday to Kendall, a lawyer for Clinton, “it is imperative to confirm when, how, and why you, and any of your associates, received a security clearance in connection with your representation of Ms. Clinton and whether it was active while you had custody of Secretary Clinton’s emails.”
Grassley said Kendall “did not have the appropriate tools in place to secure the thumb drives” before the State Department provided a safe in July. On August 6, Kendall handed over the thumb drives, containing over 55,000 pages of emails to the Justice Department.
Kendall, of counsel at Williams & Connolly, did not immediately respond to request for comment on Monday.
In the letter, Grassley asked Kendall 13 questions and said the responses are due Monday, August 24. Among the questions:
“Besides you, were any employees or partners of Williams & Connolly (hereinafter ‘associates’) granted access to view and/or possess Secretary Clinton’s emails? If so, please name each associate.”
“Did the Department of State request that your associates be provided a security clearance? If so, on what date was that request made and why?”
“Do you currently hold a clearance in connection with your representation of Secretary Clinton? If so, when did you obtain it and from what agency?”
Clinton, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 2016 presidential election, has been under fire for conducting government business on a private email server based out of her Chappaqua home.
A New York Times report in March 2015 sparked the political and national security controversy over Clinton’s email communication. Several prominent law firms are tied up in litigation in Washington federal district court over Clinton’s emails.
The House Select Committee on Benghazi deposed Clinton confidante Sidney Blumenthal in June over emails he sent to then-Secretary Clinton offering private intelligence about Libya.
Clinton is scheduled to testify to the committee in October about her personal email use and her role during the terrorist attacks at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi on September 11, 2012.
Addressing the controversy at a campaign event in Iowa on Friday, Clinton said, “It’s not about Benghazi. And you know what? It’s not about emails or servers, either. It’s about politics.”
The Justice Department on Monday said intelligence agencies had flagged 305 emails from Clinton’s account for further screening for whether they contained classified information.
IMAGE: David Kendall. Photo: Diego M. Radzinschi/NLJ
Will the Caribbean’s New Plan to Lure Investment Succeed?
By Narayan Ammachchi From Nearshore Americas
Tired of spending millions of dollars on overseas promotional programs, Caribbean countries are now mulling plans to persuade existing investors to unzip their purses and expand operations. In a recent workshop organized in St. Lucia, McHale Andrew, president of the Caribbean Association of Investment Promotion Agencies (CAIPA), said it is “logical” to engage with existing investors rather than fight to bring in new investors.
“It is a great idea and I have heard it for the past 20 years. But such a plan is less likely to be successful, because investment agencies are geared to bring in new businesses by offering incentives and other help,” said Anton Edmunds, an emerging market expert and the chair of the U.S. Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute’s Caribbean Area Studies program.
“If a foreign company operates in our country for more than 10 or 15 years, we tend to treat it as a local company and we no longer provide any incentives,” said Edmunds. “Investment level will certainly be increased if you continue to back up the investor who already has an operation in your country.”
Edmunds suggests that Caribbean investment plans should focus on bolstering local firms as they have the capacity and interest in expanding operations. Persuading existing investors to expand their operation is not only a shrewd plan but also inevitable for the regional investment-promotion agencies faced with shrinking budgets and a rising demand for jobs.
CAIPA’s new plans to increase investment include connecting local firms with foreign investors. But Edmunds, who served as a senior manager of business development for St. Lucia in the 1990s, says such a plan is easier said than done.
“It is easy to say I want to match a foreign investor,” said Edmunds. “To do that successfully, investment promotion agencies probably need to have core business skills. If you don’t understand my business you will not be able to do what you promise to do. More than anything else, they will turn out to be business supporting entities rather than investment promotion agencies.”
According to Edmunds, the problem with the Caribbean is that most of the countries in the region are small and lack adequate infrastructure to meet the needs of foreign investors. “First, they need to identify their specialization and find out which industry sector suits them well.”
