Pension cases crawl through courts

(CNS): Out of the hundreds of employers believed to be delinquent when it comes to complying with the pensions law, the National Pensions Office is battling with 20 cases that are inching slowly through the court system. Acting Superintendent of Pensions Mario Ebanks updated the latest information on the office website Wednesday, revealing eight new cases in the courts, with most of the old ones still not resolved and at least three employers with warrants out for their arrest.

According to the updated list, there are warrants out for the arrest of Liza Kandler, formerly the manager at Crewe Road Esso, who has failed to appear in court to deal with the charges against her, as well as Ray Bowen, the owner of Cayman Repairs and Construction, both of whom are believed to have left the island. Antonio Lum-Watler, the owner of Unique Imports Co, also failed to appear in court and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Although a warrant was issued for Brent Greene’s arrest last year in relation to his arrears at Gardening and Landscaping Ltd, he has since attended and the case has been adjourned.

While some cases had made progress, it seems that employers who were making payments have now fallen behind. Garth Ebanks, the owner of WS Security Services Ltd, is facing charges of failing to make contributions to a plan, failing to pay arrears and failing to supply information, and although a payment plan had been agreed in December, the court heard that payments had stopped and the matter was adjourned to March.

Dorothy Robinson and Uriel Scott are also understood to be non-compliant with their payment plan in relation to their failure to pay pensions for staff at Champion House. However, they have changed attorneys and their case is expected to be heard again next week.

In a new case, Kerry Horek and Andre Jackson are scheduled to be tried in connection with their former company, Island Rental & Real Estate, and the failure to make contributions to a pension plan, pay arrears in the time given and hand over requested information in March

Meanwhile, in another new case Robert Duty of Electrical Enterprises 2000 has pleaded guilty to 70 counts of failing to provide a pension plan and not guilty to two counts of failing to make contributions. A payment plan is now being worked out and he is expected to return to court later this month.

Leonard Prospere of Cayman Surveying Property Consultants Ltd told the court he could not pay his outstanding arrears until he had sold a property in St Lucia and as a result the case was adjourned until later this month. At least two trial dates for Arnold Berry of 16 Island Drafting Engineering Ltd have been vacated in relation to the charges he faces of failing to provide a pension plan, two counts of failing to pay arrears and two counts of failing to provide information to the Superintendent of Pensions.

Other new cases against Sydney Shaw and Matthew Wight of Millennium Equipment and Barrington Oliver, the owner of Serenity Day, D & B Building and BJ Electronics have all been adjourned.

Go to the updated list