Moontown

Dick DeGuerin AFP PHOTO

“Mr R. Allen Stanford today announced that the law firm of DeGuerin and Dickson has been replaced as criminal defense counsel,” the statement from a Patton Boggs spokeswoman, said.

Robert Luskin, a managing partner at the Washington, DC law firm, will lead the defence team, the firm said.

The spokeswoman declined to provide additional details.

Luskin was a lawyer with the US Department of Justice and has expertise in money laundering and racketeering, according to the Patton Boggs website.

DeGuerin had been working with Stanford since March. He was never officially retained because the billionaire’s assets have been frozen since February when civil fraud charges were filed.

“All I have to say I will say in my motions to withdraw,” DeGuerin said.

Stanford, 59, is accused of leading a $7 billion Ponzi scheme centering on certificates of deposit issued by his offshore bank in Antigua. He is in jail awaiting trial and has denied any wrongdoing.

Patton Boggs also represents Stanford in the related civil fraud case filed in US District Court in Dallas.

Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez. AFP PHOTO

Discussions will include the new initiatives relating to Jamaica’s energy supply and the impact of the global economic crisis, among other matters.

Chavez will also break ground for the construction of the Simon Bolivar Cultural Centre in downtown Kingston and lay a wreath at the Simon Bolivar statue at the National Heroes Circle.

The visit is in response to an invitation extended to Chavez by Prime Minister, Bruce Golding during the Petro Caribe Summit in St Kitts-Nevis in June.

Robert Corbin

This led to an exchange of words in the House and Corbin pushed the law books to the floor and walked out followed by the entire parliamentary opposition, who later staged a demonstration outside the public buildings.

Corbin in a letter to the Speaker later said the thrust of the motion was to call upon the Parliament to support a motion to invite INTERPOL to investigate the allegations

“I have no doubt that the above matter qualifies as definite, urgent and of public importance as it impugns the integrity of the Government of Guyana, infers breaches of the Guyana Constitution and the functioning of institutions of the State that are bound by the provisions of our Constitution…the obvious need to invite INTERPOL arises from the continued refusal of the present administration over several years to undertake inquiries into serious matters affecting the stability of the state, despite frequent call by the PNCR and other organizations in Guyana,” Corbin stated

Corbin added that, while the allegations have been in the public domain for several years, it is the first time that sworn testimony is available from a witness who is still alive to offer that evidence

“I believe that the above circumstances justify this matter as being of public importance and require that the National Assembly deal with this matter accordingly,” he concluded.

Moments after, General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) and Member of Parliament Donald Ramotar deemed the walk out ‘totally unjustified’.

Speaking to the media about the action taken by the PNC, Ramotar said, “The Speaker cited authorities to show that this was not a urgent matter, but also told them that this matter could be debated in the National Assembly by another kind of motion,” he stated.

“The disrespect for the laws of this country by him (Corbin) throwing down the law books and so forth is abominable to say the least, when the Speaker told him that he could have an opportunity to debate the matter,” he noted.

Also, observing that they are now making Ronald Waddell to be a talk show host, Ramotar said, “If they are taking the line about Waddell in the court in the US, they should also take the whole statement that this man Vaughn is making, who said that he was part of the criminal gang in Buxton, part of the murderous criminal gang in Buxton.”

“But now they want to make him (Waddell) an angel to say that he is a talk show host,” Ramotar observed.

He reminded that the AFC is essentially a breakaway from the PNC and the Leader of the AFC was part of the Executive of the PNC “when the crime situation started up in this country in 2002, with the jailbreak by the five criminal escapees.”

“So maybe a lot of people are getting very nervous about where this thing could very well lead to. I will also like to believe that part of the reasons for this kind of behaviour that we witnessed today by the PNC - part of this has to do with the investigation of the fire that destroyed the Ministry of Health recently,” he told reporters.

“Because we know that the PNC’s whole history has been a history of being deeply immersed in criminal activities,” he noted.

He also alluded to the recent tape where the Chairman of the PNCR was heard thanking the former Commissioner of Police “for diverting attention of the links with the PNC and the criminal gang that had just killed eight people on the East Bank of Demerara.”

“The behaviour of the PNC this afternoon it was totally unjustified. Nobody stopped them from having this matter aired. They were told how they could do it but they walked out,” he repeated.

Fellow PPP Member of Parliament Gail Texeira, alluding to the Local Authorities (Elections) (Amendment) Bill that was tabled and passed at Thursday’s sitting, noted, “This appears to be that the PNC does not wish or it is not in a hurry to have Local Government Elections in this country.”

“Because this is the critical bill that will allow GECOM to do much of the work in preparation for Local Government Elections, whether GECOM is able to have it before the end of this year or early next year - that is not issue,” she pointed out.

She explained that the Elections Commission cannot move in certain areas unless this bill is enacted by the Parliament of Guyana.

