Lavish globe-trotting, casino visits on the taxpayers’ dime, five-star dining and elaborate VIP lunches are all on the menu when it comes to some upper-echelon civil servants and elected ministers’ credit card bills, the Cayman Compass can now reveal.
Spending for business travel by nine government officials – five current or former government ministers and four current or former government chief officers – was made public via an open records request.
Among the highlights from the credit card statements from 2005 through 2013:
More than US$12,900 spent on airfare for a government minister and personal aide to get to Doha, Qatar, for an event called the “Universal Postal Congress.”
A US$3,600+ bill for a luncheon at the modestly priced Over the Edge restaurant on Grand Cayman’s North Side.
A London hotel stay for two government officials that cost nearly US$12,000
A government minister spent US$636 on limousines in Las Vegas.
Although some of the travel-related records had been revealed in an auditor general’s report released in May, the vast majority of the charges contained in this report by the Compass were made public as a result of a private citizen’s open records request.
“[There is] the high likelihood that the government mishandled significant amounts of public resources,” Auditor General Alastair Swarbrick said of the travel spending reviewed by his office in May 2014. “Furthermore, monitoring and reporting of these transactions by management was virtually nonexistent.”
Qatar trip
Five people who traveled to Doha, Qatar, at the Cayman Islands taxpayers’ expense in the fall of 2012 spent vastly different amounts on the trip where they attended the Universal Postal Congress event.
Then-Deputy Premier Juliana O’Connor-Connolly and her executive aide Paul Leonce took several days to stay in New York City hotel rooms on their way to and from Qatar.
According to records made public under the Cayman Islands Freedom of Information Law, Ms. O’Connor-Connolly charged US$12,914.38 to her government-issued credit card on July 23, 2012, for two roundtrip airline tickets from New York to Qatar for herself and an executive aide.
On Sept. 19, 2012, a website called TSP Hotelplanner.com was paid US$2,387.64 for Ms. O’Connor-Connolly and her executive aide to stay in two New York hotel rooms prior to traveling to the postal congress in Doha. Two other charges totaling almost US$2,800 went to Hyatt hotels in New York for two rooms on the return trip from Doha.
While in Doha, credit card receipts show Ms. O’Connor-Connolly and her executive aide stayed in separate rooms at the Four Seasons Hotel at a total cost of US$7,952.
Further investigation by the Cayman Islands Auditor General’s Office revealed that Ms. O’Connor-Connolly’s expenses for the Qatar trip, and those of her executive aide, were much greater than the combined costs for the ministry’s chief officer, Cayman’s postmaster general Sheena Glasgow and Cayman’s deputy postmaster.
According to government records, Ms. O’Connor-Connolly and her aide spent US$891 per night in Qatar for their eight-day hotel stay. The chief officer referred to in government documents spent US$351 per night during a 12-day stay, the postmaster general spent US$180 per night on a 22-day stay and the deputy postmaster spent US$204 per night on a seven-day stay.
Additional credit card charges while in Qatar totaled CI$885 for Ms. O’Connor-Connolly, CI$669 for the chief officer and CI$170 for the postmaster general. Meanwhile, per diem allowances ranged from CI$250 per day (meals and allowances) for the deputy premier to a CI$19 daily allowance for the postmaster general and her deputy.
Including the five-day stay in New York, Ms. O’Connor-Connolly spent CI$15,333 on a 13-day trip to New York and Qatar, about $1,179 per day. Her executive aide spent CI$11,440 for the 13-day trip, or CI$880 a day.
The 22-day trip to Qatar for Postmaster General Glasgow cost CI$5,915, about CI$268 per day.
For his trip to Qatar for the postal congress, Ministry Chief Officer Alan Jones charged his government-issued credit card US$5,610.99 for the airline ticket and US$4,630.56 for the hotel room.
Executive aide
Credit card records revealed that an “executive aide” or “personal assistant” traveled with Ms. O’Connor-Connolly on many of her overseas trips between 2009 and 2012.
On Jan. 17, 2011, the deputy premier’s government-issued credit card was charged US$4,241.38. The purpose of this charge was stated by Ms. O’Connor-Connolly as “accreditations for Cayman delegation to attending meeting in Barcelona [ICTA GSMA Ministerial programme] accompanied by Mr. Kearney Gomez, [West Bay MLA] Cline Glidden and executive aide.”
Other charges to the credit card for the conference include US$801.59 for the conference registration and two charges of US$630.59 apiece for reservations for two hotel rooms for Ms. O’Connor-Connolly and her executive aide at the Hotel Melia Barcelona.
