Tag: Michael Misick

What is happening in Turks and Caicos Islands with British Direct Rule?

Post author By Cem Kınay
Post date 12 March 2012

PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos Islands — Shaun Malcolm, former chairman of the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM), and Oswald Skippings, former chief minister of the Turks and Caicos Islands and former deputy leader of the PDM, both strong advocates for the suspension of the constitution and the removal of the democratically elected Progressive National Party (PNP) government along with their own party’s parliamentary representatives, have now apparently reversed their positions.

The pair has recently openly attacked the interim government, with Skippings publishing two controversial opinion pieces, where in one he gave a pass to now disgraced former PNP premier Michael Misick, claiming that Misick was not the master or the mind that masterminded the corruption in the Turks and Caicos Islands. In the other commentary, Skippings protested that there seemed to be little benefit in removing a corrupt regime.

Shaun Malcolm, on the other hand, has recently had several letters published in the TCI Journal weblog. These letters were apparently published with the intent of exposing the alleged corruption of the interim administration.

Malcolm is believed to have been the only person that appeared on behalf of the TCI Journal at press conferences hosted by former Governor Gordon Wetherell. Local sources have reported that Malcolm and TCI Journal co-founder Gurcharan Singh are currently facing legal difficulties in the United States, UK and Canada. Singh is said to have fled the South Florida area to hide from creditors and civil law suits that allege serious financial wrongdoing.

These former supporters of British direct rule seemed hopeful that their commercial activities would be supported by a British-led Government in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

An aviation company formed by Malcolm and another PDM national governing council member who openly campaigned for Skippings to become leader at previous PDM conventions, was touted as having secured some 99 acres of very valuable land in the Providenciales International Airport on a long term lease. This transaction alone would have made them all instant multimillionaires. Land around the airport sells for $500,000 per acre. The transaction was supposedly backed by an expatriate developer of the exclusive Aman Resort in Providenciales, where the hotel villas rent for some $15,000 per week.

Former premier Michael Misick had alleged that former Governor Gordon Wetherell was bestowed with lavish gifts from the resort in exchange for favourable immigration appeal decisions but this was denied by the former governor.

However, sources within the interim government allege that the proposed airport transaction reeked of favouritism and special treatment and the interim government would not be in the business of making instant multimillionaires with Crown land as the main variable in the transaction. Malcolm’s local company apparently invested nothing in the transaction but was using local contacts and purported support of the British government as leverage.

In any event, the airport deal has now apparently collapsed, with the Turks and Caicos Islands Airports Authority (TCIAA) entering into a commercial transaction with international ground handler ServiceAir.

A complaint over the ground handling matter has been lodged with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) by another local supporter of the suspension of parliament, Albray Butterfield Jnr, who owns TCA ground handling. He was also the choice to be deputy leader of the PNP but later had to resign after a majority of PNP national governing council members voted against the appointment. Butterfield has complained that the government should not be in the business of competing with local business.

Now that the multimillion dollar deals have soured, these former politicians and strong supporters of the suspension of the constitution appear to have turned against the British government.

Butterfield has now sent another open letter accusing the governor of various nefarious deeds.

published on 10th of March 2012 in Caribean News Now

News

Turks and Caicos has its own WATERGATE SCANDAL

Post author By Cem Kınay
Post date 12 March 2012

Turks and Caicos now has its own ‘Watergate’

Two pages from a document headed “Witness Statement of Shaun David Malcolm” By Caribbean News Now contributor PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos Islands — In an incident reminiscent of the infamous Watergate break-in of the 1970s in Washington, a number of documents claimed to be from the files of the special investigation and prosecution team (SIPT) have apparently been leaked in mysterious circumstances and copies are now being widely circulated among members of the Turks and Caicos Islands public at large. Those in possession of the documents have claimed they were leaked from the SIPT but the images seen appear to be more than hurriedly copied pages. It is thought, therefore, that if they were sourced from the SIPT they had to have been physically removed. It has been suggested that the claim that they were leaked or removed from SIPT offices may be a ruse to cover the true source(s). One of the documents appears to be a witness statement by former Progressive National Party (PNP) backbench member of parliament, Karen DeLancy, which reportedly includes evidence, likely furnished under oath, by the former MP regarding questionable activities of ministers and possibly others related to the administration of her own party. DeLancy’s name has been circulating as a potential repeat candidate for the PNP in the upcoming election. The appearance of this document might, sources say, affect her chances of being named a PNP candidate. The other document is a 16-page document described as “Witness Statement of Shaun David Malcolm”, whose signature is said in the document itself to have been witnessed by Alan Hedley. Years ago, Malcolm was associated with the PNP and had hoped for a candidacy for that party. Refused, he later left the PNP after Michael Misick took control of the party. Malcolm then began to support the Peoples Democratic Movement (PDM) and eventually became chairman. The Malcolm document is dated October 2010, during former Governor Gordon Wetherell’s term of office, when Malcolm was often seen with Wetherell. The copies now circulating have had portions redacted by means of blacked out sentences and words. In that the documents are said to have come from the secure files of the SIPT, questions have been raised as to the purpose of blacking out these presumably sensitive portions. On one page, a third party witness’s name has been blacked out, preventing verification of the information sworn to by Malcolm. It is thought locally that the original document, presumably in the possession of the SIPT, would not be redacted in any way. One portion of the Malcolm document claims that the former PDM government, then headed by Derek Taylor, in preparing for the 2003 election accepted a donation from a named major developer of $400,000. The PDM won that election by a narrow margin but subsequently lost control of the government when a by-election switched two seats over to the Misick-led PNP. In a section of the document headed “Jak Civre and the Seven Stars Resort,” Malcolm said, “On an occasion leading up to the election of January 2007, I was riding in a car with Arthur Robinson and Floyd Seymour [then PDM leader] when we passed the Seven Stars Resort on Providenciales. I was aware that prior to the election of 2003 Jak Civre, the owner of Seven Stars, had made a huge donation of somewhere in the region of $400,000 to the PDM, so I thought to ask how much he had donated to the PDM for the 2007 election. Arthur Robinson said it was $20,000. However, I later discovered through a person who spoke to me in confidence that the actual amount was $100,000.” Another portion of Malcolm’s statement is said to be given over to what is referred to locally as “sour grapes”. Malcolm claims in the document that he was slated to be the appointed member for the 2007 PDM opposition but a late party caucus appointed then Chamber of Commerce president and later elected leader of the PDM, Douglas Parnell. Cheryl Astwood Tull was also reportedly slated for that position after she retreated as an election candidate, having spent a large amount of her personal funds campaigning. “Cheryl Astwood Tull was very upset that the second part of her Election Agreement had not been fulfilled and thereby had not become the Nominated Member of the Turks and Caicos Legislature on behalf of the PDM. In retribution she attempted to sue the PDM for not honouring the agreement. She contacted Conrad Griffiths of the law firm Misick and Stanbrook and tried to force those that had entered into the agreement with her to complete the transaction. However, after researching the situation Mr Griffiths advised her that the agreement was not enforceable,” Malcolm said in his statement. In 2008, Malcolm was known to be the co-founder and a leading contributor of the TCI Journal weblog, which targeted the allegedly corrupt activities of the PNP and Michael Misick in particular. In the lead up to the Commission of Inquiry, the TCI Journal also began to run articles claiming there were unethical dealings within the PDM. These articles did not disclose the author. published on 12th March 2012 in Caribbean News Now

