Moontown

Investment banker Christopher Williams is again urging Jamaican companies to look to the capital market for financing for their businesses.

“For too long we have looked only to the banking sector for financing. I feel that entrepreneurs need to recognise that through the Jamaica Stock Exchange there is access to the capital market which can provide both debt and equity funding for projects,” said Williams, the president and chief executive officer of PROVEN Investment Limited, operational since February.

“The bank is not the only avenue to raise funds, interest cost of bank debt is in the high teens and accessing the capital markets for debt you will be able to raise money at lower costs,” he said, at a forum organised by the JSE on different ways to raise capital.

Three months ago PROVEN went to the market with a private placement which netted US$20 million (J$1.79 billion).
The company is expected to be listed on the JSE in short order, but is first building out its portfolio of investments.
It has acquisition prospects but no deal as yet.

The JSE has some 40 ordinary listings, including two on its junior exchange.

As at Friday April 16, the JSE market capitalisation stood at J$566 billion; and J$919 million for the junior market.

Playing on the name of his company, Williams said businesses have to convince investors that they are worth the risk.

“You have to be proven in your business model. Not all business models will be attractive to the capital market,” said Williams.Â
“The capital markets appears to be in love with the financial sector. So that companies like Proven that focuses on money management immediate has a jump start,” he said.

Additionally, he implored young entrepreneurs to most of all look for some activities in which they have a competitive advantage.
“Because of the nature of the recession, projects exclusively dependent on the local economy is going And, the experience of team members that forms part of the business venture is also key.

“This was one of the biggest selling points from my experience. In preparing your company for accessing the capital market you have to take a critical look at your team, find the weak spots and determine how best to ensure the success.”

The market is also more willing to take a bet on companies who have skin in the game, he suggested.

“The capital market is quite price sensitive…and prefers to buy at book value,” said Williams. “The capital markets want entrepreneurs to come to the table with more than just talk. There is no better test of commitment than putting your own money on the line.” (Jamaica Gleaner)

GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC):

The Guyana parliament has passed new legislation that places special emphasis on rape as well as reforming and consolidating the laws relating to sexual offences.

Human Services and Social Security Minister Priya Manickchand, who piloted the Sexual Offences Bill, said that critical to its success would be the proper training of the various stakeholders for its implementation.

“We have to train our service providers and we are going to be making stringent efforts to target particular service providers to ensure that this bill is implemented in the way that it is should, so that victims of sexual abuse could receive justice and hopefully this will deter persons who are so inclined to perpetrate sexual violence,” she told legislators.

Manickchand praised persons and organisations that were instrumental in seeking to change the lenient way in which rape cases were dealt with and drafted recommendations aimed at protecting victims of rape.

Manickchand said that since 1989, there have been many calls for the rape laws to be changed and that four years ago, the ruling party in its manifesto promised to institute comprehensive sex offences legislation.

She said in 2007, the ‘Stamp It Out’ document, drafted by attorney Laura Gyte, was launched and “contained proposals to strengthen protection against sexual violence and reform the law on sexual offences and it was circulated widely across Guyana”. (Jamaica Gleaner)

Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt makes remarks during a news conference for the Penn Relays in Philadelphia yesterday. - AP

LONDON (AP):

Usain Bolt will stay away from the 400 metres unless he needs to prove himself at that distance “to become a legend in sports.”

The 100- and 200-m Olympic and world champion from Jamaica said yesterday in a press conference call that he was avoiding the 400 metres because of the hard work needed to be the best at that distance.

“I don’t want to do 400 metres,” said Bolt, who plans to run a 300 next month in the Czech Republic. “I guess I will have to do it really if it takes that for me to become a legend in sports. Otherwise, I wouldn’t want to do it.”

Instead, Bolt’s main goal will be defending his Olympic titles at the 2012 London Games. In Beijing, Bolt set a record in both the 100 and 200 and helped the Jamaican 4×100 relay team to another.

He also won the 100 and 200 in World Record time at last year’s World Championships in Berlin.

“If I can dominate for five-six years over the 100 metres, I can make myself a legend in the sport by doing that,” Bolt said.

