Moontown

HOUSTON, USA (Bloomberg) — Laura Pendergest-Holt, accused of helping R Allen Stanford swindle investors out of more than $7 billion, won court permission for her husband to sell a luxury waterfront lot and keep some of the proceeds.

James D Holt, husband of Stanford Financial Group’s chief investment officer, asked US District Judge David Godbey last week for permission to sell a $2 million property the couple owns on North Carolina’s intra-coastal waterway before it falls into foreclosure. The Holts have been unable to pay their mortgage on the property because all their assets were frozen by court order when the US Securities and Exchange Commission sued Stanford, Pendergest-Holt and others for fraud in February.

James Holt will be allowed to keep 60 percent of any proceeds from the sale of the land because he contributed almost two-thirds of the down payment from funds he earned selling a house he owned before he met and married the Stanford executive, Godbey ruled.

“The court is of the opinion that the motion has merit and should be granted,” Godbey said in an order posted Monday on the Dallas federal court’s Web site. Godbey ruled that the remaining 40 percent of the sales price, Laura Pendergest-Holt’s share of the proceeds, should be deposited in an interest- bearing account until accusations against her are resolved.

Laura Pendergest-Holt Bloomberg Photo

Pendergest-Holt, 35, denies any wrongdoing in connection with what the SEC said was a Ponzi scheme that bilked investors of more than $7 billion through bogus certificates of deposit at Antigua-based Stanford International Bank. She is free on bond until trial on 21 felony charges that mirror the SEC allegations.

Pendergest-Holt has been fighting the court-appointed receiver in charge of administering her frozen assets for living expenses and legal fees, as she claims the freeze order has rendered her virtually penniless.

“The Holts have already received notices of delinquency on the mortgage for their house in Baldwin, Mississippi, and they are relying on family assistance to make the mortgage on the lot,” Jeffrey Tillotson, her attorney said in the request to sell the lot. The lawyer said a voluntary sale would yield a higher price for both the Holts and the receivership estate than a foreclosure sale would.

James Holt purchased a house in his own name in Virginia in 1997, nine years before he met his wife, and sold it in July of last year for $636,290, according to last week’s court filing. He contributed $373,298 of those sale proceeds to the down payment on the North Carolina property, with his wife contributing $246,695, and they financed the rest of the $2 million purchase price, court papers show.

Ralph Janvey, the Stanford receiver, didn’t oppose the Holts’ request to sell the property and allow the husband to retain his “personal untainted” equity in the parcel.

CHARLESTOWN, Nevis — “Telemedicine has the potential to be a key enabler in the transformation of health care delivery to the island,” said Premier of Nevis, Joseph Parry at the University of Virginia Health Care Center last Tuesday.

By overcoming barriers in distance and time, telemedicine has been noted as an effective and efficient system to access and /or deliver health care services, health education and health system management.

The Premier noted that the videoconferencing that he observed at one of the University Health facilities can be designed to meet the special needs of patients in remote locations. “Once this is implemented on the island it can be another boost for the health care system on Nevis.”

Joseph Parry (L) and Pastor Lehman Bates

According to Director of Operations, Elizabeth Brennan Wright, “Since 1995, thousands of clinical encounters linking the University of Virginia specialists, patients and health professionals, including an international clientele have received cost effective medical services.”

Charles Lewis, of the Telecommunications Videoconference Network Analyst at the University of Virginia Health System, said the process is simple. First, the office of telemedicine at the University of Virginia is contacted for a telemedicine encounter. At the appointed time, the patient registers at the designated remote telemedicine site. The patient is introduced to the consultant at the live interactive videoconference. The consultant asks a series of health-related questions and then the patient is examined through high resolution video equipment and a sound system.

After the examination is complete, the patient’s health care provider may confer with the consultant. Often a diagnosis can be made and treatment suggested.

Meanwhile, after observing the telemedicine process the Premier thanked the Ebenezer Baptist Church International Missions and Pastor Lehman Bates for hosting him in Virginia, making his trip financially possible and introducing him to the Telemedicine concept.

According to Parry, “The benefits of telemedicine are obvious. It reduces time, cost and risk of travel for patients, family and health care providers.”

The EBC International Mission has been visiting St Kitts and Nevis over the years, bringing medical supplies and facilitating free health care screenings and check ups on the twin island nation.

The GY$700 million Doppler Weather Radar is part of an EU- Euro 13 million regional project implemented through the CMO in Trinidad, with support from the government of Guyana

Agriculture minister Robert Persaud said while the radar may not be able to prevent a drought or a flood; it will provide improved forecasting accuracies, strengthen early warning systems, mitigate and even prevent the occurrences of losses from weather related events.

“It will allow forecasters to increase precision in defining the areas where severe weather is likely to form; identify the characteristic patterns indicating a high probability of severe thunderstorms; improve accuracy in forecasting the time, intensity and location of heavy precipitation; and provide timely and accurate weather information.

