Despite former Cabinet Minister Arden McLean’s acknowledgement that he bought a diamond-studded ladies watch on a government-issued credit card and repaid the US$3,500 charge for it within a month, the Cayman Islands government has refused to disclose through a Freedom of Information request that the card used in the December 2007 transaction belonged to Mr. McLean.
Prior to Mr. McLean’s voluntary public disclosures regarding the matter last month, the Cayman Compass had filed a brief open records request seeking to determine the identity of the cardholder who made the Dec. 24, 2007 purchase at Kirk Jewellers in the Bayshore Mall.
A response received three days after Mr. McLean spoke to local news organizations and radio talk shows about the watch purchase indicated: “Your application has been regrettably denied as the record[s] requested is an exempt record[s] pursuant to [Freedom of Information Law] section 23(1) – unreasonable disclosure of personal information of any person….”
The response was received from the Ministry of Community Affairs, which had initially published the specific receipts for the watch purchase following a separate open records request.
The personal information exemption was not used to redact names of government card users in thousands of documents reviewed over the past several weeks by the Cayman Compass following their release to the public. Those records were obtained under the Cayman Islands Freedom of Information Law in the same manner.
However, in some cases, names of card users were redacted for unknown reasons. In some instances, the redactions could be seen through.
Hundreds of pages of records bearing the names of current and former government officials, including Planning Minister Kurt Tibbetts, Speaker of the House Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, former Tourism Minister Charles Clifford, chief officers Kearney Gomez, Alan Jones and Gloria McField-Nixon, were listed prominently on credit card records provided.
Also, former Works Minister and current East End MLA Mr. McLean’s name was listed on some of the credit card purchase forms, but on others – including the statement relating to the watch – it was left off.
Adding to the haphazard nature of the FOI response, the names of former Community Affairs Minister Mike Adam was entirely left off his batch of credit card records, but Mr. Adam confirmed those expenses were made with his card. Former chief officer Carson Ebanks’s name was also left off credit card records belonging to him, except for one month’s statement.
There were dozens of ministries and other government departments that had not released their credit card charges as of press time. The issue regarding the release of a government employee’s name to be “personal information” was largely left unresolved.
“We have very little or no knowledge of, or control over, how initial responses are given by [government] information managers and in particular when a request is made across the entire government and answered by individual information managers, you will inevitably find that some responses differ from others,” said Acting Information Commissioner Jan Liebaers.
According to senior civil servants who spoke with the Cayman Compass on condition of anonymity, the government agencies that received the initial requests for the credit card records had sought legal advice from the director of public prosecutions regarding the open records requests.
The advice given was essentially not to release the names of the credit card holders via FOI, but it appeared some records were released with the card-holders’ names attached.
Director of Public Prosecutions Cheryll Richards also sent a communication Thursday warning the local media about reporting certain aspects of the credit card spending. Ms. Richards’s communication was in relation to a closed-door directions hearing for the upcoming criminal trial of former premier McKeeva Bush, which proceeds Thursday before Grand Court Justice Timothy Owen.
“The court expressed concern as to certain publications that have been made in the press in recent weeks in relation to the use of Cayman Islands government credit cards and further expressed the view that some of them may be prejudicial and could be in contempt of court,” Ms. Richards letter stated. “Written commentary or speech published which seeks to influence jurors or judges of the facts either for or against a party to a case may, depending on its nature, be in breach of those provisions.”
Representatives of the local media were not allowed to attend the directions hearing.
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I think that we can all agree that information specific to any ongoing matter before the courts should not be disclosed to the public. However, what has been clear over the past few years is that there is sometimes little desire on the part of some government departments to disclose information that many people feel would help to hold public officials accountable for their actions. The names and charges associated with any government issues credit card should not be considered personal information under most circumstances so it is disappointing to see the overall response related to the FOI request for this information.
Gov’t credit cards are not at all personal no different than a corporate credit card belongs to a company.
The Govt is entrusted to run the country in the best interest of the people using the PEOPLE’S MONEY.
FYI its not your money.
I agree with Mack it is disappointing, however it is not surprising…
To quote lyrics from one of my favourite bands, Pink Floyd – And did we tell you the name of the game, boy?
We call it Riding the Gravy Train.
This is just like Gasboy, the use of official vehicles (including those operated by RCIPS) for private purposes, free flights on CAL and all the other little perks certain sections of the public sector regard as their right.
The current Governor came over here with an impressive reputation as a hard-hitting take-no-prisoners cost-cutter in the UK. So far she’s proved about as much use as a pet poodle.