It has been the habit of our elected politicians to rush to foreign shores in the event of illness, while the overwhelming bulk of our people must use the overworked and cramped facilities at our public hospitals.

I have witnessed first-hand the skills and determination of our doctors and nurses, working double shifts and trying to remain calm in the face of public abuse and pressure on equipment like X-ray machines, ultra sound and MRIs.

I have seen the expertise of the doctors and nurses at the University Hospital and even at moderately priced, private institutions like Medical Associates, the dedication from doctors such as Dr Kildaire Donaldson is indicative of the general care and attention given by the bulk of the medical staff. I would not, however, care to be a patient at the Kingston Public Hospital, the place where the majority of poor persons in the Kingston Metropolitan Area must go in the event of serious illness.

The fee-paying public (including those unable to pay) has no choice but to wait and wait. And wait. Not so our elected sons and daughters who bleed the same blood and wail in pain during sickness just like the rest of us. They jet off to Florida or New York in rejection of a health system set up by them for the benefit of the lesser beings that the rest of us have been made out to be.

It now turns out that many of our elected officials possess 'Green cards' and some even enjoy US citizenship status. One part of the declaration by politicians on entering representational politics should be a revelation of their citizenship status.

The everyday Joe and Jane in Jamaica are forced to use the Kingston Public Hospital and other public hospitals, unlike our politicians who go abroad.

I am not calling on them to burn their green cards or give up the US citizenship. Just a declaration so that we may know who they are. In regards to using overseas health facilities, it is hard on a man or woman politician to be forced to use our own health services when those same politicians have opted to seek overseas medical attention.

But that is what the everyday Joe and Jane in Jamaica have to do - use parish hospitals or the overworked University and Kingston Public hospitals. I have no problem with anyone who can afford to pay, but if our health services have become run-down because of political omission or simply because the country is too poor to adequately fund these facilities, a few visits and days and nights on our public hospital wards by elected officials would be the surest guarantee of an increase in the effectiveness of our health sector.

Wynter and the FSC caught off base

In response to my article - 'David Smith and OLINT alive and well' - in Wignall's World last week, I received a few e-mail transmittals from persons who claim they are investors in Smith's OLINT. Some have divulged to me details of their earnings and have reiterated what seems to be a common position among those who have invested in Smith's Foreign Exchange Trading club - satisfaction with their investment experience and an intention to continue doing so.

I have absolutely no idea of the number of investors in OLINT's FX trading club and would hardly call six e-mail responses to my article a deluge. There was one transmittal which warned me to not to go overboard and recommend OLINT because the company was not regulated or licensed.

In replying to the online reader I pointed out to him that investors have a duty to educate themselves in the direction to which they would be placing their hard earned funds, whether those funds are buying Microsoft stock or moving to Scotia bank, NCB or OLINT.

If we roll back the clock, it will be remembered that in March 2006 armed FID officers entered OLINT's New Kingston offices, search warrant in hand and began an operation which, when it hit the media, would result in a run on the club. As I understand it, OLINT lost 70 per cent of the funds it held, and unlike what would have taken place in say, a commercial bank, every investor who wanted back his or her money was accommodated.

In an article written by Dennise Williams in the Caribbean Business Report of January 5, Brian Wynter, executive director of the Financial Services Commission and the man who would have initiated the raid by the FID on OLINT stated, "Fundamentally, the Securities Act says that you must be licensed if you are taking money. You must be fit and proper, that is you must have nothing in your personal background that is dangerous. .I am not suggesting that Smith and his associates are not fit and proper. I just don't know if they are. We don't have that information."

In a small country like Jamaica, everyone, it seems, knows everyone else. In the financial sector, the scrutiny of those seeking jobs and the comprehensive probes launched on those who want to set up themselves in leadership positions are exhaustive.
Prior to David Smith forming OLINT he had been a licensed representative at Jamaica Money Market Brokers (JMMB), more than an indication that he was deemed fit and proper. Additionally, two senior staffers at OLINT were also licensed reps at JMMB.

But let me refer once again to the January 5 article where Brian Wynter, head of the FSC, was quoted as saying, "As long as OLINT remains unlicensed it is not a question of if it will fail but when it will fail. If you are a legitimate company, you are not likely to fail." If someone like Don Crawford, who headed Century National Bank in the early 1990s, had heard that then, he would have been a happy man.

My understanding is that sometime prior to March 2006, OLINT's lawyer made contact with both the FSC and BOJ and gave them individually an explanation of what OLINT was about. The lawyer sought to determine if regulation was needed based on the specific nature of the investing instrument. What was the outcome? FSC pointed OLINT to BOJ and BOJ told them to go to FSC. No surprise, given our fascination with red tape and humbug.

In the January 5 article, Mr Wynter, head of the FSC, says of Smith, "I am not suggesting that Smith and his associates are not fit and proper. I just don't know if they are. We don't have that information." Fair enough.
But what was the response? At the time when officers from the FID raided Smith's offices, there had been no official correspondence from FSC to OLINT. Yet the Gestapo-like intrusion (with search warrant) was deemed the most appropriate action from those concerned.

After David Smith had been uprooted by the tactics of the local authorities, he relocated to the Turks and Caicos Islands. In the January 5 article Wynter suggests that Smith may not have chosen to become licensed in Jamaica because:
'OLINT is not doing foreign exchange trading only. Perhaps they are engaged in real estate or other risky ventures.

