(CNS Business): The Internal Revenue Service has obtained a federal court order that will allow them to access bank records of US taxpayers suspected of hiding accounts at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce's FirstCaribbean International Bank (FCIB), a Barbados-based bank with branches in 18 Caribbean countries, including the Cayman Islands, but with none in the US. The court authorized the IRS to serve a John Doe summons on Wells Fargo Bank related to a US correspondent account maintained by FCIB, directing it to produce records of deposits and payments by check and wire that will allow the IRS to identify US taxpayers with accounts at FCIB and other banks that used FCIB’s Wells Fargo correspondent account. Read more and comment on CNS Business

(CNS): The accidental removal of an elector from the register of voters was a one off, election officials have said. A West Bay voter found she had been removed from the list in error by the district’s registering officer, but not until after the cut-off point for the general election. However, she will not be able to vote because she had not checked the list. The Elections Office has admitted that this was a mistake on the part of its staff but said the list had been updated and circulated at least five times since the voter was left off and she had not checked it.

(CNS): The appearance of the full exchange of emails between the former premier and his Cabinet colleagues when McKeeva Bush rejected the GLF port bid shows that he offered to resign if his colleagues did not agree with him. In the correspondence from 14 April 2011, when Bush put a stop to the talks at the eleventh hour, the leader of the UDP said he would step down from the premiership and the Cabinet if his government colleagues wanted GLF to construct the cruise berthing facilities. Leaked correspondence among government reveals that when Cline Glidden asked for support to move to a main agreement and start the development, Bush objected but offered to leave if the caucus supported GLF over his desire to work with the Chinese. (Photo Dennie WarrenJr)

(CNS): Traffic was in chaos Tuesday during the morning commute and the afternoon school run when the traffic lights failed twice at Bobby Thompson Way and Smith Road in George Town. The RCIPS urged motorists to be extra cautious as they approach the junction and to consider it as a four-way stop while the lights were out. The National Roads Authority temporarily fixed the problem this morning but they failed again sometime after 3pm. The RCIPS will be monitoring the situation and if need be will deploy officers to manage the traffic flow. Any enquiries about the traffic light repairs should be directed to the National Roads Authority.

(CNS): The police have recovered another huge haul of what is believed to be cocaine on Cayman Brac on the south side of the island. The haul, which is very likely to be linked to the $3 million worth of the drug that washed up between the Brac Reef and the Divi Tiara resorts more than one week ago, consists of the same size packages. It was discovered on Monday (29 April ) evening at around 6:45pm by customs officers, who alerted the police when they spotted the suspected drugs. The twenty-five packages measure around 8”x6”x2” and in total weigh around 60lbs, similar to the hail found on the island on Saturday 20 April. The packages are now in the hands of the police, who said they are carrying out forensic testing.

(CNS): Lyndon Leathan Martin (42), a former MLA for Cayman Brac and Little Cayman and a former UDP whip, has been found guilty of stealing $926 from the PTA of the Creek and Spot Bay Primary School. The court found that he collected the cash at a fundraising food sale in 2011 but did not hand it over to the PTA. In Summary Court on the Brac on Friday 26 April, the day following his trial, Acting Magistrate Grace Donalds handed a sentence of $750 or two months in jail for the charge of theft. However, he was found not guilty of deception, relating to charges that he fraudulently cashed PTA cheques amounting to $700. Martin, who was nominated to stand as a candidate in the May 2013 elections, had been disqualified because he was convicted in 2008 of obtaining property by deception.

(CNS): As difficulties at HMP Northward mount, government officials confirmed Tuesday that they were forced to deal with a minor fire around midnight on Friday (27 April) after lockdown in the prison's high security area. According to a release from the prison services via Government Information Services, the minor fire was dealt with by prison officers and not the fire service. The blaze was reportedly started by an inmate who is on remand at the High Risk Unit (HRU) when he set fire to his clothes in the cell. As a result, officials said some inmates in the HRU were escorted to the Cayman Islands Hospital and treated for minor effects of smoke inhalation before being returned to Northward.

