SportS | page 18 fidelity fun runs attract all Series of three sees prams and dogs High of 91 Low of 81 Smooth to slight with wave heights less than 3 feet. editorial | page 4 the price of ‘price regulation’ is too high ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 50 CENTS – Wednesday august 19, 2015 15% gratuity will be added. Menu will change weekly. James Whittaker jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com The negative impact of the three-year construction period estimated for the pro- posed cruise berthing facility in George Town harbor should not be underesti- mated, according to a new review from the Environmental Assessment Board. The review highlights the economic im- pact on retailers and restaurants during the construction phase in a summary of some of the key concerns arising from recent studies on the port project. The board, including staff from the Department of Environment, National Roads Authority, Planning Department and Department of Tourism, on Monday released its official review of the environmental im- pact assessment carried out by consultants Baird and Associates. The board highlights government’s “legal requirement” to consider the findings of the assessment as it decides whether to proceed with the project. Among a number of conclusions and recom- mendations, it comments, “Given that the con- struction works will take up to three years to complete, the Environmental Assessment Board believes that the potential negative economic effect of the visual amenity impacts of the con- struction activity, on both cruise and stay-over visitors, should not be underestimated.” The review, essentially a summary of the environmental statement and technical ap- pendices intended to aid Cabinet in the de- cision-making process, concludes, “There are a number of major negative impacts associ- ated with this project, both in the construc- tion and operational phases. “Furthermore, many of these impacts, even with the application of recommended mitigation measures, still result in significantly Brent fuller bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Cayman Islands gov- ernment now has a good idea of what some of its properties and buildings may be worth, but it appears the full value of all lands the public sector owns remains out of reach at present. Officials with the auditor general’s office confirmed in a recent report that government’s 2013 land valuation – the first effort undertaken in more than 12 years – used appropriate methodologies in determining values for those properties. However, the valuation did not include properties owned by the separately operating statutory authorities and gov- ernment companies. “Except for the Health Services Authority, statutory au- thority and government com- pany properties had not been recently valued,” the auditor general’s report on government land management, released in late July, stated. The report added that an inventory of roads was not complete and that some 80 pieces of property classified as “heritage assets” had an arbi- trary value of $0 assigned. Additionally, a 2011 review by the government Lands and Survey Department found that 279 parcels of Crown owned land – valued at about $60 million – were not being used in government operations. “Some of these proper- ties constitute a liability to the government as they have been encroached upon or used for dumping trash,” the audit found. The Ministry of Planning is now evaluating the 279 properties, including 69 considered “available for sale” and will be making recommendations to Cabinet Impact of port construction highlighted Government in dark on full property value Land crab study under way James Whittaker jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com A seasonal menace to motorists and a tasty target for crabbers, Cayman’s land crabs are a fa- miliar sight throughout the island. However, little data exists on the population size and habits of the species. A new study aims to change that. Researchers will collect basic biological data, es- timate white and black land crab population sizes and determine peak breeding seasons for the species. Jane Haakonsson of the Department of Environment’s Terrestrial Resources Unit said the project would help determine if the populations are sustainable. “Land crabs are economically significant as a local food source. Harvesting pressure and rates of roadkill are unknown, but is suspected to be in- creasing with the island’s growing human popula- tion and vehicular traffic,” Ms. Haakonsson wrote in an outline of the study for the Department of Environment’s Flicker magazine. She told the Cayman Compass the study would help determine whether any harvesting limits need to be considered in a management plan for the species. It will also look at the impact of de- velopment and habitat loss on the species. She said the study would focus on the area along the Queen’s Highway east of North Side and Barkers National Park in West Bay, where crabs are most commonly seen. “It is basically a population assessment and a study of critical reproductive time frames and mi- gratory routes,” she said. Both species, black and white land crabs, are commonly seen crossing roads as they migrate from their inland habitats to the ocean between May and August. Ms. Haakonsson said the study would be PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 7 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 6 » The Cayman Turtle Farm is one of the separately operating government-owned companies for which property valuations have not been done recently, according to auditors. - PHOtO: JeweL LeVy2 LOCAL&REGIONAL Wednesday august 19, 2015 • Cayman Compass Boost your TV & Internet experience by signing up for any Logic Fibre Bundle starting at $99 and get one month free service including the HBO premium pack. Contact a Customer Care Representative today or visit logic.ky for promotion details. www. REGmovies.com SATURDAY NIGHT: For your viewing pleasure, minors under the age of 18 will not be admitted to any lm starting after 6pm, unless accompanied by their parent. MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E (PG13) 1:00 I 4:10 I 7:00 I 9:40 MISSION IMPOSSIBLE (PG13) 12:55 | 3:50 | 6:50 | 9:45 FANTASTIC FOUR (PG13) 1:15 | 3:45 | 7:30 | 10:00 STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON (R) 12:50 I 4:00 I 7:15 I 9:10 ANT-MAN 3D (PG13) 12:45 | 3:40 2D | 6:45 | 9:30 2D MINIONS 3D (PG) 12:30 | 3:15 2D | 6:40 *Additional charges will apply per 3D ticket requested. - WEDNESDAY - $8.00 The official dates of public holidays for 2016 have been confirmed by the deputy gov- ernor’s office. The list consists of 10 confirmed holidays, although there will be 11 public holi- days next year. One date that has yet to be confirmed is the official Queen’s Birthday. Queen Elizabeth II cel- ebrates two birthdays each year: her actual birthday on April 21 and her offi- cial birthday, which is usu- ally marked on a Saturday in June. The queen turns 90 next year. Changes in next year’s schedule of public holidays in the Cayman Islands include Christmas Day, which will be observed on Monday, Dec. 26, as Dec. 25 falls on a Sunday, and Boxing Day, which will be observed on Tuesday, Dec. 27, since Dec. 26 will be the Christmas Day holiday. 