CO made misleading claims in sworn document
Chief Officer Stran Bodden made several misleading claims in an affidavit he swore was true used by lawyers representing government in the recent court case about the cruise project. Bodden said tendering was “dangerous” and was cutting down the time and money passengers were spending here, without evidence to support the claims. He said “many” larger ships were bypassing this port, when in fact only one is currently missing Cayman.
Bodden also swore that the ministry was not just considering the environment but were being good stewards and had engaged and worked closely with the Department of Environment.
While the DoE was closely involved in the process in the previous PPM administration from 2013-17, since the 2017 election, which resulted in the current coalition government being formed, the department has been largely marginalised. In 2018 it was booted off the project steering committee and since then has not attended any meetings with government and has not been allowed to give any technical advice publicly at port opposition meetings.
Bodden also made claims that the Cruise Port Referendum campaign was being “motivated by private commercial interests”, as he erroneously claimed that one of the co-owners of the tender boats had donated $100,000 to the campaign, which is untrue.
CPR is an entirely grassroots movement which collected signatures from more than 6,000 Cayman voters, with no major donors at all and is not motivated by commercial interests, in direct contrast to the government’s plans, which increasingly appear to be driven by the two major cruise lines and partners in the proposed project, Carnival and Royal Caribbean.
In his affidavit Bodden also claimed that the albeit unofficial ‘yes’ and ‘no’ campaigns had become “vitriolic and antagonistic” as he pointed to the insults famous ocean explore Jean-Michel Cousteau endured after it was revealed that he had u-turned on his position opposing the project publicly when the news emerged that he was on the payroll of Carnival cruise lines.
Bodden also pointed to the slashing of tyres at a meeting about the project on a truck being driven by one of the CPR founders, Mario Rankin. Bodden said that the referendum had to take place as soon as possible to “draw the poison” from the public discourse.
The sworn document also contains a number of denials and counter claims in response to an affidavit sworn by the director of the National Trust for the Cayman Islands, Nadia Hardie.
While the DoE was closely involved in the process in the previous PPM administration from 2013-17, since the 2017 election, which resulted in the current coalition government being formed, the department has been largely marginalised. In 2018 it was booted off the project steering committee and since then has not attended any meetings with government and has not been allowed to give any technical advice publicly at port opposition meetings.
Bodden also made claims that the Cruise Port Referendum campaign was being “motivated by private commercial interests”, as he erroneously claimed that one of the co-owners of the tender boats had donated $100,000 to the campaign, which is untrue.
CPR is an entirely grassroots movement which collected signatures from more than 6,000 Cayman voters, with no major donors at all and is not motivated by commercial interests, in direct contrast to the government’s plans, which increasingly appear to be driven by the two major cruise lines and partners in the proposed project, Carnival and Royal Caribbean.
In his affidavit Bodden also claimed that the albeit unofficial ‘yes’ and ‘no’ campaigns had become “vitriolic and antagonistic” as he pointed to the insults famous ocean explore Jean-Michel Cousteau endured after it was revealed that he had u-turned on his position opposing the project publicly when the news emerged that he was on the payroll of Carnival cruise lines.
Bodden also pointed to the slashing of tyres at a meeting about the project on a truck being driven by one of the CPR founders, Mario Rankin. Bodden said that the referendum had to take place as soon as possible to “draw the poison” from the public discourse.
The sworn document also contains a number of denials and counter claims in response to an affidavit sworn by the director of the National Trust for the Cayman Islands, Nadia Hardie.