Genel News

VIEW ABOUT COLLATERAL DAMAGE by E.Jay Saunders

Post author By Cem Kınay
Post date 16 February 2012

When do we put the brakes on collateral damage?

Swiss researcher Ernst Fehr once ran an experiment called “the trust game with revenge”, designed to reveal the motivation for vengeance. What he found was that: a) the decision to punish someone who we think cheated gives us a feeling of pleasure, and b) “…the desire for revenge, even when it costs us something and is fully irrational…” is built into us. (Harvard Business Review, July – August 2009, Page 83)

It is primarily because of this phenomenon, why we are seeing – and will continue to see – collateral damage resulting from the Commission of Inquiry.

For example, Sir. Robin Auld’s final report portrays Dr. Cem Kinay as a willing participant in government corruption, because: a) he gave a large sum of money to an elected official, and b) he is trying to keep the details of it out of the public domain. However, while (a) and (b) are true, they do not automatically equal (c)orruption. Here is why, and a scenario of what likely happened that got him to this point:

To keep cost low, Dr. Kinay’s company most likely applied for and received duty concessions from the Government, thereby saving him a few million dollars on the build-out cost for Dellis Cay. During the election campaign a Government minister most likely asked him for a sizeable campaign donation – probably US$1 million. Finding himself in an awkward situation where he could not easily say “no”, Dr. Kinay probably rationalized it as a one off donation to a government who is pro business, and most importantly, one who his pro Dellis Cay. He then probably agreed to donate an amount less than the initial request – although it would have still been a significant sum – and because there are no rules/laws regarding how campaign donations are made, he sent it based on the instructions of the minister.

Although there is nothing in the scenario above that under normal circumstances would be considered corrupt; because the government involved was Mike Misick’s administration, Dr. Kinay’s campaign donation is being suspected as such.

For the record, even if it turns out that the campaign donation was used for corrupt purposes, I doubt that Dr. Kinay was an architect of that corruption.

It is unfortunate, but in today’s world, you are what/who Google says you are, and if there are any references to you on the internet, Google will find it, index it, and archive it. As such, negative materials on the internet can and will affect (what I call) your “Google’s Character Reference” or GCR.

For the average person, their GCR has little or no impact on their lives. However, for someone whose reputation is his/her global currency; someone whose every business deal results in a background check being done; and someone who has global business interests; their GCR is becoming more important than their credit score.

The destructive powers of negative information on the internet is so great to a person’s reputation, that PR firms recommend that if you are a victim of it, to deal with it swiftly and aggressively – even if it means hiring legal representation to have the information removed. As such, it is likely that for this reason alone why Dr. Kinay is keen to keep any negative references to him in Sir Robin’s report out of the public domain.

However, in our desire to punish those who cheated, we want to have the full report in the public domain – regardless of the collateral damage that it can cause.

While there are those who may see some collateral damage as acceptable, the fact is that in order to rebuild the Turks & Caicos, we not only need the defensive strategy of Sir Robin, we also need an offensive (i.e. inward investment) strategy. As the management guru/thinker Peter Drucker once stated, “We have to accept what we all know to be elemental – that taking a defensive position can, at best, only limit losses. And we need gains.” With the economy in free fall, the Turks & Caicos desperately need gains like Dellis Cay. We cannot afford to watch the country go into an economic tailspin for 2 years while we remake government. This approach will only lead to more problems. With all due respect to Colin Roberts, he got it wrong when he suggested that Britain cannot simultaneously promote inward investment while fixing local government.

The task may be difficult, but Governor Wetherell needs to find a way to do both. For “The signature of the truly great vs. the merely successful is not the absence of difficulty. It’s the ability to come back from setbacks, even cataclysmic catastrophes, stronger than before.” (How The Mighty Fall, Jim Collins)

Writen By: E. Jay Saunders in 2009,Turks and Caicos Islands,CEO of Digicell