Dominic LeBlanc under fire for agreeing to attend private event hosted by law, communications firms

Brian Sanchez

The Conservatives are accusing Fisheries and Oceans Minister Dominic LeBlanc of conflict of interest for agreeing to take part in an event hosted by a law firm and a communications company that does work with Irving companies.

Conservative House Leader Candice Bergen said LeBlanc’s attendance at the “exclusive” event is problematic on two fronts: his personal ties to the Irving family, as well as his role as the prime minister’s point man on government litigation.

“When a huge law firm comes calling to ask him to be the guest of honour at a reception and they boast and bill him as a trusted adviser of the prime minister, there should have been some alarm bells,” she said.

But LeBlanc confirmed he was cleared by the ethics commissioner to attend the event.

To be held in Toronto Oct. 5, the event is co-hosted by law firm Cox & Palmer and communications collective ‘group m5.’ 

Cox & Palmer’s website says the firm’s fisheries and marine lawyers provide legal representation for a wide range of clients. The website for group m5 lists a broad range of clients, including J.D. Irving Ltd. and Irving Oil.

LeBlanc said he has no idea who Cox & Palmer’s confidential clients are, and accused the Tories of “fabricating” a false scenario. 

Cleared by ethics commissioner

He said he proactively went to conflict of interest and ethics commissioner Mary Dawson as soon as he received the invitation, and she advised him in writing it was “entirely appropriate” to attend.

An email from her office to LeBlanc said: “Based on the information provided, there is no issue with your being a guest speaker at the Cox & Palmer event.”

When he was appointed to cabinet last fall as the government house leader, LeBlanc disclosed he had a personal friendship with Jim Irving, co-chief executive officer of J.D. Irving Ltd.

After meeting with the federal conflict of interest commissioner last fall, LeBlanc agreed to recuse himself from cabinet discussions or decisions that may affect Irving companies.

Dominic LeBlanc accused of conflict of interest2:34

Today, the minister said he welcomed next week’s event as an opportunity to explain how the Liberal government is investing in “historic ways” in Atlantic Canada.

But Conservative MP Blaine Calkins wondered why the minister would be touting federal efforts to boost the eastern provinces in the heart of Central Canada.

Getting the Atlantic edge

“Why does getting the Atlantic edge have to mean dodgy, unethical cocktail parties in downtown Toronto?” he asked.

Terry Moore, regional director of marketing and communications for Cox & Palmer, said the annual event draws members of the business community and lawyers and other professionals and typically has a guest speaker with a strong connection to Atlantic Canada to provide insight into the region’s economy.

“As you no doubt can understand, law firms are not able to confirm whether any person or company is a client as such matters are confidential,” he said in an email.

Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould faced sharp criticism this spring for attending a $500-a-plate fundraiser at a top Toronto Bay Street law firm.

Wilson-Raybould, a lawyer, maintained that she attended the event as a member of Parliament, and that she followed all the fundraising rules.

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Only three out of 700 firms prosecuted for paying below minimum wage

Brian Sanchez

More than 13,000 workers underpaid by over £3.5m since 2014, but HMRC prosecution rate remain paltry despite employers breaking law

The number of workers owed arrears has risen to 58, 000 in the past two years, according to the National Audit Office.
The number of workers owed arrears has risen to 58, 000 in the past two years, according to the National Audit Office.
Photograph: Nick Ansell/PA

Just three employers have been prosecuted for paying workers below the minimum wage despite HM Revenue and Customs finding 700 who have broken the law in the past two and a half years.

Since February 2014, the government has “named and shamed” 700 employers who have underpaid more than 13,000 workers by over £3.5m. But less than a quarter of a percent of them have been prosecuted under laws that in theory provide for prison sentences in the most extreme cases of wilful non-compliance.

The business minister, Margot James, who has responsibility for the enforcement of low pay laws has conceded that the prosecution rate is “a small number” and is “an issue that causes me concern”.

According to the National Audit Office, the number of workers identified as being owed arrears more than doubled from 2014-15 to 2015-16, rising from 26,000 to 58,000.

James cited the high costs of prosecution and delays that prosecutions cause in securing back pay for affected workers as deterrents to bringing criminal cases.