2016 public holiday dates announced Queen Elizabeth II turns 90 in April next year, but the date of Cayman’s ‘official’ Queen’s Birthday public holiday has yet to be confirmed. - PHOTO: AP MINEOLA, New York (AP) – A man arrested in Trinidad after 16 years on the run in the fatal shooting of a man outside a suburban New York wedding apologized Monday as he was led into a courthouse. “I’m sorry for the pain I caused the family,” Balkumar Singh told reporters before his arraignment in Nassau County court. Singh, 37, pleaded not guilty to murder, assault, weapons and other charges and was ordered held without bail. He was not represented by an attorney; a judge said a court-appointed attorney would represent him at his next court appearance. Prosecutors say Singh got into an argument while at- tending a June 1999 wedding in Hicksville. They say Singh fired numerous times out- side the wedding hall, killing 19-year-old Abzal Khan. Court documents indi- cate the assault charges in- volve the wounding of a second man. A New York Times article at the time of the shooting said police believed the gunman had asked a girl to dance and argued with her date. Later, the gunman was waiting outside, and as the wedding guests left the party, he opened fire. The two men who were shot apparently had not been involved in the argument in- side, police said. Khan, 19, of Queens, New York City, died of chest wounds. The second man was shot in the leg. Singh was featured on “America’s Most Wanted” in 2009. Acting District Attorney Madeline Singas said Singh used numerous aliases while on the run and might have spent time in Canada and Guyana. She said he was ar- rested in Trinidad in March after authorities were tipped off to his whereabouts; he apparently was homeless and living on the streets. Khan’s parents and a brother attended the brief court proceeding. “I’m very sad,” said Khan’s mother, Sharifan Khan, who shed tears as she spoke to re- porters on her way into the courthouse. “I’m very, very, very sad. I can’t explain. My son was a very pious child. He always went to mosque; he always cleaned the mosque. He was so good.” After the arraignment, Khan’s father, Ishanallie Khan, said he would not ac- cept Singh’s apology. US fugitive nabbed in Trinidad PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) – Electoral officials in Haiti have disqualified nine candidates for en- gaging in violence or in- citing chaos during parlia- mentary elections. Voters in the Aug. 9 elec- tion were filling two-thirds of the 30-member Senate and the entire 119-member Chamber of Deputies. It’s not clear if those disquali- fied won, as results haven’t been announced. The nine disqualified by the Provisional Electoral Council include Senate can- didate Arnel Belizaire. The former opposition member of the Chamber of Deputies is accused of firing a weapon in the air outside a polling station. Belizaire has been an outspoken critic of the government of President Michel Martelly but he could not be reached for immediate com- ment following Tuesday’s announcement. The Organization of American States said its monitors found scattered violence and irregularities but not enough to invali- date the results. MIAMI (AP) – A tropical depression has formed in the Atlantic Ocean, and forecasters expect it to gradually strengthen. The storm is the Atlantic’s fourth tropical depression of the season. On Tuesday, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said it was about 1,665 miles east of the Windward Islands. It had maximum sus- tained winds of 35 mph and was moving west at 13 mph. The storm currently poses no threat to land; there were no watches or warnings in ef- fect as of Tuesday. Forecasters with the hur- ricane center said the depres- sion was likely to strengthen to a tropical storm later Tuesday and over the next two days. HAiTi disquAlifies nine cAndidATes fOr elecTiOn viOlence, cHAOs TrOPicAl dePressiOn in ATlAnTic exPecTed TO sTrengTHen Confirmed public holidays 2016: new year’s day – Jan. 1 national Heroes day – Jan. 25 ash Wednesday – Feb. 10 good Friday – March 25 easter Monday – March 28 discovery day – May 16 Constitution day – July 4 Remembrance day – nov. 14 Christmas day – dec. 26 Boxing day – dec. 273 LOCAL NEWS Charles DunCan cduncan@pinnaclemedialtd.com Digicel Group Ltd. has filed for an initial public of- fering on the New York Stock Exchange. The company has built a subscriber base of more than 13.6 million by island hopping through the Caribbean and South Pacific, selling mainly prepaid cell- phone services. Through the stock offering, according to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing, Digicel, which is incor- porated in Bermuda, hopes to raise capital to continue expansion and pay down its $6.5 billion debt. The July 31 filing with the SEC did not list how many shares the company will sell or the starting price, but did note that the company wants to raise at least US$200 mil- lion in the initial offering. The company will be listed as “DCEL” on the stock exchange. Local Digicel represen- tatives did not respond to Cayman Compass requests for comment. From April 2014 through March 2015, Digicel reported a loss of $157.6 million on total revenues of $2.8 billion. The year before, the company recorded a profit of $43.5 million on a little more than $2.7 billion in revenue. Digicel launched in Jamaica in 2001, founded by Irish billionaire Denis O’Brien. From there it ex- panded across the region, into the Grenadines, Aruba and Barbados, among other coun- tries. The company launched in the Cayman Islands in 2004 and now holds the number two market spot behind LIME for wireless customers. Since then, through a combination of acquisitions and expansion, the company has entered 31 markets, ac- cording to corporate filings, and holds the number one market spot for mobile phone services in 20 of those. Digicel also offers service in seven Asia Pacific coun- tries, including Myanmar, Fiji and Papua New Guinea. The company’s main com- petitor in the Caribbean is Cable & Wireless, trading as LIME. Operating in 16 mar- kets in the region, LIME has the highest market share for mobile phone customers in the Cayman Islands, along with a portfolio of fiber and tradi- tional copper wire Internet, phone and television services. In March, Cable & Wireless bought Columbus International Inc. for US$3 billion, solidifying its position in the Caribbean with a new submarine fiber network, con- necting the islands to main- land servers for Internet and television service. The acqui- sition included Columbus’s “Flow” brand television and Internet customers. Digicel recently lost a dis- pute with LIME over access to LIME’s fiber and copper-wire infrastructure. The Cayman Islands Information and Communications Technology Authority rejected Digicel’s bid to connect to LIME’s net- work to offer competing con- sumer Internet service. Digicel plans for growth Company filings point to a strategy focused on improving its infrastructure and growing its “business solutions” unit. The SEC filing states the com- pany plans to expand its faster 4G and LTE networks in areas with denser popula- tions, giving faster speeds and more bandwidth to smart- phone customers. Major hard-wired invest- ments could also be in the cards for future expansion in some areas. “Where Digicel expands organically, it is not encum- bered by any legacy net- works and typically invests in infrastructure,” according to the report. For its business ser- vices, the SEC filing notes, Digicel “believes that this is a growing business in its mar- kets where businesses are be- ginning to see the benefits of increased investment in [in- formation and communica- tions technology]. The mobile markets in which Digicel op- erates have