“Consequently, planners and policymakers in agriculture, water resources management, engineering, aviation, mining, sea defenses and the public at large, would also be provided with much needed real time weather information which will make a timely impact on security, civil defence and national development,” Persaud outlined.

The modern facility, the minister said, will also have a crucial role to play in wider risk management strategies in agriculture.

“Already, we have been discussing relevant agriculture insurance instruments with both local and international agencies…Investment in this and similar infrastructure is also linked to the broader goal of making our agricultural sector more competitive and viable,” the minister noted.

Secretary General of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Edwin Carrington believes the services of the radar installations under the EU project are invaluable to the region, stressing that the prediction and monitoring of hurricanes are critical, as he alluded to the case with hurricane Ivan in Grenada in 2004.

The Secretary-General underlined that disaster preparedness and mitigation are vital elements of planning within key sectors of local and regional sectors, particularly in agriculture, tourism and transportation, in terms of their contribution growth and economic development.

“The expected cost savings in terms of damage prevention and reduction accrued from the new weather radar systems are estimated at 7 million euros or about US$10 million per year.”

Acting President Samuel Hinds also pointed out that the project is a reflection of national development, and said Guyana still has a far way to go.

“Our farmers have been … living almost the life of a gambler; but keep the faith as we work to improve drainage and irrigation, and bring greater knowledge and improved markets and all the connections … we’re working towards a more reliable life for all our farmers,” he said.

Construction of the facility commenced a few years ago but was stalled after it was recognized that it would have been in the path of airlines utilising the Cheddi Jagan International Airport, Timehri.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (BGIS) — The economic outlook for Barbados may be bleak but the government has taken a number of steps to cushion the effect on the island’s critical sectors if the recession deepens.

Minister of Economic Affairs and Empowerment, Innovation, Trade, Industry and Commerce, David Estwick, outlined these initiatives while addressing a Barbados Workers’ Union Cooperative Credit Union Limited Retreat in Bridgetown last weekend.

Noting that Barbados had not escaped the vagaries of the worldwide economic meltdown, he said the Central Bank of Barbados’ recent review of the economy had predicted that domestic economic activity would continue to decline for the rest of the year and into 2010.

This, according to the Economic Affairs Minister, was evidenced by job losses; declines in potential investments; closure of businesses; increasing costs of business transactions; and downturns in the island’s tourism sector.

Given this situation, he described the financial outlook as fickle. “As a result of these developments, the economic outlook for Barbados remains very volatile. There is the expectation that activity in our major industries, particularly tourism, will further decline, thus negatively impacting overall employment, and even eroding some of the welfare gains made over the past two decades.

“So, these unfavourable economic scenarios remain a major concern of the Government of Barbados, and I believe, that the same can also be said for the credit union movement,” Estwick declared.

In light of the uncertain economic outlook, the Minister said government had initiated A Short and Medium Term Action Plan formulated by a Special Working Group on the Economy, to outline a “road map for the development and implementation of several policy initiatives to stabilise the economy”.

Among the proposals to be undertaken by government are measures to improve the level of competitiveness and to maximise the opportunities which may emerge from the crisis; the provision of resources to assist the productive sectors in riding out the current period; and the allocation of a fiscal stimulus to sustain economic activity and safeguard jobs.

Estwick also stated that government had negotiated a number of loans, including a $300 million advance from Trinidad and Tobago, in the event of a deeper economic crisis.

He further explained that Government had also secured a US$120 million loan from Scotia Bank and Trust, and has the option of obtaining another US$150 million from the World Bank, if necessary.

In addition, the Economic Affairs Minister said Government could also draw down from the Inter-American Development Bank’s sustainable liquidity programme.

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (BGIS) — The Barbados government is moving swiftly to keep its promise to establish a Financial Services Commission to monitor the activities within the banking system and the credit union movement.

David Estwick

Minister of Economic Affairs and Empowerment, Innovation, Trade, Industry and Commerce, David Estwick, reiterated this while addressing a Barbados Workers’ Union Cooperative Credit Union Retreat in Bridgetown last weekend.

In highlighting the importance of the planned Commission, he said the body would seek to strengthen the regulation in both the banking and non-banking sectors.

While Barbados can boast of a well managed financial sector, Estwick said, the revised regulatory system would allow for “greater protection of members’ deposits as well as improving the confidence which the public and small investors have in the credit union movement”.

The Economic Affairs Minister also revealed that the institutional strengthening project, in collaboration with the Credit Union League and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), was in the final phase and should come on stream by late December.

Among the benefits of this programme, he noted, were the provision of technical assistance to Credit Unions and training of the staff of the Cooperatives Department in risk-based supervision.

He said: “Without any doubt, I believe that the institutional strengthening initiatives will solidify the functioning and operations of the Credit Union movement, in this period of financial and economic downturn.