Bolt was speaking only three weeks before the start of the Diamond League, a set of 14 meets around the world that opens May 14 in Doha, Qatar. Although Bolt is not going to compete in Doha, he will race at the Diamond League meets in Shanghai, New York, Paris and Brussels - and compete against main rivals Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell in some of them.

“(The) Diamond League is very important for me this year because there’s no championships,” Bolt said. “Most of the time the guys, in a championship year, we don’t really compete too much.

“That’s the main thing, to keep us running together.”

Unbeaten

But because there are no Olympics or World Championships to race in this year, Bolt said he wouldn’t be overly concerned with his times.

“Try to get through the season injury-free and be unbeaten,” he said. “If I need to run fast to win, I will do that. But if not I will just take it as easy as possible.”

Bolt also has a few ideas on how he can improve his time in the 100. He broke his own World Record of 9.72 seconds by running 9.69 at the Beijing Olympics, and then shattered that mark by running 9.58 in Berlin at the Worlds, but he still has things to work on.

“My start. My execution,” Bolt said, adding there may be something else he can do to shave time off his record. “Stop looking around, maybe.” (Jamaica Gleaner)

Felice

Espeut

Munroe

1 2 3 >

Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter

The call for the establishment of a court dedicated to corruption cases is growing louder as members of civil society add their voices to that of Assistant Commissioner of Police Justin Felice who, for months, has been the lone voice in the wilderness.

Professor Trevor Munroe of the National Integrity Action Forum, the Reverend Al Miller of the National Transformation Programme, and Peter Espeut, of the Jamaica Council of Churches, yesterday used a Gleaner Editors’ Forum to give their support to Felice.

“I would agree, as this would deal with the backlog of cases in the courts,” Miller said.

Judges brought in

“Not only have we agreed, but we have been advocating to the chief justice … and we have pointed to the Sierra Leone case where they brought in two judges to deal with corruption. There are different models for doing it, but I agree with Justin Felice,” Munroe said.

For Espeut, courts dedicated to individual subjects would be a step in the right direction.

“We have been arguing for an environmental court to prosecute these matters, because generally speaking, the judges don’t understand environmental law … . When you have a specialist judge that is trained in environmental law, or in this case, corruption law, then you get better prosecution,” added Espeut.

Felice, who heads the police Anti-Corruption Branch, has repeatedly called for a court dedicated to corruption, and underlined his call at yesterday’s Editors’ Forum at The Gleaner’s North Street offices.

According to Felice, with the corruption cases backing up in the justice system, persons lose confidence in the process and witnesses sometimes lose interest.

“The chief justice is aware of this, the director of public Prosecutions (DPP) is aware, and you already know this, so I keep advocating, why don’t we have a dedicated court to deal with corruption matters?” Felice said.

“And I am not just talking about police corruption. I’m talking about the Kern Spencers and the other trials that are taking place and will take place in the future,” added Felice.

He argued that corruption mainly affected the poor and had to be tackled head-on.

Why not?

“We have a traffic court, we have a gun court and other courts, so why can’t we have a corruption court?”

According to Felice, a corruption court would have well-trained staff from the Office of the DPP and would have better coordination.

Late last year, Felice backed his call for a court dedicated to corruption issues by pointing to a case which started in May and was still before the court in November.

The Kern Spencer corruption trial started September last year and so far, the prosecution has called three witnesses, with no end to the trial in sight. (Jamaica Observer)

Glenroy Sinclair, Assignment Coordinator

With the horrorifying statistics of more than 500 persons having been murdered in Jamaica since the start of the year, head of the Criminal Investigation Bureau, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Les Green, has disclosed that investigations have been completed in at least 120 cases, which are ready for trial, but insufficient court staff is affecting the process.

“The cases are ready, witnesses are available, everything is there, but the courts just cannot handle the cases. We need more staff in the courts,” said ACP Green.

He said the old-fashioned circuit-court system just wasn’t working for Jamaica anymore.