reached compa- rable levels of mobile pene- tration with more developed markets and, similarly, Digicel expects the level of demand for ICT in its mar- kets to increase.” Despite the compa- ny’s growth in recent years, Digicel still faces steep com- petition from LIME and others. The IPO filing states: “In some of Digicel’s markets, its competitors may have more advanced technology than Digicel, greater coverage area than Digicel, or both. “Moreover, some of Digicel’s competitors have more extensive engineering, marketing, personnel and capital resources than Digicel does. The level of competition is influenced by the contin- uous and swift technological advances that characterize the industry, the regulatory developments that affect competition and alliances be- tween market participants.” Cayman Compass • Wednesday august 19, 2015 179511_PRINT2-Butterfield-4colx1Page 1 7/23/15 12:53:28 PM Digicel files for IPO on New York Stock Exchange The Grand Court jury re- port date has been changed. Grand Court jurors who are in the July 1 to Oct. 6 session are now to re- port on Monday, Aug. 31 at 9:45 a.m. Call the jury Information line at 945-5072 for the most up-to-date information. Jurors report date changed One lane of Esterley Tibbetts to close Wednesday Police are advising mo- torists that the north-bound lane of the Esterley Tibbetts Highway in front of Camana Bay will close for about four hours, from 10 p.m. Wednesday night, Aug. 19. The stretch of the road will be closed while the National Roads Authority carries out repairs to the existing cross- walk sign, police said. While the road is closed, traffic will be diverted onto Lawrence Boulevard. Camana Bay can be accessed through Breakwater Avenue, off the Camana Bay Roundabout.The islands’ most-trusted news source 4 Gasoline prices in the Cayman Islands continue to cause consternation with the public and, by extension, the government. The crux of the matter, as Planning Minister Kurt Tibbetts put it in a statement in the Legisla- tive Assembly last week, is that local gas prices seem to go “up like a rocket, and down like a feather” in response to fluctuations in international oil prices. When international prices rise, the perception is that prices at the pumps in Cayman rise very quickly. Yet when prices fall overseas, it sometimes takes months for the prices to make similar drops here. With the high cost of living an issue affecting a large segment of the voting population, politicians such as Mr. Tibbetts are always trying to find ways of addressing the hot-button issues. That’s what they’re elected to do. Regarding current gasoline pricing fluctuations, the first thing the legislators plan to do is to present a Public Utilities Commission Bill to the House in Sep- tember. If enacted, this legislation would create a com- mission – yes, yet another body of political appointees – to regulate all of the local utility industries, including electric, telecommunications and water. Gasoline, which is typically traded as a commodity, will get lumped in with the utilities as part of the bill, which will then require local petrol distributors to reveal what they pay for bulk fuel shipped to the Cayman Islands and their markup to local retailers. If the markup is deemed unfair or that Cayman’s current two fuel distributors aren’t actually in true competition with each other, then Mr. Tibbetts suggests the next step would be “outright market price regulation.” This is where we say “Whoa. Stop right there.” Price controls in a free-market society are a very dangerous step toward a government-controlled society that ignores basic free-market economic prin- ciples. This would be a major step – and a misstep – for the Cayman Islands. Mr. Tibbetts is assuming that the problem lies with the distributors, but, by his own admission, he doesn’t know what their markups are. In other words, he might be wrong. What if the problem really lies with the profit margins of the retailers? Would the government be so bold as to institute price controls – or, more precisely, profit controls – on members of the voting public? Certainly no one wants to pay more than they should for gasoline, but ultimately Cayman is a free- market society, and people are free to choose to pay the going rate – or not – just as they are free to choose to own gas-guzzling trucks and SUVs, or not. That’s not to say there aren’t remedies for the gov- ernment to address the high gasoline prices while still adhering to free-market concepts. Government could, for example, license additional distributors who are hungry for market share and will reduce their profit margins to achieve it. Or government could reduce further the amount of import duty they charge on fuel and make up the lost revenue in a less-regressive way that does not affect as many lower- and middle- class workers. If they find that there is price collusion occur- ring between the fuel distributors, they could enact legislation similar to other countries, making that practice illegal. But what the government should not be doing is setting prices of commodities. It should let the market and the economic principles of supply and demand determine the prices, and create a fair, competitive environment that encourages fair profit margins. – EDITORIAL – The price of ‘price regulation’ is too high Opinion&Letters The Cayman Compass welcomes comments, opinions and viewpoints from readers. Letters to the editor can be emailed to editor@pinnaclemedialtd.com, submitted via www.caymancompass.com, sent by post or hand-delivered to the Compass office. Printed and Published by: Caymanian Compass Limited (a subsidiary of Pinnacle Media Ltd) Compass Centre Shedden Road, George Town send us yOur VieWs Or neWs: P.O. Box 1365 Grand Cayman KY1-1108, Cayman Islands Telephone: (345) 815-0095 Email: newsdesk@pinnaclemedialtd.com adVertise With us: Telephone: (345) 949-5111 Email: sales@pinnaclemedialtd.com website: www.caymancompass.com PUBLISHERS daVid r. legge and Vicki l. legge EdITOR-In-CHIEf daVid r. legge A MEMBER OF THE INTER-AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION “Give light and the people will find their own way” Wednesday augusT 19, 2015 • Cayman COmpass AdAm minter When the city council in Austin, Texas passed a single-use plastic shopping bag ban in 2013, it assumed environmental benefits would follow. The calcula- tion was reasonable enough: Fewer single-use bags in cir- culation would mean less waste at city landfills. Two years later, an as- sessment commissioned by the city finds that the ban is having an unintended effect – people are now throwing away heavy-duty reusable plastic bags at an unprece- dented rate. The city’s good intentions have proven all too vulnerable to the laws of supply and demand. What’s true for Austin is likely true elsewhere. Plastic bag bans are one of America’s most pop- ular environmental mea- sures of recent years: Since San Francisco became the first U.S. city to implement a ban in 2007, more than 100 other U.S. cities have joined the cause. While it’s been relatively easy to rally consensus around these bans, however, it’s been far harder to achieve signifi- cant results. Part of the problem is that – despite the world-saving rhetoric that typically pro- motes and supports plastic bag bans – plastic bags simply aren’t that big of a problem. According to the na- tional data recorded by the EPA in 2013, the weight of single-use plastic shopping bags amounted to around 0.28 percent of the total mu- nicipal solid waste that Americans