Category: CANA News

The Caribbean Court f Justice (CCJ) Friday reserved its judgement in the case in which the Trinidad and Tobago-based political analyst, Derek Ramsamooj, is challenging the conduct of the State of Suriname following his detention in the Dutch-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country in 2020.

After two days of hearing arguments and submissions by lawyers for Ramsmooj as well as the Dutch-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country and the Guyana-based CARICOM Secretariat, CCJ President, Justice Winston Anderson, said that a ruling would be handed down at a later date. ‘We have benefitted from your written and oral submissions .I note that there are witnesses who gave evidence in this matter, we are grateful to you for your attendance,’ said Justice Anderson, who headed the five-member panel of judges that heard the matter.

‘We are of course reserving our opinion in this matter as you would imagine and we will let you know as soon as we have reached a decision so that we can notify you of the date of delivery,’ he added.

Ramsamooj, 64, who holds both Trinidad and Tobago and British passports, was summarily detained in Paramaribo in October 2020 and was not allowed to leave the country until September 2022. He suffers from a range of medical issues, including diabetes, hypertension, and severe coronary artery disease.

A presiding judge had ordered the authorities in Suriname to return his passports, noting that Ramsamooj had, at all times, demonstrated a willingness to support due process and had consistently stated his desire to clear his name through the legal routes.

The analyst, who has worked in several Caribbean countries, including Jamaica, Guyana, Grenada, St Lucia, and St Kitts and Nevis and who is the holder of a Certificate of Recognition of CARICOM Skills Qualification, was told by Suriname police on October 6, 2020, that they only wanted a statement to support an inquiry into operations at the Surinamese Post Savings Bank (SPSB).

Ramsamooj conducted customer surveys for the SPSB and bank employee surveys, as well as two country risk assessments of Suriname, in his capacity as an analyst and researcher. The financial institution paid for the activities.

The CCJ, established in February 2001 to replace the London-based Privy Council, also acts as an international tribunal interpreting the Revised Treaty of the Chaguaramas, which governs the regional integration movement.

In his application to the CCJ, Ramsamooj is seeking several relief measures, including a declaration that Suriname infringed his right to freedom of movement as well as his right to provide services.

In addition, Ramsamooj wants a declaration that Suriname infringed his right not to be discriminated against on the ground of his nationality, as well as a declaration that Suriname breached its obligations under Article 9 of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTC) that governs the 15-member regional integration movement, CARICOM.

The lawyers for the political analyst said that Suriname failed to ensure their client was not subjected to arbitrary imprisonment, denial of counsel, denial of adequate medical attention/or discrimination on the grounds of nationality or the several rights identified in the Charter of Civil Society.

In addition, Ramsamooj is seeking damages and costs.

Head coach of Jamaica’s national women’s basketball team, Oneil Brown is confident that they will do well at the upcoming Caribbean Women’s Basketball Championships (CBC).

The tournament is being played in Guyana and will run from November 12 to 16.

The Jamrockerz, as they are affectionately known, will come up against Suriname, The Bahamas, US Virgin Islands and Guyana, for one of the three qualifying spots to the 2026 CentroBasket Women’s Championships. Even though the team’s preparations were disrupted by the passing of Hurricane Melissa last week, Brown said the players were raring and ready to go.

‘I know we are gonna do well. Before Melissa, we were flowing the right way on the court and off the court; things were looking good.

‘After the hurricane and all, the first thing was to get the girls back in the right mental state of mind to play basketball. We are in a good spirit now, and we’re going to do good well,’ Brown said.

Brown revealed that the Jamaica Basketball Association would be announcing the final roster in the coming days.

Twenty of the players selected for the training camp were from the local Women’s National Basketball League (WNBL), with two overseas-based players, one of whom is a naturalised player.

Jamaica lifted the CBC title back in 2014 when it was hosted in the US Virgin Islands, but they had a poor showing in the previous tournament, finishing at the foot of the table without a win.

The Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) Thursday withdrew and discontinued tax-related charges against the leader of the main opposition We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party, Azruddin Mohamed.

No reasons were given for the decision of the GRA to withdraw the charges against Mohamed and his father, the billionaire businessmen Nazar Mohamed of Mohamed’s Enterprise.

