Caribbean L 8 ife, February 4-10, 2022
CARIBBEAN ROUNDUP
really need to move with a pace to get
more people vaccinated,” he said.
The health minister also defended
Prime Minister, Andrew Holness from
criticism leveled against him regarding
the handling of the current COVID-19
wave.
Holness said he is not prepared to
implement further measures to slow
infections, stressing it is now up to
Jamaicans to take personal responsibility
to protect themselves and take the
available vaccines.
ST. LUCIA
St. Lucia has signed a five-year agreement
with Taiwan aimed at improving
the island’s agriculture sector.
In a news release,
the government of St.
Lucia said that the
“Enhancing the Efficiency
of Production-
Distribution Supply Chain in Fruit and
Vegetable Sector in St Lucia” paves the
way for more efficient and diversified
agriculture sector.
Agriculture, Fisheries, Food Security
and Rural Development, Alfred
Prospere and Taiwan’s ambassador to
St. Lucia, Peter Chen signed the agreement,
which runs until Dec. 31, 2026
and follows a three-year accord which
ended in November last year, for which
the main objective was to reduce the
island’s food import bill by 30 percent
during that period.
The statement said under the program,
Taiwan will leverage agricultural
technology to strengthen the
island’s agricultural production,
improve farmer’s income and build up
the resilience of the agricultural sector
to mitigate the effects of climate
change.
TRINIDAD
Transparency International’s Global
Perception Index (CPI) has said that
Trinidad and Tobago improved slightly
from a score of 40 out
of 100 in 2020 to 41
in 2021 with regard to
corruption.
The CPI ranked 180
countries and territories around the
world by their perceived levels of public
sector corruption.
T&T’s rank also moved up one place
from 2020 to 82 out of 180 countries.
Caribbean countries, which rank
higher than T&T in this year’s CPI
were Barbados (65), the Bahamas
(64), St. Vincent and the Grenadines
(59), Dominica (55), Grenada (53) and
Jamaica (44).
Speaking at a virtual news conference
last week Transparency Institute
of Trinidad and Tobago’s (TITT)
to announce this country’s position,
chairman Dion Abdool said while the
improvement was noted, a lot more
must be done to improve T&T’s ranking,
especially in operationalising
existing legislation and introducing
additional legislation to reduce corruption.
Continued from Page 4
James bans predatory landlord
from real estate business
By Nelson A. King
New York Attorney General Letitia
James continued efforts to protect New
York tenants by securing a major court
victory against notorious landlord,
Raphael Toledano, banning him from
engaging in any real estate activity in
New York.
An order by the New York Supreme
Court bars Toledano from engaging
in any New York real estate business
activity for at least five years, at which
point he can petition the court for reentrance.
This decision comes after Toledano
repeatedly violated a 2019 agreement
with the Office of the Attorney General
(OAG) that required him to stop harassing
New York City tenants and stop
engaging in illegal and predatory real
estate practices.
“New York tenants can breathe more
easily knowing that Rafi Toledano is
no longer in the real estate business,”
James said. “Through his deceptive and
illegal actions, Toledano caused incredible
pain and suffering to hundreds of
vulnerable families, who are still feeling
the effects of his harassment today.
“Every New Yorker deserves to live
in a safe, decent home free of abuse
and fear,” she added. “Let this serve as
a reminder to New York landlords: Any
attempt to use illegal, manipulative
methods to put profits over people will
be met with the full force of my office.”
James’ original investigation established
that Toledano engaged in a pattern
of fraudulent and illegal conduct
throughout his work as a landlord and
real estate developer.
She said Toledano harassed tenants
in the East Village through coercive
buyouts and illegal construction practices,
and failed to provide his rentregulated
tenants with utilities, repairs
and other necessary services.
The attorney general said Toledano
also engaged in deceptive business
practices in his real estate transactions,
including repeatedly and persistently
misrepresenting himself as a lawyer,
and advertising apartments with three
or four bedrooms, when legally the
apartment could have one or two bedrooms
only.