LEADING UP TO THE “CRASH”

THE PEOPLE’S NATIONAL PARTY GOVERNMENT with P.J. Patterson as Prime Minister and up until 2006, when Mrs. Portia Simpson Miller replaced him, it had gotten to the point where rumors had started leaking from back in the ‘90s where certain banks and insurance companies were in serious trouble with liquidity and solvency issues, as well as a possibility of a collapse of the Jamaica financial system.

Consequently, the next five years saw the Government of Jamaica assuming management and/or control of a number of supposedly failed financial institutions with new legislation enacted to “try” and strengthen and restructure the country’s banking and insurance industries.  However, it was the opinion of some Financial Experts, who wrote papers on Finsac that it was “too little, too late“, and by late 1996, the Jamaican Government recognized that the whole indigenous financial system had reached a state of such considerable distress, that the investments of Jamaican depositors, policyholders and pensioners were now at risk and urgent actions needed to be taken.

ANNOUNCEMENT  –  FINSAC – THE GOVERNMENT ENTITY

The then PNP administration under the stewardship of the then Finance Minister Dr. Omar Davis – announced the formation of an entity – FINSAC – Financial Sector Adjustment Company – to investigate what was turning out to be a Financial Crisis in Jamaica. For the debtors it was more a FINANCIAL SACRIFICE. 

At the same time the trauma that most of these persons were experiencing was taking it’s toll mentally, physically, emotionally as the suicide rate as well as stress related illnesses increased exponentially among the debtors as well as their families.  And what was worse – we were not getting any explanation from the government or any other entity. What we were getting was MINISTER OF FINANCE – DR. OMAR DAVIS – every opportunity he got – was postering  – in the media, and in Parliament –to the public that ALL these persons were “BAD DEBTORS, who borrowed money with no intention of repaying”. I think this was the most painful.  

THE FINSAC ASSOCIATION

And so we made the decision, with the approval of most of the affected debtors to form THE ASSOCIATION OF FINSACED ENTREPRENEURS – with Neville Boxe, another developer/debtor, as President and myself – Vice President. We had an official launch and garnered over a hundred member companies and individuals.  An attorney – David Wong Ken -who himself had similar issues with his bank, gave us a room in his office and this literally became a full time job for me.

We started having weekly meetings to exchange experiences/ideas and made decisions on what we needed to do or not do. Within a short time, however, Neville got seriously ill with a stress-related illness and subsequently passed. At first we did not consider relating it to the stress of what everyone was going through until several other members started getting ill, some dying of heart attacks, cancer etc., that we realized the stress of the sordid affair was affecting each individual physically, mentally, emotionally. 

We had to try and find a way of resolving the attending issues as the government – rather than meet with us to lay out what was happening and how it could be resolved – kept postering that all these persons were BAD DEBTORS.

And so when the Jamaica Labour Party took office in the 1990s, I made contact with two ladies  who had close ties with different government entities. My request to them was to get an enquiry started regarding the entire FINSAC debacle to see the causes, and how we could get relief for debtors.

It was after some arm pulling, begging and pleading that the JAMAICA LABOUR PARTY government with Mr. Audley Shaw as Finance Minister made the decision to get the Enquiry on the way – of course again in an Election year when the PNP’s Dr. Omar Davis was touting – “…we did what we had to do because we have an election to win so RUN WID IT”. Even though the JLP also recognized that they also needed to win an election….which they eventually did.

 

THE ENQUIRY

The Finsac Commission – set up in 2009 came to an end in November 2011 –  was first appointed as a three-man commission of late retired justice of the Supreme Court Boyd Carey; chartered accountant Worrick Bogle; and Charles Ross, an investment manager,  with  former Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) Deputy Governor Fernando DePeralto as secretary. Testimonies were given by some of the affected business persons, various employees of The Bank of Jamaica – the overseer of the Jamaica Financial Business, staff members of Finsac, staff members of some of the affected banks, a couple of government ministers – Dr. Omar Davis and Mr. Karl Blythe – and other relevant persons in the Financial Services in Jamaica.

Of course we, the members of the Association as well as all Jamaicans, were given the impression by both government entities that a REPORT would be forthcoming from this Enquiry – as well – at which time some effort would be made to correct the damages that had been inflicted on the entire business sector as well as making good to the affected debtors. Little did we know and learned twenty plus years later – this apparently – was not the intent of these corrupt politicians of the People’s National Party and the Jamaica Labour Party.

2012, 2013, 2014 ….. all came and went and there is no Report. It became obvious  – in 2024 -that there will NEVER be a Report, when the then JLP Finance Minister – Dr. Nigel Clarke announced that there will be a “FINSAC ARCHIVE”. The definition of an “archive” –  “a collection of historical records or documents”. FOR WHAT PURPOSE Dr. CLARKE? ARE THESE POLITICIANS for real? That Commission of Enquiry stretched over two and a half years, and  my attendance was every day over that period. And so I think I am qualified enough to relate my perspective, along with documents, references from others who had an intimate relation with events and their attending circumstances as it relates to the subject period.

 PROCEDURES BETWEEN BANKS, GOVERNMENTS, OMAR DAVIS and DENIS JOSLIN/JAMAICA REDEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION AND DEBTORS.

ERROL CAMPBELL (Finsac Manager) testified at the Enquiry, when asked how were debtors’ accounts transferred, stated that “the accounts with the ORIGINAL amounts were transferred”. In other words, payments made on the original debt – up to the time of transfer – were not a part of the loan portfolio transferred, nor was taken into consideration? From correspondence some debtors received from JAMAICA REDEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION – THE ORIGINAL LOAN AMOUNTS WITH ATTACHED INTEREST is what is now being requested.

JAMAICA REDEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION – Are the laws that govern a FOUNDATION applied to JRF?

Considering that JRF is a DEBT COLLECTION AGENCY and NOT a financial institution – WHY ARE THEY ALLOWED TO CHARGE INTEREST and/or PENALTIES if a debtor decides to make payment agreement with them?

Did Dr. Omar Davis change the MONEY LENDING ACT in order to accommodate JRF? HE SURE DID.

NOTE: From Mr. Harold Ramsay who refused to eat – 17 of his properties were taken over by JRF and in 2020-2021, the gentleman’s wife received an invoice for $700 million which they claimed represented interest and penalties. This debtor was one that also committed suicide by opting to tell his wife not to give him any more food. He just laid in his bed until he passed from starvation.  My advice to her was to respond to Jamaica Redevelopment Foundation giving them the address of where her husband has been laid to rest.

1. As a group we prepared letters for provision of statements of accounts and took hand-delivered to Jamaica Redevelopment Foundation. They were asked to sign for receipt of these letters. They refused. We couldn’t blame them. The debtors had no dealings with them.
2. Debtors later learned that when they had gone to the bank to access loans for whatever purpose, naturally they would have to leave TITLE as a form of collateral, and in most instances was a title for property/ies depending on the amount of the loan. Once they left the bank, what the debtors were unaware of was that the BANK MANAGERS/EMPLOYEES were using their titles to acquire loans for themselves.  
3. Once this was happening did the Finance Minister conceive a scheme in order that the collateral owner would not be able to access their titles?

NOTE: Several debtors visited the Titles Office and were NEVER able to find their titles. WERE THE TITLES REMOVED FROM THE TITLES OFFICE??? And if so to where?  Are they being stored at an undisclosed location?