generate. A more finely tuned litter survey in Fort Worth, Texas (reported in the Austin assessment) found that just 0.12 percent of the weight of litter in the city (which does not have a ban) comes from single-use bags. Nonetheless, as propo- nents of bag bans rightly point out, weight is not the only measure of environ- mental impact. Single-use plastic bags pose outsized problems in the form of vi- sual pollution on the land- scape – South Africans joke that plastic bags are their “national flower,” due to their propensity to hang on branches – and damage and delays at high-tech re- cycling centers. (Reusable bags usually aren’t eligible for recycling, but when they end up at centers by mis- take, they often wrap around and jam moving equipment.) Single-use bags can also pose health hazards to wildlife and livestock – during a re- cent trip to Dubai, I heard a plastic recycler lament that ranched camels frequently die from ingesting the plastic bags that are constantly catching flight in the desert wind – and even when they do wind up at landfills, they take centuries to decompose. There’s little doubt that targeted bans can mitigate these kinds of effects by cut- ting down on the use of reus- able bags in the first place. In Austin, for example, a post-ban survey found that single-use plastic bags ac- counted for only 0.03 percent of the total litter collected in the city in 2015. Assuming the pre-ban rate was closer to the 0.12 percent in nearby Fort Worth, that marks a roughly 75 percent reduction of single-use plastic bags in Austin’s landfills. But, as the Austin assess- ment pointedly notes, re- ducing the use of a product that is harmful to the envi- ronment is no guarantee of a positive environmental out- come. Among the main envi- ronmental benefits of Austin’s ban was supposed to be a re- duction in the amount of en- ergy and raw materials used to manufacture the bags. To that end, the city encouraged residents to instead use reus- able bags. Those bags have larger carbon footprints, due to the greater energy required to produce their stronger plastics, but the city figured the overall impact would be lower, as consumers got ac- quainted with the new, more durable product. What the city did not foresee is that residents would start treating reus- able bags like single-use bags. The volume of reusable plastic bags now turning up at the city’s recycling centers has become “nearly equiv- alent to the amount of all of the single use bags re- moved from the recycling stream as a result of the ordinance implemented in 2013,” according to the as- sessment. And those lightly used bags are landfill- bound, because recycling isn’t any more cost effective for reusable plastic bags than the single-use variety. Some of these is- sues could be addressed through the increased use of reusable canvas bags. But canvas is even more carbon intensive to produce than plastic; studies suggest con- sumers would need to use a single canvas bag around 130 times before they start achieving any net environ- mental benefit as compared with a single-use plastic bag. And, for some con- sumers, the higher price for canvas bags may be prohibi- tive, in any case. Austin deserves to be commended for its candid as- sessment of what its plastic bag ban has actually accom- plished; it’s probably not the only city where a ban has produced unintended en- vironmental consequences. That should not deter the scores of other cities in the U.S. and elsewhere consid- ering their own plastic bag bans. But it should encourage a more thorough and realistic assessment of what such a ban can actually accomplish, and what damage it might inflict along the way. When it comes to environmental policy, good intentions often aren’t good enough. Adam Minter is based in Asia, where he covers politics, culture, business and junk. © 2015, Bloomberg View Ban on plastic bags is no sure bet for environment5 LOCAL NEWS Cayman Compass • Wednesday august 19, 2015 LIM ITE D-T IM E OFF ER! LOSE SOME RATE off your loan and dollars off your new ride with RBC Royal Bank, GT Motors and Cayman First Insurance. Call or visit any RBC Royal Bank branch or go online at rbc.com/caribbean Why pay more? Join us for 21 Days of mind- blowing summer deals! You will enjoy: > Up to $2,000 off 2015 KIA Models > Discounted 2016 KIA Models > Competitive interest rates > No payments for 60 days > Up to 100% financing * > Up to 7 years to repay > Pre-approval for easy shopping > Fast turnaround on your application Each approved applicant will get a chance to win. Winners will be chosen by random draw. *Special conditions apply. Subject to normal lending criteria. The cost of borrowing will be made available upon application. Employees of RBC Royal Bank and its advertisers are not eligible to enter. Promotion starts 17th August and ends 9th September, 2015. ®/TM Trademark(s) of Royal Bank of Canada. Used under licence. Offer ENDS September 9th, 2015 GT Motors Ltd. WIN 2 x $250 KIA Vouchers 2 x $500 Gas Vouchers $600 BMW Lifestyle Package Plus much more... Personal finance meetings begin at MLA offices Financial advice from banking professionals aimed at reducing foreclosure rate Brent FuLLer bfuller@pinnaclemedialtd.com A personal financial ad- visory program sponsored by two Cayman Islands Legislative Assembly mem- bers got under way Tuesday night at the Bodden Town Progressives party’s MLA office. A second seminar for Bodden Town residents will be held Saturday at 7 p.m., also at the Bodden Town Progressives’ MLA office. The program is run sep- arately from government- sponsored efforts. Financial Services Minister Wayne Panton and Minister of Finance Marco Archer have enlisted the volunteer assistance of a number of retired Caymanian banking professionals to pro- vide personal financial ad- vice to homeowners who are struggling with day-to-day living costs. “[We want to] assist people before they get into trouble,” Mr. Archer said. The series of meetings, which will continue at the Progressives’ George Town MLA office on Crewe Road on Aug. 25 and Aug. 29, en- courage residents to get free financial advice from local banking professionals about balancing their check- books, making monthly mort- gage payments and generally “living within their means,” Mr. Archer said. Meetings will also be held in West Bay on Sept. 1 and Sept. 5 at the John Gray Memorial Church hall. All of the George Town and West Bay meetings will begin at 7 p.m. The personal finance meetings are being held against a background of in- creasing home and business foreclosures in the Cayman Islands this year. According to Mr. Panton, 17 properties were foreclosed on in the Cayman Islands during the first three months of 2015, leading to concern among lawmakers that the territory is headed for an- other bad year in the home mortgage market. In 2013, there were a re- cord number of 65 homes, businesses or properties for which foreclosure had been completed, Commerce Minister Wayne Panton an- nounced Friday during a press conference about responsible household finance management. The completed foreclosure figure decreased significantly in 2014, with 23 reported for the entire year. The number reported from January to March this year came close to the 2014 figure. While overall completed foreclosures for Cayman are the lowest in the Caribbean region, Mr. Panton said that will be small com- fort to families who are losing everything. Finance Minister Archer said the number one reason given by families who have lost their homes in foreclo- sure