The charges against Azruddin Mohamed (left) and his father, Nazar Mohamed withdrawn by the Guyana Revenue Authority

The two had appeared before Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, but when the matter was called, the GRA informed the court that it would no longer be pursuing the case.

The case stemmed from what the GRA had earlier indicated was an extensive audit of the company’s gold export records and financial statements.

The GRA had conducted a review of Income and Property Tax returns for Years of Assessment 2020 to 2024 (income years 2019-2023) and alleged that the Mohameds, trading as Mohamed’s Enterprise, failed to submit true and correct returns.

It said that the underreporting resulted in GUY$34.07 billion (One Guyana dollar=US$0.008 cents) in understated income tax, with total amounts due, including accrued interest and other sums, calculated at GUY$191.17 billion.

The GRA had lleged that that Nazar Mohamed, 73, had filed an incorrect tax return reporting GUY$66,768,646 in liability on gold exports, thereby understating his taxable amount by nearly GUY$4.94 billion, in violation of the Income Tax Act.

The GRA had charged that Mohamed filed an incorrect tax return reporting GUY$127,212,785 in liability on gold exports, understating his taxable amount by approximately $6.96 billion, in breach of the Income Tax Act.

The Revenue Authority had also alleged that his son, had reported a tax liability of GUY$105,483,295 on gold exports, understating his true taxable obligation by over GUY$7.03 billion, contrary to the Income Tax Act.

The two Mohameds were arrested and granted GUY$150,000 last Friday, a day after the United States formally sent an extradition request to Guyana.

The 38-year-old politician along with his father, are the subject of an indictment unsealed on October 6, 2025, by a United States Grand Jury sitting in the Southern District of Florida, which charges them with multiple offences including wire fraud, mail fraud, money-laundering, conspiracy, aiding and abetting and customs-related violations connected to an alleged US$50 million gold export and tax evasion scheme.

The indictment alleges that between 2017 and June 2024, the accused conspired to defraud the Guyana government by evading export taxes and royalties on over 10,000 kilograms of gold, using falsified customs declarations and re-used export seals to disguise unpaid duties. The indictment further references the attempted shipment of US$5.3 million in undeclared gold seized at Miami International Airport, and the alleged under-invoicing of a luxury vehicle valued at over US$680,000.

According to the indictment, the alleged fraudulent scheme operated ‘from in or about 2017’ through June 2024.

In June 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the Mohameds and their company, Mohamed’s Enterprise, citing allegations of tax evasion, trade-based money-laundering, and gold smuggling.

Police are investigating the murder of a young man who was shot and killed on Wednesday five weeks after at least three threatening comments were made on his Instagram account.

The man has been identified as Shem Walker in his early 20s, and his body was found along the road side of the road in Akers, near a car that appeared to have crashed into a property adjoining the road.

The left front door of the vehicle was open, suggesting that Walker might have attempted to flee after the crashed vehicle.

His death brings to 34 the number of homicides recorded in St. Vincent and the Grenadines this year.

Five weeks ago, threatening comments began appearing on Walker’s Instagram page. A private account with no display photos, no public posts and three followers left the threatening comments on Walker’s account, ending with a ‘downcast face with sweat’ emoji, which generally conveys feelings of sadness, disappointment, exhaustion, or frustration.

Wednesday’s killing is the second shooting incident that police are investigating this week.

On Sunday, two men, Enrique John and Tilon Patterson, both 26, were shot while travelling along the public road in the central Leeward town.

John was among six people charged with several offences, including attempted murder, in connection with the robbery of a credit union in South Rivers on July 16, 2024.

Police are yet to make an arrest in any of these cases.

West Indies defeated New Zealand by seven runs in the first T20 International here at Eden Gardens on Wednesday.

Scores:

WEST INDIES 164-6 in 20 overs (Shai Hope 53, Rovman Powell 33, Roston Chase 28; Jacob Duffy 2-19, Zak Foulkes 2-35).