The items below represent a substantial, but by no means exhaustive list of travel by the former deputy premier that included the attendance of her personal assistant/executive aide at various locations.
An Oct. 20, 2009, credit card charge at the Ritz-Carlton, St. James in Jamaica for separate room charges for attendance at the Caribbean Renewable Energy forum. Room charges totaled approximately US$1,250 for Ms. O’Connor-Connolly, her personal assistant, Mr. Glidden and civil servant Tristan Hydes.
A Nov. 13, 2009, charge to the deputy premier’s credit card had reservations at three rooms at the Cuisinart Resort and Spa in Anguilla for US$490 apiece to attend pre-meetings of the overseas territories conference. This included rooms for Ms. O’Connor-Connolly, her personal assistant and the Cabinet secretary.
On Dec. 14, 2009, Ms. O’Connor-Connolly’s credit card was charged US$4,804.85 for rooms at the Goring Hotel in London to attend the annual overseas territories council meeting. The then-deputy premier, the Cabinet secretary and Ms. O’Connor-Connolly’s personal assistant attended.
On June 10, 2010, the government credit card was charged US$2,210.49 at the ACCRA Beach Hotel in Christ Church, Barbados, for attendance at the 9th Commonwealth Women’s Affairs Ministers meeting. Ms. O’Connor-Connolly, her executive aide and a senior policy adviser attended.
On July 1, 2010, the former deputy premier’s credit card was charged a total of US$894 for hotel rooms while she attended another Caribbean Renewable Energy forum, this time in the Bahamas. In addition to Ms. O’Connor-Connolly, her executive aide, Mr. Glidden and Mr. Hydes also attended.
Credit card statements for the former deputy premier also reveal dozens of hotel charges for Ms. O’Connor-Connolly’s executive aide to stay in Cayman Brac between 2009 and 2012.
A review by the auditor general’s office of all these charges revealed that nearly CI$34,000 was spent in hotel accommodations for the executive aide to stay in Cayman Brac during those three years, meaning the aide would have stayed in the Brac for weeks at a time – potentially months out of each year.
Globe-trotting
Extensive travel by Cabinet ministers and other government officials is not just a recent development. The credit card statements released through the open records request also revealed extensive travel by former Minister of Tourism Charles Clifford and his chief officer at the time, Gloria McField-Nixon, in 2006 and 2007.
In a five-month period between October 2006 and March 2
007, Mr. Clifford charged stays in 10 different hotels in five countries – the United States, The Bahamas, Panama, Italy and England. During this period, he charged US$2,135.59 and US$516.68 at the Peabody Hotel in Orlando; US$2,092.74 at the Four Seasons Hotel in Miami; US$4,694.87 at the New York Marriott Marquis; and US$5,575.26 at the Hilton Hotel in London. During that trip, he also spent one night at the Park Hyatt in Milan, Italy, for a cost of $148.02.
Mr. Clifford’s chief officer, Mrs. McField-Nixon, accompanied him on two of those trips in late 2006 and early 2007, charging US$1,802.71 at the New York Marriott Marquis, US$5,853.16 at the Hilton Hotel in London and US$1,200.27 at Hotel Dei Cavalieri in Milan, Italy.
Mrs. McField-Nixon provided some details about the trip to London and Milan.
“I traveled as part of a tourism delegation that exhibited at the first Caribbean Tourism Organisation’s roadshow in Milan aimed at increasing visitation from continental Europe,” she said.
In England, she attended a number of meetings with the U.K. Department of Tourism staff, with U.K. public relations and advertising firms to discuss marketing and media campaigns, and participated in meetings facilitated by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office concerning Cayman’s environmental policies.
Mrs. McField-Nixon believes the trips were fruitful.
“From any measure this was a highly productive visit,” she said. “We raised awareness of Cayman’s tourism product and environmental programs with European press, travel industry and government representatives and the work done by the delegation laid a foundation that continues to this day to yield significant dividends.”
Eating out
Although credit card records obtained via the Freedom of Information request do not show nearly as extravagant a travel schedule for former Leader of Government Business Kurt Tibbetts, there are significant differences revealed in the dining habits of ministers and other senior civil servants who used their government-issued credit cards to dine out. During a December 2007 trip to London for the annual overseas territories conference, records show that Mr. Tibbetts charged his card four nights in a row for “dinner for the Cayman delegation” on the trip.
The card was charged a total of US$1,738.15 for four nights between Dec. 1 and Dec. 4, 2007. The total includes a US$612.47 tab at the Blue Elephant restaurant and a US$696.74 bill at the Avenue Restaurant.