'OLINT is doing foreign exchange trading. Smith is sensationally successful and soon to be on Time magazine.'
Information supplied to me by OLINT is that it does not invest members' funds in real estate as it is not a liquid asset. Based on the fact that OLINT survived the run on its operations following the sudden intervention by the FID in March 2006 and a loss of 70 per cent of its funds, but with all investors who wanted their money being accommodated, Mr Wynter has been handed a proof of sorts that OLINT is very liquid.

Brian Wynter was quoted in the January 5 article as saying, "The regulators of Turks & Caicos, where Smith is supposed to be working from, don't care as long as Turks & Caicos citizens are not involved. It is my understanding that only Jamaican citizens are involved, therefore, as far as I am concerned, he is not in Turks & Caicos even though he is sitting there. Smith is still in Jamaica. What I see is that it is a bad sign that OLINT doesn't even have a physical presence in Jamaica."

I find this statement to be most incredible and not befitting a highly educated and intelligent man. After the action generated by the FSC had brought about the raid by armed men from the FID, which person operating as Smith had been doing would stay in Jamaica?

Mr Wynter must be aware that many of the investors who had responded negatively (but expectedly) to the FID raid by withdrawing their funds, reinvested once Smith had settled the dust and relocated to Turks & Caicos. But where Wynter has failed miserably in gleaning information is in the area of Smith's operations overseas.
What are the facts?

Since moving to Turks & Caicos, Smith has received a licence from the Turks & Caicos FSC and deemed as a fit and proper person to conduct the business he operates. This required him being fingerprinted and investigated by various agencies, including the Jamaican police.
OLINT has Indemnity Insurance as it is one of the criteria for obtaining a licence in Turks & Caicos.

Because of Smith's involvement within a US entity, US regulators had to be provided with his fingerprints as he was investigated to determine if he was a fit and proper person for the specific operation he is involved in.
David Smith is also licensed in Panama. Again, another country has deemed him to be fit and proper, but not his own.

Where Wynter has stated that, "The Securities Act speaks to the issuance of investment contracts and certificates of participation as actions of a securities dealer," the fact is, an OLINT membership contract is of no value to anyone but the club member and is not transferable, therefore it cannot be traded as a financial instrument such as stocks or bonds.

Contrary to what Wynter said about Turks & Caicos citizens not being involved, I have been informed by Smith that the citizens there are VERY involved with Smith and OLINT.
Wynter also blundered horribly when he was quoted in the January 5 article as saying, "Also, nobody is paying taxes. Is it possible that people are building up a large tax liability? Does OLINT pay taxes?"

Smith informs me that at the time OLINT ceased its physical operations in Jamaica, ALL tax liabilities were fully paid. And, of course, I am certain that Mr Brian Wynter, executive director of the FSC, knows that the Turks & Caicos is a tax-free jurisdiction.

When all is said and done, I must reiterate that investors must inform themselves as best as possible when making any moves which involve the placing of funds in any form of investing instrument. What I have seen in OLINT, and the persons who have chosen to add it to their investment portfolio is a very satisfied group of persons who seem genuinely satisfied with the returns received and the quality of the service offered.
In ending, I would like to ask the FSC boss, Mr Brian Wynter, some pertinent questions.

At the time he was being interviewed for the January 5 article, was he unaware of many of the points I have outlined above?
There are matters pending in the courts between himself (the FSC) and OLINT. Did Mr Wynter believe it was the most prudent action on his part to make the comments he did, considering that there is a legal term known as sub judice?

How many complaints has Wynter received from OLINT members over the past three years? What, if any, were the nature of these complaints? I will bet you he has not even received one.
Has Mr Wynter sought to inform himself properly on the subject of FX trading, which is big business internationally? The regulators in Turks & Caicos certainly did before they granted David Smith/OLINT a licence.

Goodbye, Neville Lewis

My friend Neville Lewis, who had been living in Florida with relatives and ailing for sometime, died two weekends ago. As a minister of government in the JLP Government of the 1980s, Neville was always an extremely decent man who could never quite fit into the cloth we tend to use while dressing our politicians.

He saw the seedier side of politics and opted for the flip side - decency. In the Jamaican parlance, such a man would not do too well in the topsy-turvy world of subterfuge, graft and openly indecorous behaviour. When I met him in the 1990s, I was immediately drawn to the man's mild manner and his love for his country.

Always decked out in jacket and tie, even if we were meeting only for a few beers or his usual Appleton and Pepsi, we made quite a contrast, me in T-shirt, abbreviated pants and cap looking like a thug, while beside me sat Neville, a picture of sartorial elegance.
In the latter part of his life, the country was not as good to him as he was to Jamaica, and although I ached to pursue that aspect of the many subjects we explored, Neville remained consumed about the social and economic direction of the country, even as the times and the economic pressures became, personally, a stressful reality for him.

Towards the end we did not 'speak' to each other as much as we wanted to as his health failed. Neville was laid to rest yesterday. I will miss him as a friend and a man decent to a fault, a rare breed of politician.
Walk good, my friend.

observemark@gmail.com

The fear factor

Feeding the multitude

DANGEROUS PETS