is the breakup of the family unit, particularly in cases involving divorce where alimony or child sup- port is not received. The second most common cause is loss of employment. “Given the relatively small number of foreclosures, the social impacts are greater than the economic ones,” Mr. Archer said. According to figures pre- sented Friday, Cayman has recorded 192 completed foreclosures since 2008. Completed foreclosures in- clude only the cases where banks have managed to sell the property. Mr. Panton said another 180 “historical” foreclosure cases, where the properties had not been sold, were identified. The increased number of completed foreclosures early this year is a major com- munity concern and has sparked the formation of a group known as Caymanians Against Economic Injustice, which held public meet- ings last week on the sub- ject of home foreclosures. The group alleges, among other things, that banks are “rushing through” the fore- closure process – giving homeowners just three months prior to declaring them to be delinquent on their mortgages and then seizing the properties. At least one local law firm and North Side MLA Ezzard Miller have advo- cated for a change in local legislation that would ef- fectively give homeowners who are in arrears on their mortgages more time to pay. The Progressives-led govern- ment has not made its po- sition known on any such proposed legislation. The personal finance meetings are being held against a background of increasing home and business foreclosures in the Cayman Islands this year. Mr. PantonMr. ArcherThe islands’ most-trusted news source 6 Wednesday august 19, 2015 • Cayman Compass valuable in managing the species and determining any conservation measures that might be necessary. Kinsey Tedford, a graduate student of Dr. David Bass, the Department of Environment’s visiting invertebrate spe- cialist, will lead the study with assistance from the DoE. Initial research took place in May, with the main study planned for summer 2016. The Flicker article notes: “This study also has the po- tential to benefit society by serving as a model for other locations concerned with protecting land crabs or other species facing sim- ilar situations. Solutions pro- vided in this research are relevant because habitat de- struction, road construction for motorized vehicles, and human consumption of wild- life are increasing problems.” DRIVE THRU OPEN LATE FRIDAYS AND SATURDAYS UNTIL 1AM AT SEVEN MILE BEACH Now serving you from 2 locations: Savannah and Seven Mile Beach Get your business noticed today with a sleek new website from Cayman Islands Yellow Pages FREE WEBSITE Purchase a print ad in the Yellow Pages and receive a free website with free site maintenance*. Call Yellow Pages today! 925-9912 Online • Mobile • Print *Minimum full color quarter column booking required. Website development includes 3 pages and free site maintenance for the rst year. Offer valid for new advertisers only. Terms and conditions apply. Limited Time Offer. “There are a number of major negative impacts associated with this project, both in the construction and operational phases.” EnvironmEntal assEssmEnt Board Impact of port construction highlighted negative residual impacts, which in some instances are permanent and irreversible.” It highlights the need for the final outline business case on the project to factor in economic losses connected to the loss of reef and water clarity in the harbor. It also recommends that decisions be taken on what mitigation measures would be deployed if the project proceeds, in order to get an accurate total cost estimate for the project. The review recaps the key findings of the environ- mental impact assessment, including the “irreversible removal of approximately 15 acres of coral reef habitat” and adverse impacts on ad- jacent reefs. It highlights additional concerns that sedimentation impacts of the project could be an “ecological tipping point” for the reef system in George Town harbor. “These chronic impacts may cause the entire George Town harbor reef system to rapidly deteriorate, resulting in high levels of mortality of coral and other marine spe- cies,” it notes. The review reinforces that the project needs to be com- bined with improvements to the road network. “If the project advances, it must do so with the in- frastructural support of the National Roads Authority’s ‘List of Priority Road Network Improvements’ and imple- mentation of aspects of the George Town Revitalisation Plan which were shown to substantially mitigate key issues associated with the growth in traffic expected re- gardless of whether or not the cruise berthing facility is implemented.” Environmental Assessment Boards are convened for the purpose of overseeing en- vironmental impact as- sessments on specific proj- ects and providing technical input from relevant govern- ment agencies to the consul- tants. Membership varies de- pending on the project. The Environmental Assessment Board for the port project included Gina Ebanks-Petrie, di- rector of the Department of Environment; Rosa Harris, director of tourism; Haroon Pandohie, director of plan- ning; Denis Thibeault, as- sistant director of the NRA; Peggy Leshikar-Denton, di- rector of the Cayman Islands National Museum; James Parsons, acting director of the Port Authority; and Clement Reid, assistant di- rector of the Port Authority. Land crab study under way White land crab populations will be surveyed in the study. Land crabs leave their inland habitats to migrate to coastal waters during mating season. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1The islands’ most-trusted news source 7 regarding how government can dispose of the land. “We noted that [govern- ment agencies] receive little direction as to what prin- ciples should be used to manage real property,” audi- tors reported. “We found no central manager in the gov- ernment responsible for set- ting real property manage- ment policy overall.” Financing, insurance concerns One example of the prob- lems of not having valua- tions for land and property assets was revealed in 2014 financial statements for the Cayman Turtle Farm. The West Bay tourism and research facility, as it has reported for the last few years, noted that it could not state a “recover- able amount” due – for in- surance purposes – if its buildings or other assets were damaged “due to the size and complexity” of the Turtle Farm’s plant, equip- ment and exhibits. Prior to the 2013 govern- ment valuation, which has not been made public, gov- ernment had not known its properties’ current values since 2001. Successive re- views by the Cayman Islands Auditor General’s Office have revealed the issue is one of the key problems in annual public sector financial re- ports being disclaimed. For instance, an audit evaluation for the govern- ment’s 2010/11 fiscal year re- ceived a disclaimer of opinion from Auditor General Alastair Swarbrick’s office – which means the financial state- ments for the entire public sector contained in govern- ment records could not be relied upon for accuracy – largely because government did not have “sufficient or appropriate evidence” of assets, liabilities, revenues and expenses. The lack of up-to-date values of relevant govern- ment properties can also impact a number of other areas of public finance, in- cluding whether the gov- ernment is paying enough, or paying too much, for an- nual insurance premiums. Former Auditor General Dan Duguay flagged this as a problem in 2007 and rec- ommended that government