On another trip in 2008, during another overseas territories council trip, Mr. Tibbetts card was charged for three dinners, totaling about US$900, including another US$422.29 tab at the Blue Elephant. Charges for hotel rooms during the trip cost about US$3,500 for Mr. Tibbetts and his “political analyst.”
Mr. Tibbetts said all of the charges on his card related to “business expenses” and, therefore, did not need to be repaid.
He said he recalled some of the larger restaurant bills in London may have been run up entertaining certain Caymanian students who were studying in the London area on specific nights.
“I don’t have stuff just to party,” he said. “Of course, there are official things that you have to do and whatever that was, whenever that was, I did it.”
During their many travels on government business, Mr. Clifford and Mrs. McField-Nixon sometimes charged significant dining expenses to their credit cards. One restaurant charge for Mr. Clifford was US$494.
“Obviously, if it’s that much, it would be for several people,” he said.
When it came to meals, Mr. Clifford said ministers were given discretion on the spending and who to invite, but that he would have turned in all the receipts for anything he charged to his government credit card.
Sometimes alcohol was included in the overseas dining charges, although the Civil Service Personnel Regulations section 11.1 (iii) states that the “bar” element of meal is not eligible for reimbursement.
Mrs. McField-Nixon acknowledged alcohol is not normally part of accepted credit card expenses.
“However, it may form a part of the bill where hospitality was being provided as part of the Ministry and Department’s tourism obligations, or indeed for other subject matter responsibilities,” she said. “This could include for example hosting dinners for travel trade partners whether from the local or overseas private sectors. This is no different than Government events held locally except a credit card would have to be used when working with a vendor who didn’t accept a government purchase order.”
Former Chief Officer Gomez, who often traveled with several other civil servants, had a number of overseas restaurant charges in 2007 and 2008, including US$317.65 at a restaurant in Bermuda; US$794.81 at a restaurant in Toronto; and US$523.80 at a restaurant in Turks & Caicos.
On week-long trips to San Diego in July 2012 and July 2013, Chief Officer Alan Jones ate most of his meals at places like The Burger Lounge, Sultan Shwarma, IHOP, The Kebab Shop and the Broken Yolk Café, with the corresponding charges generally running between US$15 and US$30 per meal.
Hospitality
Other spending on Mr. Tibbetts’s government-issued credit card included a July 27, 2008, charge of US$3,618.75 at Over the Edge restaurant in North Side.
In an interview, the former Cayman Islands government leader indicated that the expense was for “a large group of delegates coming in from the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association.”
“The Legislative Assembly did not have funds to cater to all of them for their entire trip,” Mr. Tibbetts said. “Different ministries were charged for taking care of different expenses.”
Mr. Tibbetts estimated there were “pretty close to 100 people” at the luncheon, which according to government records, was for an “MP’s visit.” The luncheon included invited MLAs and certain “North Side guests.”
In addition to the luncheon, another US$400 was charged for Captain Marvin’s Watersports. Mr. Tibbetts said the boating company was hired to ferry MLAs and the Commonwealth guests to and from the restaurant.
Auditor’s review
The issue of hospitality spending has been a troubling one for the Cayman Islands government for years and was flagged in the May 2014 report by the auditor general’s office.
According to that auditor’s data, two government ministries spent CI$47,000 on six Christmas parties and two other “special functions” between 2010 and 2012, with more than $12,000 of that for alcohol.
The expenses were chalked up to “hospitality” costs in the respective budgets of the former Ministry of District Administration and the former Ministry of Finance, Tourism and Development.
Between July 1, 2009, and June 30, 2012, the government spent a total of $1.5 million on what were considered “hospitality expenditures,” the auditor general’s office noted, with no detailed guidance in place to manage such expenses.
“We would … expect to see a clear link made to business objectives and consideration given to value for money,” Mr. Swarbrick said. “We also noted that there was no guidance on alcohol consumption.” The report did not state who attended the Christmas parties or “special functions” or what business purposes they might have served.
Deputy Governor Franz Manderson, in his response to the audit, which also looked at government travel expenses over a three-year period, noted that the government service still does not have a general policy concerning hospitality expenses.
However, he said the Portfolio of the Civil Service – the human resources arm of the Cayman Islands government – controls a central budget for employee Christmas functions. “Expenditures are not to exceed $25 per employee,” Mr. Manderson said.
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As I read this article I am a bit concerned, because I was thinking that this had only occurred with Mr. Bush. I sincerely do not believe that the Premiers and Presidents of a country should live in dog house wear jeans and eat bread and butter while away on government business. It is an esteemed job so the spread should fit the bed.