“For example, St James needs a permanent circuit court every single day of the week, and so do some of the other parishes. There are just too many cases before the court, so the current circuit system is not working. The old cases are still languishing and we need to put more resources in to deal with them,” Green further said.

He blamed some of the delays in court on the unavailability of forensic evidence, certificates from pathologists or doctors, and sometimes, statements from the police.

A report in The Gleaner on Tuesday highlighted the plight of several accused men who claimed they had been languishing in custody, some for more than five years, without their cases being tried. Justice Gloria Smith listened to the plight of the men, case by case.

Despite the many obstacles, ACP Green said he had not lost confidence in the justice system.

“Since my five and a half years here, I think there has been some significant improvement,” said Green.

Responding to Green’s comments, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn said the situation reflected the jump in the crime rate.

“There are too few resources, too few courtrooms and too few lawyers. The system hasn’t kept pace with the crime rate.

We are all trying our best, though,” said the DPP.

At present, there are 41 attorneys employed to the DPP’s office. (Jamaica Gleaner)

RICE AND PEAS; SALT FISH RICE;

MACARONI PIE; CORN MEAL COU COU;

STEAMED PUDDING AND SOUSE; BAKED CHICKEN;

BAKED PORK; BBQ SPARERIBS;

BBQ PIG TAIL; SEA CAT;

FRIED STEAK FISH; GRILLED STEAK FISH;

CHICKEN STEW; STEAMED FLYING FISH;

STEAMED VEGETABLES; TOSSED SALAD; COLE SLAW

A London court has ordered mobile services provider Digicel to pay telecoms company TSTT and its shareholder, Cable and Wireless, close to $80 million, TSTT said yesterday.

London Chancery Court judge Justice Morgan ruled yesterday that Digicel had to pay for legal costs incurred during its case against Cable and Wireless and TSTT.

On April 15, Justice Morgan delivered a judgment in favour of TSTT and Cable and Wireless in which Digicel’s claim for damages from TSTT for allegedly delaying Digicel’s interconnection in Trinidad and Tobago was dismissed.

Yesterday’s judgment for $80 million in legal costs is only an interim amount and the final sum is to be assessed at a later date by a costing judge, TSTT said in a statement yesterday.

While TSTT said it was pleased that it will be able to recover some of the costs of this litigation, vice president, Legal Lisa Agard noted that it was unfortunate that the company had to expend management and financial resources defending a case brought against it in London.

She said legal costs to date for the parties involved amounted to $250 million.

Digicel said yesterday that Justice Morgan ruled the company was required to make an interim payment of eight million pounds sterling in relation to legal expenses incurred by TSTT and Cable and Wireless during the case.

Digicel said it would seek to minimise what it described as Cable and Wireless and TSTT’s ’inflated’ claim for costs and said that Justice Morgan ordered a reduced liability for costs owed to TSTT in relation to Trinidad and Tobago.

’We reaffirm our disappointment with the decision announced on April 15 and continue to consider our position in this regard,’ Digicel said in a statement. (Trinidad Express)

-Carolyn Kissoon

The United States Embassy in Port of Spain has requested information from the Government on the deportation of US citizen Bernie Campbell.

The political strategist was contracted by the United National Congress (UNC) to assist in the party’s campaign for the May 24 general election.

’We are aware of the incident, but he is a private citizen and we are limited with how much we can discuss on it. Trinidad and Tobago is within its sovereign rights to exercise its laws, but we have contacted the Government for information on what happened,’ a US Embassy official said yesterday.

UNC Political Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar introduced Campbell an hour after the election date was announced on April 16. She said following a presentation made by Ernie Ross of Ross Advertising Ltd on the former Obama campaign team, a decision was taken to bring in Campbell.

’Mr Ross had prepared our message (to the electorate) in package and at that point the Obama team came in, to assist with the marketing. Thereafter, on my instruction, we asked the firm, Ross Advertising Ltd, to contact the former Obama campaign team and it is in response to that Mr Bernie Campbell is here today. We are very happy to welcome them on board, I have today finalised our arrangement with them. We good to go. They will be fully onboard in our campaign,’ she said that day.