But Frank Field, the Labour chairman of the House of Commons work and pensions select committee, said the lack of prosecutions showed the government is letting law breaking employers off the hook.

“The minimum wage is an issue on which the government should want to be proud of its record,” Field said. “But why is it allowing employers to laugh at its attempts to raise the living standards of the poorest and why isn’t it acting more effectively to enforce the minimum?”

The meagre prosecution rate emerged after Midcounties Co-op, the UK’s biggest independent co-op, admitted underpaying a newspaper delivery worker by more than £14,000, the largest payout to a single worker, following inquiries by HM Revenue and Customs about the retailer’s application of the national minimum wage at a store in Maidenhead. It is not yet known if Midcounties Co-op will be prosecuted for this and another case. It has already apologised and repaid the worker and is assessing whether it also underpaid 200 other newspaper delivery workers.

Roger Lilley, one of the workers who received back pay because of underpayment of the minimum wage, on Tuesday wrote to Theresa May, the prime minister and also his constituency MP, requesting her help in raising his case with the business secretary, Greg Clarke and the director general of HMRC, Jon Thompson.

A spokesman for the department for business, energy and industrial strategy which, with HMRC, oversees the application of the minimum wage, said “the government’s priority is ensuring that workers receive the money they are owed as quickly as possible”.

“For this reason, in the vast majority of cases, HMRC seeks compliance using the civil route, which is the quickest way of ensuring workers receive their arrears,” they said. “Under the civil route, employers are not only faced with reputational consequences but also face a financial penalty for breaking the law. Where there is evidence that an offence has been committed the case will always be considered for prosecution.”

The Midcounties Co-op case was the latest of a spate of low pay cases exposed by the Guardian including Sports Direct to the parcel giant Hermes, which delivers for John Lewis and Next.

This week 20 couriers for Hermes, which has been accused of paying rates which amount to less than the £7.20 national living wage, submitted further testimonies to HM Revenue and Customs arguing Hermes is wrong to class them as self-employed. They want to be classed as workers or employees which would guarantee them at least the minimum wage, paid sick leave and holiday and pension rights. The move is likely to increase pressure on the tax authority to launch a full investigation into employment practices at the firm which uses 10,500 couriers.

Their cases were forwarded to Jon Thompson, HMRC chief executive, by Field. He said they showed a pattern which indicated the couriers were wrongly classed as self-employed. They said they are given specific instructions about when they should arrive at work and when to make deliveries during the day; that they do not enjoy the freedom to decide when to take time off as there is a risk their round could be withdrawn; that they are not given a genuine opportunity to negotiate their own fees and that their performance and working methods are directly monitored by Hermes UK.

Hermes declined to comment but has previously said it was confident its service agreements with couriers were legitimate self-employment and confirmed by the HMRC in 2011, but it has said it would cooperate with any new investigation.

It has offered to increase parcel rates to couriers if, after investigation, it emerges they are earning less than £7.50 per hour.

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Canadian 'Aid' Helps Mining Firms Exploit Foreign Markets

Brian Sanchez

barrick gold africa
A villager searches for gold in discarded waste rock from Barrick Gold Corp’s North Mara mine in the district of Nyangoto, Tanzania. Millions of pounds of waste rock are piled high around communities where almost half the people live on less than 33 cents a day. (Photo: Trevor Snapp/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Significant sums in Canadian “aid” are spent promoting international mining initiatives.
In a press release last week, Ontario-based Carube Copper said it acquired “over 500 square kilometres of the most prospective ground in Jamaica based on historic showings, the work completed and reported in 1993 by the Canadian International Development Agency (‘CIDA’).”

Canadian aid has facilitated similar work elsewhere. Researching Canada in Africa: 300 Years of Aid and Exploitation I discovered examples of Ottawa funding the collection of geological data in Tanzania, Angola, Cameroon, Niger, Uganda, Kenya and elsewhere. Long-time West Africa-based freelance journalist Joan Baxter describes a chance encounter with Canadian geologists in her 2008 book Dust From Our Eyes: an Unblinkered Look at Africa:

“Another CIDA employee I met one evening in Bamako [Mali] told me his work with CIDA had been a long-term project to map the mineral resources of Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo. When we spoke, he was on a two-year sabbatical from CIDA, working with Canadian mining companies that had taken out concessions in that country.”