“It went through the Committee (Special Select Committee) and therefore I am adding to what Mr. Ramotar is saying, because clearly the PNC does not seem to be in a hurry for Local Government Elections at all,” she observed.

The other bills, the Fiscal Transfer Bill and the Local Government Commission Bill have to do with what happens once Local Government Elections are held.

“These are bills that are to do with political assurance and that is how we have agreed that we will do them, that is why they are all before one Select Committee so that the PNC and the opposition have an assurance that we are not trying to be mischievous and just bring the number one bill and not the others,” she explained.

She said the Local Government Commission Bill is already finished and the report has to be concluded, and if possible, can be tabled next week.

“But that is not critical to Local Government Elections. The Fiscal Transfer is the one where there are differences of use and that will take time,” she also stressed.

Also, she appealed to the media to be careful, cautious, responsible and “not to be reckless” in their reporting of matters.

“It is absurd that a matter in a foreign jurisdiction which is not complete is being castigated and placed in the media, and reported to the Guyanese people, as if it is God’s word come down to the earth,” she observed.

“I am asking you publicly, as members of the media, to behave in a responsible, ethical manner on all these issues,” she urged.

LONDON, England (Reuters) — A Cayman Islands court has frozen $9.2 billion of assets belonging to Saad Group, the Saudi Arabian investment firm at the centre of a financial scandal, including some of its equity stakes outside the Gulf.

The ruling was in response to a complaint filed by indebted Saudi family conglomerate Ahmad Hamad Algosaibi and Brothers Company, which is locked in a legal tussle in the United States with the billionaire owner of Saad Group, Maan al-Sanea.

Companies included in the Cayman court ruling, seen by Reuters, include Cayman Islands registered Saad Investments Company Limited, owner of many of Saad’s equity investments outside the Gulf.

Bank lenders to SICL, owed up to $2.8 billion, are considering making a claim over these assets, Reuters reported last week.

The Cayman Islands’ freeze order, issued on July 24, prevents Maan al-Sanea and 42 companies associated with Saad from selling assets.

These companies include the group’s airline, Saad Air, as well as Singularis Holdings, which bought a 3 percent stake in HSBC in 2007.

Following HSBC’s capital raising, this stake now totals about 2 percent, analysts at Cazenove said in June, with a current value of about 2 billion pounds ($3.31 billion).

Shares bought by Saad also include stakes in Petra Diamond and Imagination Tech.

Saad Group said in a statement late on Thursday the claims made by AHAB in its application to the Cayman court were without foundation, made before a full investigation had taken place and without full information.

“AHAB’s application for the Cayman orders represents a continuation of the baseless, yet public, campaign it has chosen to wage,” Saad Group said.

“Saad itself is working hard with its creditors to determine a fair resolution across the board of all current difficulties,” the statement said. AHAB was not immediately available to comment on Friday.

Joel Julien jjulien@trinidadexpress.com

A SIMPLE text message was all it took to stop car-jackers from carrying out a daylight theft on Thursday, police reports said yesterday.

According to police reports ,Ramesh Sammy, a vacationing visitor, went to Trincity Mall, Trincity, on Thursday.

But around 4 p.m. when Sammy exited the mall he realised that the Nissan Laurel he borrowed from his cousin was missing from the spot where he had parked. Sammy made a frantic call to his cousin-in-law Francis Pakeerah.

Pakeerah, however, never panicked, he told the Express yesterday, he instead sent a text message to his car using his cellphone.

And in less than a minute, Pakeerah, received a reply on his cellphone from the car with its exact location.

This was possible because Pakeerah’s car was outfitted with a Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking device known as the Tramigo P22, he said yesterday.

“The text message I got from the car said that it was stopped along the Caroni North Bank Road near the Speed Pack complex,” Pakeerah said.

And as soon as Pakeerah realised that his car was stolen he decided to send another text message to the car, this time to disable it altogether.

“I sent a next text message to the car, this time with just a D, and I knew that the car what shut down and they wouldn’t be able to drive it anymore,” Pakeerah said.

He then dialled the Piarco Police Station and reported the car theft and the location of the car to them.

Pakeerah left his D’Abadie home and then drove to the Old Piarco Airport where he saw several officers of the Northern Division Task Force searching for the thieves and his car parked at the side of the road.

Only the face of the car’s deck was missing from the car, police reports said.

The bandits are believed to have escaped on foot after the car was disabled, police said.

When the Express spoke to Jason Gordon, the owner of Innovative Technical Services, the company responsible for distributing the “smart GPS system” he advised all motorists to invest in any one of the many systems currently on the market, to help curb the rise in car theft in this country.

“There is technology on the market to stop all the car theft going on now. I believe this system could have saved Camille Daniel’s life if she had one also. Everyone needs to do something to protect themselves,” Gordon said.

Daniel was fatally shot on June 24 after she drove into the West End Police Station in an effort to stop the theft of her Nissan Almera motor car.