Regional News
CAL seeing US$40,000 in credit card fraud each month Trinidad gets CDB backing for US$436m country strategy
(Trinidad Guardian) Caribbean Airlines Ltd is saddled with a US$270,000 monthly bill for breaking its lease on two 767 jets that are now flying for Air Canada.
The issue was brought to the fore as company officials appeared before Monday’s Joint Select Committee meeting in Parliament.
“We are still incurring payments on the 767s and that goes until August 2017. The leases were due to expire in 2017. We returned the aircraft but given that we were returning, we had to renegotiate with lessors (a person who leases property),” CAL chief executive officer Captain Jagmohan Singh said, as he noted US$135, 000 was due for each carrier.
The 767s, which once served the retired London route for CAL, are now used by Air Canada.
The committee also heard that CAL experiences some US$40,000 in credit card fraud per month. This activity occurred on some of the most popular routes, including Port-of-Spain to New York, Guyana to North America, Kingston to New York and out of Caracas, where fraudsters used other people’s information to make bookings on CAL’s website.
However, Senior Manager Financial For Ocean Going Vessels the opening lasts about
For Trawlers the opening lasts about and Revenue Accounting, Adrian Agarrat, said systems were being put in place to deal with this, as it was of serious concern to the industry. He said in 2013 it was discovered there was a US$20 million accounting error which was since rectified by external auditors.
Regarding the submission of documents, CAL was warned by Senator David Small that it must comply with the committee’s request.
At the previous hearing, the committee requested a document which was not publicly specified, but had still not received it up to yesterday. In giving an explanation, however, CAL vice chairman Michael Quamina expressed concern in submitting the document, saying it was confidential.
But Small said it was not up to the management to determine what documents ought to submitted, saying full compliance was expected by the committee.
Quamina then assured that they would submit the document within 48 hours
On the request for documents regarding management of the tender process and evaluation documents for purchasing aircraft, Small said this was also not done. The opening lasts for 1 1/2 hours (Jamaica Gleaner) The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has agreed to a support package of more than US$430 million for Trinidad & Tobago to be distributed over five years under a new country strategy for the twin-island republic launched last week.
It comes amid a period of economic disruption in Trinidad, including the firing of the country’s central bank chief, and efforts to bolster the country’s foreign reserves.
“CDB recognises Trinidad and Tobago’s potential for transformative economic and social development. Today marks the beginning of a focused five-year programme that has been strategically designed to support improvement of the country’s competitiveness, promote good governance, and drive environmental sustainability,” Patricia McKenzie, Vice-President of Operations of CDB, said at the March 9 launch of the strategy in Lowlands, Tobago.
The programme covers improved quality and access to education and training; strengthened social protection; increased productivity, competitiveness and economic diversification; improved evidence-based development planning and institutional development; and strengthened environmental management supported by safe and resilient infrastructure.
The development bank gets to sign-off on the projects and initiatives to be pursued under the programme, which includes components addressing gender equality, energy security and citizen security.