After learning that the election date was announced, Campbell said: ’Today feels very familiar … this is what it feels like when change starts. It is great to be here with another transformational leader who is about to bring change to her country.’(Trinidad Express)

National Security Minister Martin Joseph has denied that United States national Bernie Campbell was deported on an order from the Minister of National Security.

’No such deportation order was issued or signed by the Minister of National Security or an immigration officer,’ the ministry stated in a release yesterday.

’Rather, Mr Bernard Campbell, a citizen of the United States of America, was denied entry into Trinidad and Tobago in accordance with section 8 (1) (q) of the Immigration Act, Chapter 18: 01.’

This states: ’Any person who from information or advice which, in the opinion of the minister is reliable information or advice, is likely to be an undesirable inhabitant of, or visitor to Trinidad and Tobago.’

The UNC yesterday accused the Government of political victimisation over the decision to deport Campbell, who had been hired to advise the party during its election campaign.

The party said Campbell arrived on American Airlines flight 1819 on Thursday, but after presenting his travel documents was informed he was ’denied entry on the advisement of the Minister of National Security’.

Campbell was detained overnight under guard and returned to the United States yesterday morning. (Trinidad Express)

Carolyn Kissoon and Nikita Braxton

A dirty trick of political victimisation that will cause international scandal and disgrace.

That is how UNC Political Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar described the deportation yesterday of her campaign strategist, United States citizen Bernie Campbell.

Campbell was detained at Piarco International Airport on Thursday night, kept in immigration custody overnight, and put on a plane back home yesterday.

Before leaving, Campbell said he was being taken in a security vehicle to a hotel to stay overnight, when the vehicle was stopped by an unmarked car and he was questioned by unknown men.

Campbell, said to be traumatised, was also a member of the campaign team that helped craft the campaign of US President Barack Obama.

STAY OUT: Harry Bernard Campbell

The US Embassy has asked Government for an explanation on why Campbell was deported. Government has denied having a hand in the action. (See related stories)

The law allows a foreigner to work in Trinidad without a work permit for up to a month in a 12-month period.

But Persad-Bissessar said yesterday, ’I believe the people of this country are not blind (or) stupid. Whilst it may distract from our campaign to some extent, it will not damage our campaign to the extent that we win. In spite of every dirty trick of the Manning team, we will win.’

She said two days before Campbell’s arrival, two other members of the Obama team flew into Trinidad without incident. They left Trinidad yesterday, with no plans of returning.

Persad-Bissessar said, ’This could have serious repercussions on our good diplomatic relationship with the United States. I condemn it (deportation).’

She said Campbell’s firm did similar political work around the world.

According to a press release from the UNC, Campbell arrived on American Airlines flight 1819 on Thursday, and upon presentation of his travel documents was informed he was ’denied entry on the advisement of the Minister of National Security’.

Persad-Bissessar stated in the release, ’Campbell was given a document which pertained to his denial of entry which he declined to sign. He was left standing in what had become an empty terminal for well over an hour. Eventually he was informed that he would be taken by security to a hotel nearby and then brought to the airport in the morning (yesterday) to be placed on the American Airlines flight scheduled for departure at that time.’

Persad-Bissessar said Campbell left the airport in a security vehicle which was intercepted en route to the hotel by an unmarked car. The security guard and Campbell were questioned by two men, she said. Campbell returned to the airport and was escorted by airport security on board American Airlines flight number 1818.

Persad- Bissessar stated, ’The team said they have never been subjected to any rejection from any of the countries visited before and were surprised by the experience encountered here. My party and I condemn the high-handed, authoritarian display of power perpetrated by the Manning administration upon the legitimate democratic exercise of the party in conducting its election campaign.’

She said the deportation would be ’reported negatively across all diplomatic channels and via international media networks worldwide’.

Persad-Bissessar added: ’While Calder Hart, a citizen of Canada and the former chairman of UDeCOTT, who is the subject of a criminal probe, is allowed to go freely and taken through the VIP channels upon his last entry to the island, the political strategist employed by the United National Congress was denied entry into Trinidad and Tobago.’ (Trinidad Express)