“If you want to develop medical tourism, you have to train nurses and change legislation to encourage medical specialists and foreign doctors to come in and practice,” said Edmunds. “If you want to get into a high-end service industry such as technology service and outsourcing, you should be able meet the educational needs.”
Some countries, such as Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, are quickly reforming their policies to make the investment climate more conducive. Jamaica, for example, recently made its tax codes a lot easier to understand.
“The Dominican Republic has also adjusted a lot of policies, and governance there looks for more transparent,” said Edmunds. “The Cayman Islands have embraced medical tourism and they too have reformed their policies to support their new initiatives,”
According to World Bank’s 2015 “Doing Business Report,” it takes about 15 days to start a business in Jamaica, which was ranked 20th for ease of doing business. The next best Caribbean island for starting a business is Puerto Rico, which is ranked 48th.
For more: http://www.nearshoreamericas.com/caribbeans-plan-lure-investment-succeed/
US Senator Don Meredith included business partner as part of delegation to Caribbean
By Glen McGregor, Postmedia News From National News
Independent Senator Don Meredith earlier this year led a business delegation to the Caribbean that included a representative of a company he co-owns.
Meredith and Toronto Conservative MP Joe Daniel accompanied a small group of business people travelling to Trinidad and Tobago in January, with their status as parliamentarians paving the way for meetings with top officials in the island nation’s government.
Aided by logistical support from Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Meredith and Daniel met with Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and other parliamentarians.
The trip may also have helped advance Meredith’s own private interests: his business partner, Stanley Sam of Toronto-area construction consulting company DMSS Global Consultant Inc. was part of the delegation, according to a report on the Trinidadian government website.
Meredith is a director and part-owner of DMSS Global Consultant Inc., according to an October 2014 conflict-of-interest declaration he filed with the Senate ethics commissioner. He reported that he would receive income from the firm in the following twelve months.
(Senators are required to list the name, though not the amount of assets they hold valued at $10,000 or more, as well as the names of any entity from which they receive income of $2,000 or more.)
DMSS was formed in 2013, with Meredith and Sam listed as directors, along with Toronto immigration lawyer Osborne Barnwell, according to corporate records.
Under the Senate ethics code, senators are not allowed to use their positions to advance their private business interests or those of other people.
Neither Meredith nor Sam responded to calls and emails requesting comment. Daniel, who is currently running for re-election in the riding of Don Valley North, is not doing media interviews until after the federal election, his office said Thursday.
Meredith also accompanied Sam and other business people on a trip to Jamaica in August 2014, according to a report on the Jamaica Observer website. Rabea Allos, who was listed as president of a company called Vertility Oil & Gas, travelled with them, according to the website.
Meredith listed shares in the Vertility group of companies among his assets in this October 2013 ethics disclosure statement. The holding was not listed in his 2014 disclosure and it is unclear when or if he divested the holding.
Meredith was appointed to the Senate in 2010 on the advice of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. He was kicked out of the Conservative Party caucus in June after a Toronto Star report alleged he had a sexual relationship with a teenager. He is also under investigation by the Senate for alleged harassment, according to a CTV report.
It is not known if either trip to the Caribbean led to new business for the companies Meredith partially owns, but the meetings in Trinidad and Tobago helped some of the Canadian companies on the trip make connections, according to one member on the delegation.
“I think three or four of them did some business with them,” said Leo Duguay, a former Progressive Conservative MP who now works as a lobbyist in Ottawa. “The whole purpose was to meet people in the Trinidadian government — bureaucrats and politicians — to talk about ways of doing business.”
Duguay said he was invited by Meredith, who arranged the trip, but paid his own way. He agreed that Meredith helped open doors. “It was very successful.”
IMAGE: Senator Don Meredith was kicked out of the Conservative Party caucus in June after a report alleged he had a sexual relationship with a teenager. He is also under investigation by the Senate for alleged harassment, according to a report.
Pat McGrath/Postmedia NewsSenator