Other thoughts are that the Cayman people have to obviously pick up the tab on these bills through paying fees on this and fees on that in the island; yet families continue to live off low paid salaries. Has anyone considered that the elderly who laid the corner stones of this island live off a meager 550.00 dollars a month with 40.00 a week to buy food while others can spend 150.00 dollars on just one plate of food. I would say to my people: Live but let live.
Very detailed report. Good Job Compass. However bad job Government. While some expenses are justified some are outrageous!
As a government consultant for 30 years in 6 different countries including the UK, the numbers you have shown here are comedic. I see there are some suspicious amounts and nature of expense, but 90% of what you reported here are within reasonable level of expense for your senior leaders. These are only a fraction of what other countries spend to ensure that their leaders focus on their job and not the unsecure filthy room, or expired shawarma on their table. Please do not treat your senior leaders like beggars on the streets, they deserve to dine at a decent location and a decent price if you want your leaders to be respected by other countries during their visits. Besides security concerns, their is reputational considerations we have to uphold in representing Cayman as a country! How dare you try to shame senior officials for spending a few hundred dollars for meals, a few thousands for Asia travel. Do you now know how much it cost for a formal meal and an asia travel? Unbiased reporting, and responsible media reporting will show you benchmark costs for these flights, and not let the ignorant compare your cost with their limited experiences traveling to Brac or Miami. Asia round trip travel, London travel, these are very expensive trips! You make it sound like they are hiring chartered jet planes with celebrities onboard! This is absolutely a lazy way to present the facts. Just a copy paste from whatever you took from the FOI, and provide no proper perspective as to which ones are reasonable and which ones are deserving to be shamed! Yes, I can count 3 or 4 who needs to be questioned here, and shaming them may be the right word, but please do not attempt to throw mud on those who are within the bounds of respectable expense given these senior officials represent your country, and at least deserve a comfortable stay to their official visits. You are so close to simply suggesting that they should all just eat burger, shawarma, IHOP, kebab. If that’s how you think you treat your senior leaders, then I understand why you deserve to be treated even less right now with the issues of today. RESPECT your senior leaders, shame only those who deserve to be questioned. It’s one thing to report all expenses you’ve tested and simply show them all for factual reporting, it’s another thing to start by depicting massive credit card misuse, and then enumarate everyone you tested without qualifying which ones you are taking issue with. This news would have been great if done with proper perspective and journalistic professionalism. Unfortunately, you missed a good opportunity to do so!
Roger, as a Government consultant, it appears that you have got so used to eating from the trough yourself, you are not aware of what is acceptable and what is not.
Case in point. The O’Connor-Connolly spending on the Postal Conference, it seems extravagant, but also there is the question, is it really justifiable for her to have to attend this, or to have an entourage? It sounds like a jolly to me.
Was an aide necessary for all these instances?
Yes, money has to spent in certain places, that will no doubt raise eyebrows amongst the voters, but even if by your own admittance 10 percent of these expenses are suspicious, 10 percent of a lot is still plenty of money thrown away.
Government money was derived by us the working people, and we are entitled to scrutinize all expenses particularly when being used in a personal capacity, when some of its use is being flagged by the auditor Gen, when there are no/few policies in place guiding appropriate use, and a legal case that is pending.
Particularly in situations where we have runaway debt, massive ongoing tax increases, past pension obligations that are not been met, a free pension and health care system for gov’t employees that we the working people do not have, and future behemoth health care liabilities for the civil service that the future generational (working) citizens will not be able to afford.
We, the people, earned that money, and there is no shame reviewing, scrutinizing and ensuring that the management/use of it is appropriate, and hold people accountable when not. It is OUR money after-all. I really do not see why this part of that process, whether by private citizens/press/private members/opposition is a problem if all is indeed reasonable.
I have no agenda and am set in life. But I do see our kids being less fortunate as we continue along this unsustainable path of tax and spend, tax and spend.
I think the posting by roger mcalter is totally out of order. The Cayman Islands Government need to cut their cloth accordingly. We do not have the budget of the mighty USA . Government officials need be aware of necessary cost cutting measures that start at the top. A budget for expenses for each major trip must be submitted for approval and the budget compared with actual to explain the variances. Surely that is a pretty simple task.
Roger you may have been a consultant for thirty years but as the former managing partner of a big four accounting firm for 31 years, where I did work on Government audits I can assure you that such unnecessary gross overspending would have resulted in a significant post audit report addressed to the powers that be.
You also need read all the reports of the Auditor General in order that you can truly grasp the issues and make constructive comments in going forward.