seek to address the issue immediately. Mr. Duguay said the last valuation of government properties was done in 2000, and stated his concern that government as- sets might be significantly under-insured at the date of his report in early 2007. Cayman Compass • Wednesday august 19, 2015 We are specialized in providing Comprehensive Insurance Packages for clients in the Cayman Islands and across the Caribbean. We arrange insurance for: Contract Works & Public Liability (CAR) Workmen’s Compensation/Employers Liability Professional Indemnity Marine Insurance Strata Plans and Other Commercial Properties Insurance Homeowners Insurance For more details on the above we can be contacted via email or Telephone The Insurance Broker For All Your Needs Unit # 10 Cayman Falls B I P.O. Box 11118 APO I Grand Cayman KY1-1008 I Cayman Islands Tel: 345-943-2475 I Fax: 345-943-2472 I Emails: alicia.hansraj@cipil.net I ricardo.bodington@cipil.net I info@cipil.net I Website: www.cipil.net Caribbean Insurance Practice (International) Ltd. in conjunction with RoyalStar Assurance Ltd. and Other insurance market provide you with competitive packages for all your insurance needs We are specialized in providing Comprehensive Insurance Packages for clients in the Cayman Islands and across the Caribbean. We arrange insurance for: Contract Works & Public Liability (CAR) Workmen’s Compensation/Employers Liability Professional Indemnity Marine Insurance Strata Plans and Other Commercial Properties Insurance Homeowners Insurance For more details on the above we can be contacted via email or Telephone The Insurance Broker For All Your Needs Unit # 10 Cayman Falls B I P.O. Box 11118 APO I Grand Cayman KY1-1008 I Cayman Islands Tel: 345-943-2475 I Fax: 345-943-2472 I Emails: alicia.hansraj@cipil.net I ricardo.bodington@cipil.net I info@cipil.net I Website: www.cipil.net Caribbean Insurance Practice (International) Ltd. in conjunction with RoyalStar Assurance Ltd. and Other insurance market provide you with competitive packages for all your insurance needs We are specialized in providing Comprehensive Insurance Packages for clients in the Cayman Islands and across the Caribbean. We arrange insurance for: Contract Works & Public Liability (CAR) Workmen’s Compensation/Employers Liability Professional Indemnity Marine Insurance Strata Plans and Other Commercial Properties Insurance Homeowners Insurance For more details on the above we can be contacted via email or Telephone The Insurance Broker For All Your Needs Unit # 10 Cayman Falls B I P.O. Box 11118 APO I Grand Cayman KY1-1008 I Cayman Islands Tel: 345-943-2475 I Fax: 345-943-2472 I Emails: alicia.hansraj@cipil.net I ricardo.bodington@cipil.net I info@cipil.net I Website: www.cipil.net Caribbean Insurance Practice (International) Ltd. in conjunction with RoyalStar Assurance Ltd. and Other insurance market provide you with competitive packages for all your insurance needs “Except for the Health Services Authority, statutory authority and government company properties had not been recently valued.” AlAstAir swArbrick, auditor general Mr. Swarbrick Government in dark on full property value CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Six migrants drown off Turkish coast trying to reach Greece BODRUM, Turkey (AP) – Six Syrian migrants, including an infant, drowned off the Turkish coast Tuesday as they tried to reach a Greek island, a rescuer said, underscoring the deadly risks taken by mi- grants making even short crossings to Europe in over- crowded smugglers’ boats. Three more migrants sur- vived for hours in the motor- boat’s overturned hull, breathing air trapped in a pocket, before being rescued by divers, the emergency worker said. Those who drowned were attempting perhaps the safest, shortest sea crossing in the risky journey to Europe, for the Greek island of Kos is only four kilometers (2.5 miles) from Turkey at its closest point. Turkish coast guards un- loaded five body bags at the harbor in the western tourist town of Bodrum as the rescued migrants, one man clutching his head in his hands, sat on the wharf. A rescue team later found the drowned infant’s body, said a member of the Bodrum Sea Rescue Association, who spoke on condition of ano- nymity because he was not au- thorized by coast guard officials to talk about the rescue. The Turkish divers pulled a child and two men out alive from a sealed area of the cap- sized boat, a 30-foot motor- boat, the rescue official said. Medical staff carried a wailing young boy, an oxygen mask around his neck, and a man to ambulances. It was not the only rescue Tuesday in the Aegean Sea. About 20 other migrants were picked up by Turkish authorities and taken to the nearby town of Turgutreis. It was not clear what boat they had been on. A Doctors Without Borders medical team heading for the Greek island of Leros chanced across a boat carrying 40 mi- grants, some of whom were in the sea, picked them up and took them to Kos. Men hugged and kissed one another as the group, which included young children, reached land belonging to one of the European Union’s 28 nations.8 WORLD&REGIONAL Wednesday august 19, 2015 • Cayman Compass We Buy Gold!We Buy Gold! Cash For Gold Silver, Coins and Broken Jewelry Cash Paid on the Spot! Call 927-8565 Cash For Gold • Shedden Road DOES YOUR CHILD HAVE EVERYTHING THEY NEED? #1 Alexander Place • Dorcy Drive, GT 926-5425 caymankarateacademy@gmail.com www.caymankarateacademy.com 4 Weeks of Karate for $69 including Uniform BACK TO SCHOOL SPECIAL Police identify man carrying backpack as Bangkok bomber BANGKOK (AP) – Thai inves- tigators believe a man seen in security video wearing a yellow T-shirt and carrying a backpack set off the bomb at a central Bangkok shrine that killed 20 people and in- jured more than 100, police said Tuesday. “The yellow shirt guy is not just the suspect. He is the bomber,” police spokesman Lt. Gen. Prawut Thavornsiri told The Associated Press. Prawut earlier released several photos of the man, with and without the back- pack, on social media. The im- ages were apparently taken from closed-circuit video at the Erawan Shrine on Monday evening before the bomb exploded. He confirmed that the man is suspected in the bombing when contacted by The Associated Press. A video posted separately on Thai media appeared to show the same man, with youthful shaggy dark hair, sitting on a bench at the crowded shrine, then taking off the backpack and leaving it behind as he walked away. