MARK Thwaites, the former chief operating officer of the bankrupt Dyoll Insurance Company, faced the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday on charges of insurance fraud, four months after the industry’s regulator took control of Dyoll.

Thwaites was offered $1.5 million bail, but Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey also ordered the surrender of his travel documents and placed a stop order on him at all ports. He is to return to court on August 23 this year when the hearing continues.

He had been arrested in Kingston on Tuesday night and charged with four counts of insurance fraud by officers from the Financial Investigation Division, (FID) – a unit of the finance ministry that probes allegations of financial wrong-doings – and was held in police custody until his court appearance the next morning.

Yesterday Thwaites’ lead attorney, Winston Spaulding, QC declined to comment in any detail on his client’s likely defence, saying that they had not received sufficient information about the charges.

“Until the defence is presented with documentary evidence, we are unable to comment on the case and to say what exactly the charges are,” Spaulding told the Observer. Also appearing with Spaulding on Thwaites’ behalf is attorney Linton Walters.

Dyoll’s collapse began last year when claims from its Cayman Islands clients for damage sustained in Hurricane Ivan began to pour in and the company, apparently lacking sufficient reinsurance, could not cover them all.

Mark and his brother Stephen Thwaites, chief executive officer, departed Dyoll in February amidst allegations by the Dyoll Group board, chaired by Peter Lawson, that the brothers had misled directors. Lawson is a senior executive and strategist at National Commercial Bank, which owned a 40 per cent chunk of Dyoll.

Two weeks after the Thwaites brothers’ formal resignation, the Financial Services Commission, the regulators, took control of the flagging company, naming Ken Tomlinson as temporary manager. Tomlinson recommended that Dyoll be wound up.

The Crown’s case against Mark Thwaites is being marshalled by private attorneys Richard Small and Phillip Sutherland, under a prosecuting fiat from the director of public prosecutions.

The police claim Thwaites breached the Insurance Act, alleging that he misled the services commission, but other details of the charges were sketchy.

Sutherland told the Observer that the charges were laid under section 147 of the Insurance Act, but said he had no time for more detailed comment.

The section lays out circumstances under which an offence is deemed to have been committed, for example:

. knowingly presenting false information;

. destroying, mutilating or falsifying books, information, securities or documents; or

. fraudulently altering, parting with, or omitting information from documents.

Spaulding said the defence team had not been given any statements in relation to the charges against Thwaites.

The police and investigators yesterday said they would not comment on whether other former managers were being questioned in the case.

“We have no comment to make about this case at the this time,” said Christine Chambers, chief technical director of FID.

Dyoll is now under the control of Trustee in Bankruptcy Keith Hartley Cooper, who was appointed provisional liquidator by the court.

Cooper will meet July 28 with Dyoll creditors, policyholders and other claimants – numbering more than 6,000 persons – to discuss settlement of claims, and to appoint a liquidator to wind up the company.

Creditors have until noon on July 26 to submit their claims against Dyoll.

walkerk@jamaicaobserver.com