NEW ZEALAND 157-9 in 20 overs (Mitchell Santner 55 not out, Tim Robinson 27, Rachin Ravindra 21; Roston Chase 3-26, Jayden Seales 3-32),

The Jamaica government says the preliminary estimate of the damage caused by Hurricane Melissa when it slammed into the country last Tuesday has been put at an estimated cost as high as seven billion US dollars.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness told Parliament on Tuesday that the figure is about 32 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) for fiscal year 2024/2025 and that detailed damage assessments are still underway even as he is providing the ‘very preliminary, high-level estimates only to illustrate the scale of the devastation’.

Holness told legislators that the early assessment is based on benchmarks from comparable regional disasters; physical damage to housing, commercial buildings; roads, electricity, water, and telecommunications infrastructure.

Holness said that the category 5 hurricane, blamed for at least 32 deaths, is not only a national tragedy, but a warning.

‘The storm’s 13-foot surge on our western coastline and up to 30 inches of rain in the central highlands revealed devastating power of a new climate reality. The era of a once-in-a-generation hurricane is over.

‘It is clear that Hurricane Melissa will have a profound economic impact on our country. The storm struck the heart of Jamaica’s productive belt. It tore through our breadbasket parish of St Elizabeth; it disrupted our tourism corridor stretching from Westmoreland through St James and into Trelawny and St Ann; and it inflicted heavy damage on housing, community infrastructure, commercial operations and public utilities across multiple parishes.

‘Thousands of households now face the loss of homes, crops, equipment, and small enterprises. This is not only a humanitarian crisis – it is a shock to livelihoods, incomes, and local economies,’ Holness told legislators.

He told Parliament that the government anticipates a temporary slowdown in economic activity, particularly in the most affected parishes.

‘Agricultural output will decline in the short term as farmers replant and livestock operations recover. The tourism sector, while resilient and working swiftly to reopen, will require targeted support to restore capacity and confidence.

‘Small and medium-sized enterprises – especially those in retail, manufacturing, services, and the creative industries – have sustained significant losses and will need liquidity and recovery support to rebuild inventories, repair facilities, and restart operations.

‘At the same time, supply chains for food, construction materials, and consumer goods are being actively restored, though some market disruptions may occur in the immediate weeks ahead. A very preliminary estimate suggests that short-term economic output could decline by eight to 13 per cent,’ Prime Minister Holness said.

The prime minister said that this means that revenues will decline as economic activity slows, even as expenditure must increase to finance emergency relief, recovery, and reconstruction.

‘This will place pressure on our fiscal targets,’ he said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Holness said that the National Housing Trust (NHT) will grant an automatic six -month mortgage moratorium to homeowners in the parishes most severely affected by the passage of the storm.

He said that these parishes are St. Elizabeth, St. James, Manchester, St. Ann, Westmoreland, Hanover, and Trelawny and that all NHT mortgagers are insured under the Trust’s houseowners’ mortgage policy, which covers damage from hurricanes, storms, flood, fire among others.

‘The NHT has already mobilised its branches island wide to help mortgagers prepare and process their insurance claims quickly and efficiently,’ he said, adding that recognising that many families will need time to prioritise home repairs, ‘the NHT will will grant an automatic six-month moratorium on mortgage payments for mortgagers in the worst affected parishes.

‘This measure will assist some 20,000 home owners. For all other parishes, the NHT will continue to consider individual moratorium applications for those who have lost income or face special hardships,’ Holness said.

The prime minister also announced that several parliamentarians will be allocated funds for trucked water to constituents affected by the storm.

He said the parliamentary representatives in Westmoreland, Hanover, St. Elizabeth, St. James, Manchester, and Trelawny will be allocated two million dollars (One Jamaica dollar=US$0.008 cents) under this measure as the parishes most severely affected by the weather system.

The government also announced that all shelters will remain open for as long as needed, equipped with food, water, and psychological support services. It said that the facilities are being managed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and the Ministry of Local Government and Community Development.

Meanwhile, the Jamaica Customs Agency (JCA) has suspended the import duty and General Consumption Tax (GCT) on several hurricane relief items until Friday, November 28, 2025.

Seven people, including the Venezuelan national who is alleged to have confessed to being the person who laid a bomb outside a gas station that killed six-year old Soraya Bourne and injury to four others late last month, has been denied bail and remanded into custody when they appeared in a magistrate court here on Wednesday.

