ATTORNEY RNA Henriques has denied a claim by lawyers trying to have him removed as legal counsel to the Finsac Commission of Enquiry that he was guarantor of a loan granted by Century National Bank (CNB) to a borrower.

According to Henriques, on the date in August 1996 when he was supposed to have given this guarantee, he was on a cruise to Alaska.

He said he had provided this information, along with documentary proof of his travel, in writing to Dennis Joslin Jamaica Inc on July 2004, but to date has not received a response to his letter.

Following is the full text of Henriques’ letter which he wrote in response to Monday’s report on an application filed in the Supreme Court which is also seeking to have the commission chairman Justice Boyd Carey removed.

“I refer to article appearing in the Daily Observer newspaper, published 8th February 2010 bearing caption ‘FINSAC court hearing continues tomorrow’.

“The article refers to proceedings brought in the Supreme Court to challenge the refusal of the chairman of the FINSAC Commission Justice Boyd Carey (retired) to recuse himself. Your article reports that:

“The claimants are also seeking the removal of attorney RNA Henriques who is the commission’s legal counsel. Henriques’ ouster is being sought on information that he was a director of Century National Bank (CNB) before its takeover by FINSAC. It was also alleged that Henriques was a guarantor of a loan by Century granted to a borrower.”

“The above does not accord with the truth and my response is as follows:

“1. I was in fact chairman of the board of Century National Bank (CNB) until 1989 when I resigned and so informed the Bank of Jamaica. This was seven years prior to the Government’s intervention into CNB, and at the time of my resignation CNB was solvent to the best of my knowledge and was experiencing none of the problems that ultimately led to the Government’s intervention and takeover.

“2. As to the allegation that I was a guarantor of a loan by CNB granted to a borrower, this is wholly false and I categorically deny ever guaranteeing any loan made by Century.

“3. For completeness, in April 2004 I was informed by letter from Dennis Joslin Jamaica Inc of alleged guarantees of a loan made by Island Victoria Bank, supposedly signed by me. I categorically denied signing any such guarantees by letter 13th July 2004 which provided substantiating documents to show that the last of such guarantees dated 21st August 1996 was signed at a time when I was on a cruise to Alaska with travelling companions that included several members of the legal profession.

“Among the substantiating documents forwarded with my letter were a copy of my passport, a copy of the cabin and charge card for the cruise, a log of the cruise and a copy of the ship’s statement of charges for my cruise. The documents established that I had left Jamaica from 1st August 1996 and did not return until 12th September 1996 and that on 21st August 1996, the date of the alleged guarantee, I was in Glacier Bay in the course of the Alaskan cruise.

“4. I also denied signing two previous guarantees and the debtor acknowledged that he had no recollection of me signing those.

“5. To date, I have never received a response to my letter dated 13th July 2004.

“Although your article states that the subject of the application to the Supreme Court concerns my removal as attorney to the commission, I have not been served with a copy of that application and your article is the first intimation to me that the proceedings concerns my removal. This merely continues the trend of character assassination which does not afford elucidation of the true facts and real issues.

RNA Henriques

72 Harbour Street

Kingston