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Ernst & Young Caribbean executive chairman Wade George.

ERNST & Young (EY) Caribbean executive chairman Wade George called for an easier access to incentivising tax breaks for local businesses, addressing the post-budget analysis of the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce on Tuesday at the Hyatt Regency, Port of Spain.

Tax breaks exist, he said, but were not easily accessible.

“Consolidate all incentives into a business facilitation unit,” George said.

Speaking on the theme of the business environment he urged an end to red tape for existing incentives, saying, “We don’t need more incentives.”

George reiterated the point later during the panel discussion, when he lamented that it often takes a business months to get a simple certificate from a ministry before an application process can even be begun. He called for the establishment of a team of young people drawn from each relevant ministry to work together in a business facilitation unit, to increase access to incentives for local businesses.

Moderator Maria Daniel remarked that she thought that had been the role of ExportTT, and wondered if something had been missing.

Otherwise George also called the business sector to account. He asked if businesses should be content simply to profit by buying and selling imported items, or should strive for import substitution, export markets, foreign-exchange earnings, and job creation.

“Are we willing to take the risks to do something not only for our businesses but for the country?”

George said the US offices of his employer EY had employed expertise based at EY in Trinidad and Tobago which was cheaper than US-based staff and also provided foreign-exchange earnings for TT.

“The thinking should be, ‘How can we solve the problems?’ without complaining all the time.”

Hadco co-CEO John Hadad said his company was always open to new ideas presented to it, speaking on the theme Growing Traditional Businesses through Vision and Diversification.

“You’d be surprised at the things that come at you.”

Saying the firm was built on borrowed money, he quipped that every bank in TT owned a piece of Hadco.

Hadad traced how Hadco had begun as a local distributor in TT but then expanded to distribution overseas such as in the US. Hadco had also started making things like ice cream, he said, leveraging its distribution expertise to get its product quickly to market.

He said Hadco was involved in recycling as a business, involving materials such as batteries, cardboard and plastics. Anticipating a tyre recycling plant within four months time, he quipped, “We’ll be making gym mats before we ship the (rubber) powder abroad.”

Hadad said his company was also involved in fisheries, a steelpan-making co-operative and two eco-tourism sites, including the Asa Wright Nature Centre. He hailed TT’s feat of being recognised globally as “a bastion of turtle conservation.” Hadad said the company was considering an initial public offering.

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BUSINESSMAN Inshan Ishmael has won his malicious prosecution lawsuit against the State after his arrest in 2016 for allegedly being involved in a public protest outside the Guardian Media building in Chaguanas.

At his trial on Tuesday, Ishmael described his arrest and prosecution as “lies and falsehoods.”

Ishmael and self-employed businessman Devendra Partap sued the State for malicious prosecution and false imprisonment.

On Tuesday, Ishmael and Partap testified at the malicious prosecution trial at the Judicial Waterfront Centre, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain, before Justice Ricky Rahim. After the trial, Rahim awarded both men damages for unlawful arrest and false imprisonment from 4.30 pm on July 25 to 4 am the next day. Both men also received general damages, aggravated and exemplary damages for malicious prosecution. The amount of compensation each man will receive is to be quantified by a Master.

In his ruling, Rahim said, in particular, the actions of the police against Partap were egregious. He said the evidence was that he was simply a passer-by when he was arrested and the consequences of it for him had been dire mentally. Partap had to be warded at St Ann’s Hospital for a short period.

In his lawsuit, he said he was unable to find work and became depressed and suicidal. During the trial at the magistrates’ court, the magistrate had to provide counselling for him because he appeared visibly distressed.

Rahim also said he did not believe the evidence of the police when they said the two men went to the front of the police bus and began to protest with placards.

At the time, it was alleged that Ishmael and two others were part of a demonstration outside the newspaper’s offices over a column which appeared on July 6, the Eid holiday, headlined “How not to be killed by Islamists.”

Ishmael was initially charged with leading a protest, and the two others with protesting without a permit. The charge against Ishmael was amended during the prosecution in the magistrates’ court to participating in a protest without a permit.

After appearing in court 23 times, and spending $39,000 in legal fees, on May 10, 2018, they were found not guilty of the incident, which allegedly took place on July 25, 2016.

Ishmael said he was at the Guardian building because an imam had told him about the gathering there and he went with his cameraman, Wasim Daniel, to cover the event. Ishmael owns and runs the Islamic Broadcast Network (IBN).

Daniel was also part of the claim but did not show up at Tuesday’s trial.

Partap said he had only got off a bus on the Uriah Butler Highway with the intention of walking into Chaguanas to get a taxi to San Fernando when he was arrested. Both men denied they had placards.

Ishmael said he and his worker were dressed in T-shirts with the IBN logo, while Partap was just nearby. He said he was called out by a police officer who arrived at about 4 pm with 20 others in a police bus. In all, he said there were about 50 police officers at the scene, and the gathering was on private property belonging to the media house.

He said he repeatedly asked why he was being arrested but was pushed into the police bus.

“It was a public spectacle.”

Ishmael said it was “totally false” to say he was involved in the protest and maintains in his lawsuit that he was targeted by the police because one of the officers present was a senior officer he had “exposed” on his Breaking Barriers programme a week earlier.

Ishmael said the police physically manhandled him and gave a vivid description of the prisoners’ cell at the Chaguanas police station during his testimony.

Also testifying were three of the officers involved in the arrest. Sgt Larry David said he could not say if anyone had permission to be at the Guardian building, also admitting he received certain instructions from an inspector.

He claimed the men left the group at the Guardian building and started showing placards to drivers on the southbound lane of the highway before they were arrested. Rahim said he did not believe this evidence.

Representing the Attorney General was attorney Monica Smith. Ishmael and Partap were represented by attorneys Nigel Trancoso and Richard Jaggasar.

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El gobernador de Puerto Rico, Pedro R. Pierluisi, envió una carta hoy al presidente de Estados Unidos, Joe Biden, en la que solicitó una dispensa temporera a la Ley Jones para que barcazas de bandera extranjera provenientes de los Estados Unidos puedan transportar combustible a la Isla.

“Estoy solicitando al Departamento de Seguridad Nacional una dispensa temporera a los requerimientos de la Ley Jones para asegurar que tengamos abastos suficientes de combustibles como el diésel, y así no se comprometa el servicio de energía eléctrica en ninguna facilidad crítica, a la vez que las empresas también pueden garantizar la continuidad de sus servicios”, sostuvo el gobernador en declaraciones escritas.

En la misiva se expresa que como consecuencia de la emergencia ocasionada por el huracán Fiona que afectó el sistema eléctrico de Puerto Rico, ha incrementado significativamente la demanda de combustible en la Isla.

Mencionó que el gobierno de Puerto Rico, en colaboración con FEMA, está comprando y distribuyendo diésel a las instalaciones críticas, al mismo tiempo que ha aumentado la demanda entre los ciudadanos y las industrias, lo que afecta la disponibilidad del mismo. Por estas razones, los distribuidores informaron que el suplido de diésel está disminuyendo rápidamente y antes de lo anticipado.

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