Venezuelan Daniel Alexander Ramirez Poedemo, 33, who is alleged to be the bomber, along with 44-year old Alexander Bettancourt, 33-year old and Johnny Boodram and 33-year-old Krystal La Cruz, appeared before Chief Magistrate Faith Mc Gusty on a charge of terrorism, who remanded them into custody. The four were not required to plead to the indictable offences.

People accused of terrorism make first court appearance

The prosecution alleges that Poedemo on October 26, with intent to threaten the security and sovereignty of Guyana or to strike terror among its people, used an explosive device at the Mobil Fuel Station at Regent and King Streets, Georgetown, resulting in the death of the six-year-old child.

The court also heard that Boodram aided and abetted Poedemo with intent to commit the same offence.

Boodram’s defence lawyer, Nikel Puran, told the court that his client is a taxi driver and La Cruz is his customer whom he usually picks up from a bar which she operates and takes her home. The lawyer said Boodram had no knowledge of the circumstances leading to the offence.

They were all remanded into custody until November 12.

The other accused persons, Ramesh Pramdeo, 51, Wayne Corriea, 44 and 33-year-old Jennifer Rodriguez, have been charged with aiding and abetting Poedemo with intent to threaten the security and safety of Guyana to strike terror on the people by the use of an explosive substance by placing it at the gas station resulting in Bourne’s death.

Pramdeo, Correia and Rodriguez appeared remotely before Leonora Magistrate Alisha George because they allegedly committed the offence in East Bank Essequibo, which falls in the West Demerara Magisterial District, between October 24 and 29, 2025.

The Magistrate said a bail application would be considered then, but for now ‘this is a very serious offence and it has public safety issues’.

Defence Lawyer Bernard Da Silva made an unsuccessful bail application for Pramdeo. They were remanded to prison until November 24.

Da Silva told the court that Correia had Pramdeo requesting that he transport two Venezuelan gold miners.

The lawyer said that he picked up the men at Parika and transported them to a hotel at Meten-Meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara.

He said that Pramdeo was not the taxi driver who took them to Georgetown, was nowhere near the explosion, had no knowledge of the intent, no agreement, was not present and did not see the explosive device.

There was a heavy police presence at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, with the accused arriving in three vehicles as armed members of the Guyana Police Force patrolled the courthouse compound on foot and in vehicles.

Civilians were barred from standing near the entrance as the accused were escorted in and out and family members of the Venezuelan defendants waited across the street, in front of a nearby church.

Minister of Home Affairs Oneidge Walrond has said that the government will seek the death penalty for anyone convicted of terrorism under Guyana’s laws.

The Inter-American Development Bank Group (IDB Group) says it has launched a new initiative aimed at accelerating the rollout of real-time, low-cost digital payment systems throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

It said that IDB Pay will bring financial services to the 30 per cent of the region’s population that remains unbanked by 2030 and will support countries to build inclusive, interoperable, and secure Fast Retail Payment Systems (FRPS) and other Digital Public Financial Infrastructures (DPFI).

IDB Pay will also use strategic technical cooperation, policy innovation, and flexible financing instruments to support the build-up of inclusive, interoperable, and secure fast retail payment systems that align with global best practices and are tailored to national contexts.

‘IDB Pay is designed to accelerate the inclusion of those who have been historically unserved by the financial system. By integrating them into modern payment systems, the door to formal financial ecosystems, we empower individuals, strengthen communities, and uphold the fundamental right to economic participation,’ said Anderson Caputo Silva, Chief of the IDB’s Connectivity, Markets and Finance Division.

The solution was unveiled during the FinnLAC2025 Forum, an event organised by the IDB Group to discuss the future of the financial industry in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The IDB Group said that IDB Pay will support interoperability, noting that as the foundation of a truly inclusive and efficient digital payment ecosystem, IDB Pay supports establishing technical and regulatory standards that allow different payment systems to communicate and operate seamlessly.

It will also enables creating legal and policy frameworks that support the implementation of FRPS and other Digital Public Financial Infrastructures. IDB support includes co-developing regulatory roadmaps and enabling regulations with financial authorities; facilitating peer learning and regional dialogues to harmonize regulations; and offering policy-based loans to incentivize reforms.

