By NNN

Copyright caymannewsservice

Peter Polack writes: The Caribbean and further afield are beset with condo project developments that fail and give the country of their residence a big, black eye. In the ultra-luxe Cayman Islands, a winding up petition has just been filed for a luxury wellness and business boutique hotel of almost 100 units known as Kailani. This project has become an unfortunate use of the Hawaiian word for sea and sky. Of greater regret is that at least one of the developers has a history of failure, having had to pay back over US$3 million for a failed investment fund.

The Cayman regulatory body, CIMA, frequently strikes off directors from their registers found unfit or not proper persons. This apparently does not affect the wealthy and well-connected local residents. Cindy Scotland, the head of CIMA, has an obvious opportunity to disabuse the voting public and her overseer, the new premier of the Cayman Islands, that no such special treatment exists.

The Michael Ryan development debacle is not so long ago as to be forgotten, or the most important question: what has been done since by the many at the apex of government, as well as those in oversight with six-figure salaries.

There are a plethora of ways to protect foreign investors in local developments, from escrow or trust accounts to government supervision on a more practical level to protect buyers.

Realistic vetting of developers and others would be a good place to start.

Perhaps some of the 14 staff on FATF grey list duty can briefly turn their minds from the next seminar to protecting the reputation of the Beloved Isle Cayman.

The legal authorities of the Caribbean show no such reluctance or delay in seeking to punish accused lawyers, but accountants and developers must be in a separate category.

The religious Cayman Islands may recognise Proverbs 5-12:

Regret is an odious burden for its bearer, particularly when it is born out of a heart that is blind to the heartache and sorrow it caused until it is too late.

Peter Polack is a former criminal lawyer in the Cayman Islands. His books are The Last Hot Battle of the Cold War: South Africa vs. Cuba in the Angolan Civil War (2013); Jamaica, The Land of Film (2017); and Guerrilla Warfare: Kings of Revolution (2019). He was a contributor to the Encyclopedia of Warfare (2013). His latest book is a compendium of Russian espionage activities 1940-88.