Black Immigrant Daily News

The fraud and corruption case against former Education Minister, Ruel Reid, and Caribbean Maritime University (CMU) President, Professor Fritz Pinnock, has been put on hold following an order by the Supreme Court.

The hold in the case is due to a judicial review hearing that has been scheduled for the matter. A date is yet to be set for that hearing to commence.

The disclosure of the hold on the case was made when the men and their co-accused appeared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Friday.

Reid and Pinnock were successful in their application to get a judicial review of a February 2021 ruling by Chief Parish Judge, Chester Crooks, that the cases against the men should go to trial.

The accused men are contending that Crooks should have removed himself from the hearing of the case in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court because he is a past student of Munro College in St Elizabeth, which Reid also attended.

Consequently, the accused are suggesting that Crooks should not have made any ruling in the case because of what they are contending was a conflict of interest on his part.

Accordingly, the men filed an application in the Supreme Court seeking leave to go to the Judicial Review Court to determine whether Crooks’ ruling should be quashed.

That decision was granted earlier last year.

Hugh Small, the attorney representing the Financial Investigations Division (FID), had made an application to allow the fraud trial to go ahead, despite the judicial review application being granted.

However, the Supreme Court, in March of this year, dismissed the FID’s attempt to have the trial proceed.

The FID, through its legal team, is to make an application to appeal the Supreme Court ruling on September 26.

With the trial in the parish court on hold, Reid, Pinnock and Reid’s wife, Sharen; his daughter, Sharelle, and Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) Councillor for the Brown’s Town Division in St Ann, Kim Brown-Lawrence, all had their bails extended until October 3.

The five accused persons were charged in October 2019 on allegations that millions of dollars were defrauded from both the Ministry of Education and the CMU.

Reid and Pinnock are facing the bulk of the charges. They are charged with breaches of the Corruption Prevention Act, conspiracy to defraud, misconduct in a public office at common law, and beaches of the Proceeds of Crime Act.

Sharen Reid and her daughter, as well as Brown-Lawrence, are all charged with possession of criminal property and conspiracy to defraud.

Hugh Wildman, who is representing Reid and Pinnock in the case, has long argued, even before Judge Crooks in December 2020, that the case against his clients should be dismissed because the FID Act does not empower the body to make arrests.

Wildman said the FID is purely an investigative body.

But Crooks disagreed with Wildman’s submissions.

Last November, the Court of Appeal refused both Reid and Pinnock leave to go to the United Kingdom Privy Council to seek to the have fraud charges against them dropped.

The accused were seeking to challenge the Financial Investigations (FID) Act in the Privy Council because the Supreme Court and later the Court of Appeal ruled that both men should mount their legal challenge in the parish court.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

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Caribbean Employment Services Inc., a market-leading online talent acquisition service based in Barbados but operating throughout the Caribbean, has noticed a marked increase in the number of international employers seeking to hire Caribbean workers.

This comes as some international industries are facing labour shortages amid the GreatResignation brought on with the COVID-19 pandemic and its dramatic changes to thetraditional workforce.

Labour market shortages have been particularly severe in the United Kingdom. Hence, why it has not been unheard of for international employers to recruit Caribbean talent, it comes as no surprise that this would be even more so the case now.

Over the years, many Caribbean nations have had international agreements withgovernments or other organizations to facilitate Caribbean workers.

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It should also be no surprise given that Caribbean immigrant or temporary workers are frequently regarded as among the most high-quality and hardworking, despite local public opinion among some countries to the contrary.

In one of the latest international recruitment drives, a Canadian employer is seeking toprovide St. Lucians with job opportunities in the meat processing industry.

Vermax Group has partnered with the government of St. Lucia for the initiative, and is calling for qualified applicants “who are desirous of gaining employment in Canada as industrial meat cutters”.

A statement from the government specified that there are no restrictions on gender.However, it did not confirm how many positions are available nor did it provide details on the length and terms of the contract.

“Persons submitting applications must be between the ages of 25 and 45 years old, andmust have at least 12 months’ experience in the meat or poultry processing industry,” thestatement read.

Caribbean Employment Services Inc. has seen and also posted similar positions on its jobboard site, jobs.CaribbeanEmployment.com.

We note that late last year, another Canadian employer was similarly seeking Barbadians towork as meat cutters. Even that recruitment drive followed a Farm Labour Programmeinitiative for 20 Barbadians to work in the United States.

Just this year alone, and especially in recent months, several of Caribbean EmploymentServices Inc.’s clients based out of the UK have been seeking Caribbean natives to live andwork abroad.

Another of our clients, a Jamaican national operating a recruitment agency out of the USA,likewise reported expanding operations and seeking Caribbean workers to fill any labourforce gaps.

It is our mission to connect hiring managers and HR professionals with the highest caliber of Caribbean talent, and also to connect Caribbean jobseekers with their dream job. As such, we will continue to provide Caribbean workers with the best employment opportunities not just in the region but around the world.

In light of the increase in international competition, we would encourage Caribbean nativesto seek the best opportunities for themselves and their families.

At the same time, we would also encourage Caribbean employers to be mindful of how they treat their employees and jobseekers, who could at any moment opt to take advantage of opportunities abroad instead.

Source: Caribbean Employment Services Inc.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

El exboxeador , Juan Manuel “Juanma” López, fue protagonista de una disputa durante la noche de ayer sábado, en una cartelera de boxeo en la que se enfrentaron Samuel “Sammito” Santana y Jonathann “Gallo The Producer” Rosario en el Coliseo Mario ‘’Quijote” Morales de Guaynabo.

En el incidente se aprecia como varias personas, incluyendo su pareja, Andrea “La Peki” Ojeda, intentaban calmar al ex deportista.

Luego de varios intentos, alguno de los asistentes lograron calmar al ex púgil boricua,  para que la situación no llegara a mayores.

Hasta el momento no se tiene claro qué que fue lo que provocó dicha reacción del deportista.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

A man who is charged with the killing of a mechanic in Brown’s Town, St Ann last month, is facing additional charges after he allegedly issued a threatening sign to a prosecution witness when he appeared in the St Ann Parish Court.

Roudare Harris, a 34-year-old resident of Goshen district, Brown’s Town, St Ann, is charged with the murder of 20-year-old Quan Campbell, a mechanic of Enfield district, also in Brown’s Town, St Ann.

Harris appeared in the St Ann Parish Court on Wednesday for the case to be mentioned.

While in court, it was reportedly observed that Harris made a certain sign to a witness, in that he allegedly slashed his fingers across his throat.

The presiding parish court judge reprimanded the accused in court, and ordered him to be further remanded in police custody.

Law enforcers subsequently charged Harris with threatening a crown witness.

He is to return to court next week on both charges.

In relation to the murder allegations, it was reported that sometime after 1am on Sunday, June 5, Campbell went to a club in Brown’s Town where he saw his girlfriend and a man, later identified as Harris.

Campbell reprimanded the woman, and they both exited the club.

A heated argument subsequently developed outside the club between Campbell and the woman, during which Harris intervened.

Both men then got engaged in a fight, during which a knife was reportedly used by Harris to stab Campbell.

The wounded man was assisted to hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Harris, who fled the scene, turned himself over to the police some days later.

He was subsequently charged with murder.

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