‘ A thriving digital financial ecosystem depends on active participation from the private sector. IDB Pay helps in designing policies and mechanisms that encourage private-sector participation, public-private cooperation in innovation, and investment in digital financial services. It supports offering alternative payment system architectures that leverage existing private-sector infrastructure and support pilot programs and public-private partnerships.’

The IDB Grup said that strong governance is the backbone of any resilient and inclusive financial system.

‘Without defined oversight, coordination, and accountability, digital financial infrastructures risk fragmentation, inefficiency, and erosion of public trust. IDB Pay supports establishing strong institutional oversight and coordination mechanisms to ensure transparency, accountability, and long-term sustainability.’

The IDB Group said that the new initiative builds on the IDB’s successful work in several countries and its support for regional digital finance infrastructure, including technology sandboxes and its partnership with the Bank of International Settlements to offer open-source technology among central banks to facilitate the implementation of payment systems and other settlement infrastructures.

President of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Justice Winston Anderson says environmental issues are becoming increasingly relevant in law because they are directly related to human action.

Anderson, who is leading a delegation from the Trinidad-based court to Suriname, made the disclosure while participating in a symposium organised at the Faculty of Legal Sciences of Anton de Kom University in connection with the 50th anniversary of Srefidens, under the theme ’50 Years of Law, Governance, and Security: Then, Now, and Beyond.’.

President of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Justice Winston Anderson, is greeted on arrival at the Faculty of Legal Sciences of Anton de Kom University

Justice Anderson, who assumed the presidency of the region’s highest court in July this year, said on the issue of environmental matters becoming increasing relevant in law ‘there’s still debate about this, but we clearly see a link between, for example, the increase in greenhouse gases and global warming and climate change’.

He made reference to the passage of Hurricane Melissa in the Caribbean region last week, resulting in deaths and widespread damage in Jamaica, Haiti, Cuba, the Bahamas and Bermuda.

‘Aid from the richer countries that produce the greenhouse gases that warm the planet is a moral and psychological issue, but internationally, the question is now also being asked whether this can be interpreted legally.

‘We are looking at ways to argue this legally, to actually obtain aid to repair the damage caused,’ said the CCJ president.

The event which was held on Tuesday, will continue on Friday covering topics such as integrated safety, cybersecurity, maritime law in relation to oil and gas, and forensic criminology.

Justice Anderson’s visit to the university was part of his programme to complete the CCJ’s Referral Training Session with the Surinamese Bar Association.

On Monday, the CCJ delegation paid a courtesy call on the Justice and Police Minister (Juspol), Harish Monorath, with Justice Saunders presenting him with a copy of the CCJ Original Jurisdiction Rules 2024, which have been translated into Dutch.

A statement issued by Juspol said that during the meeting a manual outlining the steps to be followed from the Surinamese court to the CCJ had also been translated.

A High Court judge has sentenced a former police officer to four years in jail after he was found guilty of trying to intimidate a woman into trading sex for her freedom.

Justice Renae McKay also imposed a two year probation on Shaquille Williamson, who had been fired after he was convicted of procuration on June 4. The unmarried father of two will also serve an additional year in prison if he violates the terms of his probation.

The conviction stems from an incident that occurred on July 5, 2023 when during the early hours of the morning the woman and her boyfriend were having sex on the hood of a car when they were startled by a patrol car’s flashing lights.

They scrambled to get dressed, and Williamson, who was in a marked patrol car, ran a name check on them.

The court heard that while he told the woman’s boyfriend that he had no outstanding matters, she had an outstanding warrant for an unpaid traffic ticket.

Williamson suggested that he could make the warrant go away if the woman went with him.

When she told him that she had just had sex with her boyfriend, he allegedly said, ‘I don’t care.’

The woman made a panicked call to Police Control Room while Williamson was talking to her boyfriend. A patrol unit came and Williamson was arrested.

But Williamson said that it was the woman who had suggested swapping sex for her freedom.

Justice McKay in handing down the sentence, said Williamson would have to live with the consequences of his actions, given the publicity surrounding the case.

But she said that a clear message needed to be sent to members of the Royal Bahamas Police Force, and other military, that to whom much is given, much is required.