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha called Monday’s explosion at a busy inter- section “the worst incident that has ever happened in Thailand,” and promised to track down those responsible. “There have been minor bombs or just noise, but this time they aimed for innocent lives,” Prayuth said Tuesday. “They want to destroy our economy, our tourism.” Without elaborating about possible perpetrators, the prime minister said, “Today we have seen the closed-cir- cuit footage, we saw some suspects, but it wasn’t clear. We have to find them first.” The improvised explo- sive device, which police say was made from a pipe and weighed more than 6 pounds, scattered body parts, spat- tered blood, blasted windows and burned motorbikes to the metal. The explosion went off around 7 p.m. in an upscale area filled with tourists, of- fice workers and shoppers. No one has claimed responsibility. Bangkok was rattled again Tuesday when another explosive device blew up at a ferry pier often used by tour- ists, but no one was hurt. “The bomb at Sathorn Pier was also a pipe bomb and it might be related to the [Monday] bombing,” said Prawut, the police spokesman. Another po- lice official, Senior Sgt. Maj. Worapong Boonthawee, said it was thrown from the Taksin Bridge and blew up at Sathorn Pier after falling into the Chao Phraya River below. “There is no injury,” he said. Security camera video showed a sudden blast of water over a walkway at the pier as by- standers run for safety. Prayuth gave his first televised address since the bombing Tuesday, saying the government will expedite “all investigative efforts to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice.” Monday’s bomb exploded at Erawan Shrine, which is dedicated to the Hindu god Brahma, but is extremely popular among Thailand’s Buddhists as well as Chinese tourists. Although Thailand is predominantly Buddhist, it has enormous Hindu influ- ence on its religious practices and language. Thai authorities identified five victims as Thai and four as Chinese – two of them from Hong Kong – along with two Malaysians and one Singaporean, and said the na- tionalities of the other eight victims remained unknown. Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said authorities had no idea an attack had been planned. “We didn’t know about this ahead of time. We had no intelligence on this attack,” he said. Prayuth vowed to “hurry and find the bombers,” though he noted there may be just one perpetrator. Speaking to reporters, he continued what has been a notoriously prickly relationship with the media since the former gen- eral took control of the gov- ernment in a May 2014 coup. Asked if there were leads on the suspects’ identities, Prayuth bristled: “We are still investigating. The bomb has just exploded – why are you asking now? Do you un- derstand the word inves- tigation? It’s not like they claim responsibility.” Thailand has seen many violent attacks in recent years, particularly in a more- than-decade-long insurgency by Muslim separatists that has left more than 5,000 dead in the country’s deep south. Those attacks have never ex- tended to the capital, however. Bangkok was rattled again Tuesday when another explosive device blew up at a ferry pier often used by tourists, but no one was hurt. This image released by Royal Thai Police shows a man wearing a yellow T-shirt near the Erawan Shrine before an explosion occurred in Bangkok, Thailand. The man is a suspect in Monday’s bombing. – Photo: Royal thai Police via aP Indonesian rescuers reach crash site, find plane destroyed JAYAPURA, Indonesia (AP) – Rescuers on Tuesday reached the site in eastern Indonesia where a passenger plane slammed into a mountain over the weekend, killing all 54 people on board, and found that the aircraft had been destroyed, officials said. More than 70 rescuers reached the crash site after being hindered by rugged, forested terrain and bad weather, said Henry Bambang Soelistyo, the National Search and Rescue Agency chief. The flight data recorder and the cockpit voice re- corder – the plane’s “black boxes” – were found in good condition, Soelistyo said. The data they contain could help explain what caused the Trigana Air Service plane to crash Sunday. “The plane was totally destroyed and all the bodies were burned and difficult to identify,” Soelistyo told The Associated Press. He said all 54 bodies had been recovered and would be taken to Jayapura, the capital of Papua prov- ince, so they can be iden- tified. The ATR42-300 twin turboprop plane was flying from Jayapura to the city of Oksibil with 49 passengers and five crew members on a scheduled 42-minute flight when it lost contact with air traffic control. Soelistyo said the wreckage was at an altitude of 8,500 feet. Much of Papua is covered with impene- trable jungles and moun- tains. Some planes that have crashed there in the past have never been found. The airline’s crisis center official in Jayapura’s Sentani airport, Budiono, said all the passengers were Indonesians, and included three local government of- ficials and two members of the local parliament who were to attend a ceremony Monday in Oksibil marking the 70th anniversary of Indonesia’s independence from Dutch colonial rule. Like many Indonesians, Budiono goes by one name. Oksibil, about 175 miles south of Jayapura, was ex- periencing heavy rain, strong winds and fog when the plane lost contact with the airport minutes before it was scheduled to land. The victims’ relatives, who had been waiting at the airport, broke down in tears when they heard the news. Many of them accused the airline of taking too long to give them information. “They are unprofessional … they play with our feel- ings of grieving,” said Cory Gasper, whose brother Jhon Gasper was on the plane. The airline released a public apology just after a search plane spotted the smoldering wreckage of the aircraft on Monday. It’s unclear what caused the crash, and Indonesia’s transportation safety commission has opened an investigation. The passengers included four postal workers es- corting four bags of cash totaling $468,750 in gov- ernment aid for poor fami- lies to help offset a spike in fuel prices, said Franciscus Haryono, the head of the post office in Jayapura, the provincial capital. Rescuers have found the money, which was partly scorched, and will hand it over to the authorities, Soelistyo said. Indonesia has had a string of airline tragedies in recent years. In December, all 162 people aboard an AirAsia jet were killed when the plane plummeted into the Java Sea as it flew through stormy weather on its way from Surabaya, Indonesia’s second- largest city, to Singapore. The sprawling archipelago nation of 250 million people and some 17,000 islands is one of Asia’s most rapidly ex- panding airline markets, but it is struggling to provide enough qualified pilots, me- chanics, air traffic controllers and updated airport tech- nology to ensure safety. From 2007 to 2009, the European Union barred Indonesian airlines from flying to Europe because of safety concerns. Trigana Air Service, which began operations in 1991, had 22 aircraft as of December 2013 and flies to 21 destinations in Indonesia. The carrier has had 19 se- rious incidents since 1992, resulting in the loss of eight aircraft and major damage to 11 others, according to the Aviation Safety Network’s on- line database. The airline remains banned from flying to Europe along with six other Indonesian carriers. Soldiers in Jayapura, Indonesia, prepare to leave for the crash site to conduct rescue operations. – Photo: Xinhua via aPThe islands’ most-trusted news source 9 Russian police bust $30M cheese ring Russian police said Tuesday they have busted an international ring involved in producing contraband cheese worth about US$30 million. Russia is enforcing a ban on imports in retaliation for U.S. and European Union sanctions. Business Cayman Compass • Wednesday august 19, 2015 AIMA: Cayman well placed for EU hedge fund passport MIChAEl KlEIn mklein@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Cayman Islands maintains confidence that a pan-European marketing passport will be extended to alternative investment funds set up in the juris- diction, according to the Alternative Investment Management Association. In a first assessment at the end of July, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) recommended that the pass- port, which allows non- EU funds to be marketed across the EU, be granted to Jersey, Guernsey and Switzerland under the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive. ESMA