Ottawa has financed various mining-related educational initiatives. CIDA sponsored the Zimbabwe School of Mines, a mid-1990s government-industry collaboration, and financed a Senegalese school for geomatics (combining geography and information technology to map natural resources), which received an added $5 million in 2012.

In 2014 Ottawa announced $12.5 million for the Project Strengthening Education for Mining in Ethiopia “to develop more industry driven geology and mining engineering undergraduate programs” at Ethiopian universities. In 2012 CIDA put up $25 million for the Canadian International Institute for Extractive Industries and Development (CIIEID), a university-hosted think tank, which International Development Minister Julian Fantino told a Mining Association of Canada meeting would “be your biggest and best ambassador.”


In the most significant boon to international mining firms, Canadian aid has helped liberalize mining legislation.

While mining education and geological data collection indirectly benefit Canadian mining companies, millions of dollars have been ploughed directly into corporate social responsibility projects. One example was a $4.5-million grant to Lundin for Africa, the philanthropic arm of mining giant Lundin Group of Companies, for its operations in Ghana, Mali and Senegal, and Ottawa also put up $5.6 million for a project between NGO Plan Canada and IAMGOLD near the company’s mine in Burkina Faso.

These aid projects are often about mollifying local opposition to mining projects. In 2012 CIDA invested $500,000 in a World Vision Canada/Barrick Gold project in Peru described as “tantamount to running a pacification program” while between 2003 and 2005 Calgary-based TVI Pacific dispersed tens of thousands of dollars in Canadian aid money to a community opposed to its mine on the Philippine island of Mindanao.

barrick gold south america
The gold processing plant under construction in Argentina at Barrick Gold’s Pascua-Lama mine site. (Photo: REUTERS/Barrick/Handout)

In the most significant boon to international mining firms, Canadian aid has helped liberalize mining legislation. Authors of Imperial Canada Inc.: Legal Haven of Choice for the World’s Mining Industries, Alain Deneault and William Sacher, cite Botswana, Zimbabwe, Guinea and Zambia among the countries where Canadian aid has shaped mining legislation.

Gwendolyn Schulman and Roberto Nieto write: “Canadian cash, technocrats and know-how have also been involved in rewriting mining codes in Malawi, Ghana, Mali and the Democratic Republic of Congo (with, in this last case, civil war as a backdrop).”

In the best documented example, Ottawa began an $11-million project to re-write Colombia’s mining code in 1997. CIDA worked on the project with a Colombian law firm, Martinez Córdoba and Associates, representing multinational companies, and the Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI), an industry think-tank based at the University of Calgary. The CIDA/CERI proposal was submitted to Colombia’s Department of Mines and Energy and became law in 2001.

“The new code flexibilised environmental regulations, diminished labour guarantees for workers and opened the property of Afro-Colombian and indigenous people to exploitation,” explained Francisco Ramirez, president of SINTRAMINERCOL, Colombia’s State Mine Workers Union. “The CIDA-backed code also contains some articles that are simply unheard of in other countries,” added Ramirez. “If a mining company has to cut down trees before digging, they can now export that timber for 30 years with a total exemption on taxation.”

The new code also reduced the royalty rate companies pay the government to 0.4 per cent from 10 per cent for mineral exports above 3 million tons per year and from five per cent for exports below 3 million tons. In addition, the new code increased the length of mining concessions from 25 years to 30 years, with the possibility that concessions can be tripled to 90 years.

“Aid” has helped Canada’s companies dominate a global mining industry often mired in conflict and criticized for providing meagre benefits to local communities. It’s hard to understand why this would be considered “aid.”

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  • Who Gets The Most Canadian Foreign Aid?

    Here’s a look at the top 10 recipients of Canadian development assistance. All figures in U.S. dollars.

