IF retired Justice Boyd Carey had known what he was getting into when he got the call to come back to Jamaica from The Bahamas to head up the Commission of Enquiry into the Finsac troubles, he might have said a polite 'no'.

"When I said 'yes' to the invitation, I didn't know so much (partisan) politics was involved," the embattled Carey confessed in an interview with the Sunday Observer, after a week of blistering charges and counter-charges.

At the height of the financial meltdown that gave birth to the Financial Sector Adjustment Company (Finsac) in the 1990s, Justice Carey had just retired from the bench and relocated to The Bahamas in 1997. Two years after that he was appointed president of the Appeal Court in that Caribbean archipelago.

He would have missed the vibrant back and forth and the cut and thrust of the debate and accusations which were being flung left, right and centre in Jamaica, after companies went belly up and individuals lost their life's savings, blaming high interest rates on their debt.

But while Justice Carey could not at the time have foreseen the controversy that would rage around him in 2010, he had been personally touched by the Finsac fallout. Boyd Carey and his wife had a nice chunk of CDs (Certificate of Deposit) with Don Crawford's Century National Bank, one of the central players in the Finsac debacle.

It is that which has now come back to haunt him.

Lawyers being accused of not wanting to see the Commission of Enquiry proceed, have argued that Justice Carey is conflicted and should not be chairman, following reports that his wife had a $1.8-million loan that got caught up in Finsac.

Carey, a man with an iron will and of whom it is said he does not suffer fools gladly, dismisses the claim with characteristic contempt.

"Nonsense. In 1994, my wife made a request to the bank for a loan and received an unsigned letter of commitment. But no money was forthcoming. In any event, the interest rate of 74 per cent that was indicated was ridiculous and we had lost any further interest in it," he told the Sunday Observer.

Carey disclosed that at the time, he had enjoyed an overdraft facility with Century National Bank. When the bank, like several other so-called indigenous financial institutions went under, he instructed the bank to deduct the overdraft amount from the value of the CDS which, he insisted, "was way in excess of the overdraft".

"So, we did not have a loan with the bank, and the balance on the overdraft was covered by the CDs," said Carey. "In fact, on my request, the bank gave me back the balance of the CD amount, after deducting that overdraft."

On a point of law, Carey noted that had there been a loan, after six years "that would have been dead based on the statutes".

He conceded, however, that had there been a loan, his detractors would have had a point about his being conflicted.

But Carey, who seemed to care little, if any, about public relations, did himself no favour when he refused to allow attorneys representing the Jamaica Redevelopment Foundation, former finance minister Dr Omar Davies and former Finsac head Patrick Hylton to make presentations on the point of bias.

To their allegations of bias, he merely referred them to a letter sent to the governor general, copied to the prime minister and the minister of finance, from the solicitor general advising that there was no "sub-stratum of fact" to support their accusation. He was therefore proceeding with the inquiry and they should take their seats.

The attorneys then walked out of the sitting.

But the controversy dogging Justice Carey did not stop there. News emerged last week that he was being paid US$2,400 per day for his chairmanship of the $80-million Commission which sits at the upscale Jamaica Pegasus Hotel in New Kingston.

Documents obtained by RJR News under the Access to Information Act showed that other members of the Finsac Commission -- Worrick Bogle and Charles Ross -- are being paid at a rate of US$1,200 daily.

Getting information from Carey about his personal finances was like pulling teeth. But from what the writer could piece together from close associates, Carey has hardly touched any of the money. He depends on good friends to transport him around while his expenses for living in Jamaica mount.

"Justice is like that. He works first and asks for money later, and that is if he asks at all," said a personal associate who found the talk about US$2,400 a day to be ironic.

Associates said Carey had to pay his airfare from The Bahamas to Jamaica and that he had not been reimbursed, something he denied when asked.

Pressed for further comment, Carey disclosed: "I said 'yes' to the invitation to chair the Commission even before we had discussed money. I was just looking forward to serve Jamaica."

Carey admitted he had been back in Jamaica since 2008 and that while he had received some money, he was owed for some out-of-pocket expenses.

He said he only got paid for what he actually did. "I have to submit an invoice and I am behind in doing so."

He also firmly disagreed with arguments that US$2,400 a day was big money.

"First of all, I did not pay myself anything," he said. "This came out of negotiations (with the Ministry of Finance). I'm not overpaid. That is no more than what any other lawyer would have been paid. Many lawyers charge US$500 an hour.

"You should check what the attorney for the former finance minister (Dr Omar Davies) is getting and it is the Government of Jamaica that has to pay," he shot back.

The Commission's detractors include the Jamaica Civil Service Association (JCSA), which slammed the Government for being insensitive in what it calls a "grand breach of faith" regarding the cost of the enquiry.

"The rates being charged for the Finsac Inquiry are not only unbelievable but is a breach of faith by the Government with the people of Jamaica," JCSA president Wayne Jones suggested.

He called for a review of the entire process of the enquiry, with a view to attaining "a more realistic approach".

For his part, Carey rejected claims that the inquiry was flawed, and he knocked the opposing lawyers for "acting to derail the proceedings".

"I find it very unworthy of them," he said. "I was not adversely affected by the Finsac situation. How does that make it unfair for me to inquire? In this case, I don't sit as a judge. I'm more like a policeman, investigating what went wrong.

"I'm not trying anyone. Is it unfair to try to find out what went wrong? We are not trying to find anybody guilty. And we are to make recommendations so that what went wrong does not happen again."

The Finsac Commission of Enquiry was set up to examine the circumstances that led to the collapse of the country's financial sector in the 1990s, as well as review Finsac's operations to determine whether delinquent borrowers were treated fairly in the sale and disposal of assets.

It got off to a shaky start late September last year when it sat for only 30 minutes because Derick Latibeaudiere, the former central bank governor, was off the island.

The inquiry has since been dogged by the absence of key players who should have the answers for what caused the massive bleeding of red ink that drowned institutions such as Crawford's Century National Bank; Delroy Lindsay's Workers Bank; Paul Chen Young's Eagle Merchant Bank; Henry Fullerton's Caldon Finance Merchant Bank; Jamaica Citizen's Bank; Horizon Merchant Bank and Mutual Life Assurance, among others.

  0 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments

  7 comments

  7 comments

  0 comments

  7 comments

  0 comments

  5 comments

  0 comments

  2 comments

  0 comments

  0 comments