still has to as- sess other jurisdictions, in- cluding Cayman where most of the world’s offshore hedge funds are registered. But AIMA said in a press re- lease that Cayman is well- placed to have a successful review in the near future. Cayman has entered into cooperation arrangements with the major EU invest- ment securities regulators, as well as the necessary tax information exchange agree- ments with EU governments required by the AIFMD. In addition, the Cayman Islands government developed an AIFMD-compliant opt-in re- gime to meet the needs of Cayman-based alternative investment fund managers who want to market funds into the EU under the pass- port, AIMA said. Alan Milgate, chairman of AIMA Cayman, said ESMA’s initial decision, which did not recommend that the pass- port be extended to Cayman, should not be misinterpreted. “Cayman has simply not yet been assessed, and has cer- tainly not been adversely opined on, or excluded by ESMA. We look forward to the Cayman Islands being as- sessed positively in ESMA’s ongoing review of additional non-EU jurisdictions and that AIFMs based in the Cayman Islands will continue to ben- efit from evolving legislation which is both flexible and adaptable,” Mr. Milgate said. According to AIMA, it is in the interests of institutional investors in Europe and hedge fund managers glob- ally that Cayman be granted the passport. “The global industry as a whole needs Cayman AIFs to be approved under the AIFMD passport to en- sure that pension funds and other European insti- tutional investors can con- tinue to benefit from in- vesting in some of the world’s leading alternative investment funds,” said Jack Inglis, CEO of AIMA. “We are confident that Cayman will be granted the pass- port since the new Cayman regime looks similar to those in the jurisdictions that have already obtained favorable assessments.” If the third country passport is not granted to Cayman’s alternative invest- ment funds, they would have to be marketed in each EU member state individually through private placement. However, the private place- ment regime is set to expire by July 2018. On July 30, the Cayman Islands was listed as one of 22 jurisdictions identified by ESMA as both a domicile of alternative investment funds and fund managers that market their funds in the EU. The European securities regulators stressed that it will continue to work on its assessment of other non-EU countries not covered in its initial advice with the aim of delivering further sub- missions to the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission in the coming months. More than 11,000 reg- ulated investment funds, as well as numerous other closed-end fund structures are currently domiciled in the Cayman Islands, and there are 2,300 investment managers who are either fully licensed or registered in Cayman. According to AIMA, it is in the interests of institutional investors in Europe and hedge fund managers globally that Cayman be granted the passport. Global trust company Summit Trust International is expanding into the Cayman Islands through a joint venture with interna- tional private client lawyer and trustee Marcus Parker. The deal is subject to regu- latory approval. Summit was founded in Geneva in 1999 as Close Trustees Switzerland by Daniel Martineau, Stella Mitchell-Voisin and Robin Lee Smith. After a manage- ment buyout from the Close Brothers Group, the com- pany was renamed Summit Trust and the majority stake was sold to the South African financial services group Sanlam in 2011. Announcing the estab- lishment of the Cayman office, Daniel Martineau, executive chairman of Summit, said, “We are de- lighted to be expanding our trust operations in the Cayman Islands. We have been looking for the right partner for two years un- successfully, so when Marcus became available recently, we jumped on it. “Marcus gives us excep- tional trust and legal expe- rience on the ground now in Cayman and will be the managing director and a significant shareholder.” Mr. Parker has more than 20 years’ experience in the private client industry and was a founding partner of boutique private client law firm New Quadrant Partners in London in 2010. He has been recog- nized as a leading lawyer and trusted adviser by Chambers and Partners and Citywealth and as one of the global private client elite by Legal Week. He moved to the Cayman Islands at the end of 2013. Mr. Parker said, “I have known Stella and Daniel for some time and greatly ad- mire them and the Summit business model.” Summit truSt expandS into Cayman The Cayman Islands re- ceived the top prize in the 2015 “Offshore Captive Domicile” category at the U.S. Captive Services Awards. Cayman won the award by demonstrating its ongoing commitment to the captive sector and by passing new Portfolio Insurance Company (PIC) legislation at the start of 2015, organizers said. The panel of judges further high- lighted Cayman’s innova- tion and the jurisdiction’s leading expertise in health- care captives. Kieran O’Mahony, chairman of the Insurance Managers Association of the Cayman Islands, said: “We are delighted that Cayman has again received this pres- tigious honor. This award ac- knowledges Cayman’s signifi- cant and sustained efforts in ensuring it offers progressive, leading edge legislation and sophisticated solutions to captives and the alternative risk transfer universe. “These solutions, devel- oped in consultation and collaboration with clients, industry stakeholders, gov- ernment representatives and the regulator, coupled with the availability of world class industry professionals on-island, are the pillars of Cayman’s success. It is grat- ifying that these Cayman advantages are recognized on a global stage and by our industry peers,” he added. The U.S. Captives Services Awards were established in 2012. This year, more firms than ever entered the awards competition, held in Burlington, Vermont, on Aug. 10, according to organizers. More than 74 firms from across the North American captive insurance industry competed for 26 awards. Solomon Harris Cayman Islands-based law firm Solomon Harris won in the “Offshore Law Firm” category and was recognized for the role the firm played in Cayman’s innovative new captive legislation. Solomon Harris insurance partner Paul Scrivener was com- mended for his involvement in the new PIC legislation. “The growing specialist insurance firm continues to consolidate its exper- tise in the captive sector and in Paul Scrivener they have one of the most re- spected legal individuals in the industry. Scrivener was heavily involved in consulta- tion, on behalf of the private sector, with Cayman regula- tors when drafting the new portfolio insurance com- pany legislation,” the judges’ panel said. Mr. Scrivener said, “We are delighted for this endorse- ment of the quality of our captive insurance team. “We have managed to win the Offshore Law Firm award three times in the past four years, which I think is great testimony to our strong brand in the captive insur- ance sector,” he said. “We were equally de- lighted to see the Cayman Islands recognized as the leading offshore captive do- micile and the credit given for its innovative incorporated cell company legislation.” Judges at this year’s awards included ex- perts from STICO Mutual Insurance Company RRG, OU Physicians, Anderson Kill Wood and Bender, Subaru and Walgreens. Cayman Islands- based law firm Solomon Harris won in the “Offshore Law Firm” category. Cayman named top offshore domicile for captives Mr. ScrivenerNext >