  • 10. Bangladesh - $69 Million

    (AP Photo/ Saiful Haq Omi)

  • 9. Pakistan - $72 Million

    (AP Photo/Khalid Tanveer)

  • 8. Mozambique - $79 Million

    (AP Photo/Louise Sherwood)

  • 7. Mali - $90 Million

    (AP Photo)

  • 6. Tanzania - $103 Million

    (AP Photo/Khalfan Said)

  • 5. Sudan - $107 Million

    (AP Photo/Pete Muller)

  • 4. Ghana - $107 Million

    (AP Photo/Olivier Asselin, File)

  • 3. Ethiopia - $114 Million

    An Eritrean woman cooks Ijara (an Ethiopian dish) in the Mai-aini refugee camp in northern Ethiopia, Friday, July 29, 2011 .(AP Photo/Luc van Kemenade)

  • 2. Afghanistan - $250 Million

    AP Photo/Ahmad Jamshid)

  • 1. Haiti - $289 Million

    (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery)

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Founder of fallen Moi-era firms Mungai claims frustration in Sh7bn case

Brian Sanchez

Lawyer Njoroge Regeru (left) with his client, Mr Mugo Mungai, outside Milimani Law Courts after hearing on September 29, 2016. PHOTO | PAUL WAWERU 

A director of two lending institutions placed under statutory management during former President Daniel Moi’s era Thursday told the court how efforts to get details of his firms’ audited accounts were frustrated.


He has sued the State for Sh7.3 billion compensation.


Mr Mugo Mungai, founder Capital Finance Limited (CFL) and Pioneer Building Society (PBS), told High Court judge Joseph Onguto that the receiver managers had sold the firms’ assets without authority of the court or owners.


He said that the receiver managers also defied a court order issued in 2009 that called for an audit on their books of accounts, claiming they did not have funds to conduct the audit.


“We even provided to pay for the audit but nothing was done. We tried everything but failed and we came to court to complain about the bad treatment,” said Mr Mungai.


He claims that the then Registrar of Building Societies placed CFL and PBS under receivership in November 1986 as part of a scheme to forcibly acquire their assets, which would have been worth Sh7.3 billion today.


Lawyer Njoroge Regeru told the court that Mr Mungai’s properties were targeted for political reasons and that Mr Mungai was kicked out of office in November 1986 and to date does not know what happened to his property.


The lawyer explained that the receiver managers of CFL and PBS should be compelled to explain what they did to the over 200 houses, among other assets, that were owned by the two firms, and if they paid the creditors, which was the main purpose of the receivership.


The two lenders had a massive asset portfolio that included Buruburu’s Pioneer phase I and II estates, several parcels of land in Gigiri, Nairobi, and other parts of the country.




Mr Mungai explained that he walked out of the company office empty handed and that, “it is the official receiver who controlled everything,” and can best explain where the title deeds of the plots are today.


Mr Mungai, CFL and PBS have sued the Attorney- General, their official receivers and the Registrar-General.


In the responses filed in court earlier, the Attorney-General said the State will not compensate CFL and PBS because they were legally declared insolvent.


The receiver managers had in court papers also said that the High Court placed them under receivership in November 1986 as the two firms were likely to go under with millions of shillings of customer deposits.


Hearing continues on November 1.


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Oil firms questioned for ‘unusual’ price cuts

Brian Sanchez

The Department of Energy (DOE) has asked oil players in Mindanao to explain the unusually huge reduction in their gasoline prices, warning this may eventually qualify them for “anticompetitive behavior.”

The DOE was referring to the move by some oil companies in Mindanao to slash gasoline prices by a huge P3 a liter for the period covering Aug. 30 to Sept. 6. This was based on monitoring by the DOE’s field office in Mindanao.

“While price rollbacks like this are a welcome development for the consumers, the DOE cautioned that sudden and sustained huge decreases in oil prices might qualify as ‘anticompetitive behavior’ under the Oil Deregulation Law. This market behavior puts both smaller oil players and consumers at a disadvantageous position in the long run,” the DOE said.

It said smaller oil firms could end up losing their market shares and subsequently fold up. “[Thus] remaining oil players may have the chance to dictate prices to the detriment of the consuming public.”

The DOE is planning to reconvene the DOE-Department of Justice (DOJ) Task Force to look into possible violations of the law.

It also assured consumers it would remain vigilant in ensuring the protection of their welfare.

According to the DOE, the huge price cut also brought to light related concerns in the downstream oil industry in Mindanao. These included the reported peddling of petroleum products using “bote-bote” (bottled oil products) and the alleged smuggling from nearby countries.

