The top article in the Tuesday, 25 May 1976 issue of the Caymanian Compass focused on a bank manager, Tony Field, being found guilty of civil contempt in the US appeals court.
Field, who was based in the Cayman Islands, had refused to answer grand jury questions related to the activities of Castle Bank (Cayman) Ltd., of which he was the managing director, as it would violate the bank secrecy laws of the Cayman Islands.
A legal expert confirmed that Field could be subject to criminal punishment for answering the questions before the grand jury. Although US judges conceded on this point, the district court charged him in civil contempt and, as part of its ruling, said, “Either the United States or the Cayman interest must give way”.
In the Friday, 28 May issue, the top article was ‘First threat to democracy’ and discussed a proposed law amendment “which appeared to be the CI government’s initial attempt to compete with private enterprise here”.
The proposed new law was to update the Vehicles Insurance (Third Party Risks) Law of 1964, which, if passed, would have government managing and administering a fund to provide death and personal injury compensation to third parties, whether or not the driver is indemnified. The article raised several “nagging questions” and stated that “the bill could be a threat to our freedom of choice”.
A photo and article appeared showing the destruction of a Bodden Town home belonging to Lillian Barnes. Barnes and her daughter and son-in-law had left for work at 8:15am, only to learn that by 10:30am, that nothing was left of their home but charred walls. The fire was suspected to have been caused by some kind of electrical fault.
The editorial was titled: ‘It’s up to Government to solve bankers’ dilemma’ and stated, “The Cayman Islands Government must make a move to solve the dilemma in which bankers in the country find themselves when confronted with issues in which the United States is seeking to obtain information concerning the violation of its tax laws.”
The editorial emphasised, “we must not flinch one ‘dot or tittle’ from our Bank Secrecy Laws”.
There was an advertisement on page A1 sharing ‘Anniversary Specials at Merren’s’ as it celebrated 70 years in business. There was also a full article on the history of the Merren store on page 3.
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