(CNS): The former premier of the Cayman Islands said that the electorate needed to return an experienced government to office at the forthcoming polls, as he took aim at the independents on Thursday night at the UDP national campaign launch. “This is no time for learners,” McKeeva Bush told an audience of almost one thousand people, as he accused the candidates running on their own of being “lone wolves” who were “chanting empty slogans”. Bush said that if people split their vote among the independents they would simply return a PPM government, as he told them to vote for the six UDP candidates in her capital, just the two in Bodden Town, as well as his team in West Bay.

(CNS):  The former Cayman Island premier, who is facing at least eleven criminal charges in relation to theft and abuse of office, has announced the introduction of a code of ethics for all members of his United Democratic Party who are returned to the Legislative Assembly following the 22 May election. Speaking at the recent national UDP campaign launch, he said the code would guide the behaviour of the UDP team before and after the election. According to the code, the goal is to assist MLAs in meeting their obligations to the “Legislative Assembly, the UDP, their constituencies and the Caymanian society at large” and sets out the standard of conduct, behaviour and ethics expected of them in their public life.

(CNS): As the local authorities continue to press the message home about election corruption, voters are also being asked to take a pledge not to sell their votes. In addition to the Elections Office and the Anti-Corruption Commission’s public education campaign reminding voters and candidates that any attempt to buy or sell votes in the 2013 election could lead to hefty fines and time in prison, they want registered voters to go further and are encouraging them to actually take a stand against corruption by taking the pledge and affirm that they will not engage in corrupt practices during the 2013 General Elections.

(CNS): New rules for the protection of children came into effect Monday as a result of the passage of the Children Law last July. Officials from the courts said the newly issued Children Law Rules and Allocation Order form a part of Chief Justice Anthony Smellie’s proposals to reform the family services offered by the courts. The rules and forms will help to ensure that the interests of all parties are properly taken into account and decisions are made on the basis of the best interests of the children involved, the court stated. At present the initiative is led by Justice Richard Williams, who has been asked by the CJ to serve as judge for the case management of all family and children cases coming before the Grand Court.

(CNS): The Cayman Islands Government has purchased two parcels of land in Bodden Town for CI$600,000 and applied to the Central Planning Authority for planning consent to develop the property as a cemetery to address the shortage of burial plots in the district. The property, which totals just over four and a half acres, is located on Bodden Town Road near Lake Destiny Drive (Block 43D and Parcels 8 & 75) and includes 0.8 acres on the ocean front and 3.75 acres on the land side. The plans are to construct 16 vaults immediately in the first phase on the landside, with a potential to develop up to 924 vaults on the acquired land in three phases. 

(CNS): Officials from the HSA have warned that Cayman must offer more support to young victims of sexual abuse and deal appropriately with offenders as more cases come to light. “Over the last few years I have seen victims of sexual abuse ranging from as young as 4 years through to 17 year olds who have experienced both contact and noncontact forms of abuse primarily alleged against individuals familiar to them,” said Sophia Chandler, the child psychologist at the Health Services Authority. “Unfortunately, for a myriad of reasons, we have not seen a corresponding assignment of culpability.

(CNS):  Nearly 600 lionfish were culled in the Foster’s Food Fair Earth Month Lionfish Tournament over 24-hour period this weekend. Eight culling teams, which were sponsored by restaurants across the islands and 48 people took part in the marathon attack on the fish throughout Cayman waters. Tukka in East End was the winning restaurant as their team, the Teal Tigers, brought in 198 lionfish. 75% of the catch from the teams went to the restaurants while the remaining 25% was delivered to Foster’s Food Fair for sale in the seafood section. In total 587 fish were caught weighing a collective 438lbs.

(CNS): With just over three weeks to go before the general election, Mervin Smith said he would not pick sides when it comes to stating ahead of Election Day which of the two parties he would support to form the government. Along with most of the candidates who are not with one of the two political parties, Smith, who is running for a seat in West Bay on the Coalition for Cayman ticket, was not prepared to say if he would support the Progressives or the United Democratic Party if neither of them gained a majority. Smith also said that he would not be asking the West Bay voters to support anyone else with their remaining votes except for his C4C running mate, Tara Rivers.