The DOE assured that its Mindanao field office has started coordinating with the local government units (LGUs) concerned and the Bureau of Fire to eliminate the “bote-bote” scheme and discourage consumers from patronizing such activity as this may endanger public safety and health.

The DOE added it was also in talks with the Bureau of Customs, stressing that smuggling would hurt not only the oil industry players, but also the economies of LGUs in Mindanao due to lost revenues.

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Nearly 7 million Californians will be automatically enrolled in state-run retirement savings plan under new law

Brian Sanchez

Nearly 7 million workers for California companies will be automatically enrolled in a new state-run retirement program under a bill signed Thursday by Gov. Jerry Brown.

The law requires all California companies with at least five employees to enroll their workers in the new California Secure Choice Retirement Savings Program if they do not offer their own retirement savings plan.

State Senate leader Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles), who wrote the bill, called it the “largest expansion of retirement security since the New Deal.”

“This bill is about personal responsibility,” he said. “The retirement insecurity crisis is looming on the near horizon.”

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EDITORIAL: Company law revision noble

Brian Sanchez

Treasury secretary Henry Rotich’s move to revoke the provision in the Companies Act that compelled all foreign companies registering in Kenya to reserve 30 per cent stake for Kenyans is welcome.


The decision comes after the private sector cried foul and termed the rule draconian in Kenya’s liberalised economy.


The adverse effects of the rule would have outweighed the desired positive outcome. For starters, we stood to lose out on foreign direct investment as well as sparking flight of multinationals, resulting in unprecedented loss of jobs.


Again, the regulation would have opened a window for corrupt cartels to cash in on foreign investors through rent-seeking.


The decision also saves Kenya from joining the global pariah status that its peers such as Zimbabwe now find themselves in.


Since 2008, when Harare enacted the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act, the Mugabe administration has pushed foreign companies to cede 51 per cent majority stake to the blacks.


That law that seeks to correct colonial imbalances has largely failed, forcing Zimbabwe to issue an ultimatum in April for the non-compliant multinationals to either effect it or close shop.


The amended Finance Bill 2016 should now aim at making Kenya an attractive investment hub as well as encourage foreign firms to list on the Nairobi Securities Exchange as a way of encouraging local ownership of the companies.


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Scott & Scott, LLP Wins Technology Law Firm of the Year Award

Brian Sanchez



Boutique law firm receives Lawyers Worldwide Award for work in Software Disputes & Technology Transactions.

Southlake, Texas (PRWEB) September 29, 2016

Scott & Scott, LLP, a boutique technology law firm in Southlake, Texas has been named Technology Law Firm of the Year by Lawyers Worldwide Awards Magazine in their Global Leading Lawyers 2016 issue. The Lawyers Worldwide Awards 2016 recognizes law firms that are noted for a high degree of ability in complex situations, those that continually innovate, level of service and overall value for money.

“We are honored to be recognized by the voters for this award. We have been focusing exclusively on technology law matters for over a decade and it is great to have our subspecialty recognized on a global level”, said Robert J. Scott, Managing Partner of the firm.

Scott & Scott, LLP (https://youtu.be/hhSwkKU0tq0) is counsel to some of the world’s largest corporations including PepsiCo, American Express, and Xerox. The firm has achieved “go-to” status for software licensing transactions and disputes involving the major software publishers including Microsoft, Adobe, Oracle and Autodesk. “We have handled more than 500 software disputes in the last 15 years for clients in the U.S.A. and Canada and we are not afraid to go to court against the software Goliaths like Microsoft and Oracle.” Scott said.

About The Lawyers Worldwide Awards Magazine Global Leading Lawyers

The Lawyers Worldwide Awards Magazine Global Leading Lawyers is created via a thorough, global poll of the readership, which asks the voting readers to put forward their nominations for those Lawyers that are, in their opinion ‘Leading Lawyers’ within their chosen area of specialisation.

The votes are internally assessed by the Editors, and externally assessed by a panel of judges, who have been chosen for their experience and knowledge of the industry, and have been asked to provide a comprehensive list of those firms that are Leading Lawyers’ and in essence set the benchmark for all.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2016/09/prweb13725201.htm

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