Dear Editor,

Ray Ford, in his The Agenda column in the Sunday Observer dated August 23, 2015, headlined ‘When leaders need leading’, wrote in part that, “His (Lloyd B Smith) latest posit of what should be done with the proceeds of lotto scamming is repulsive, to say the least…Smith just does not yet get it, that knowingly tainted money cannot, with a good conscience, be put to any good use.”

Commissioner of Police Dr Carl Williams, some time ago, stated that the overseas lottery-scamming network is a billion-dollar extortion industry, with proceeds from those criminal acts being used here in Jamaica to purchase drugs and guns and supporting gangs throughout the country. The incontrovertible fact is that those wealthy scammers, some worth hundreds of millions of dollars, have huge, expensive and massive assets, both locally and internationally, and have amassed over time powerful indirect and direct connections with the business sector as they spend heavily on all forms of consumer assets.

What has been devastating for the country is the fact that those wealthy scammers have been spending enormous sums of money on entertainment and purchasing assets of varying sorts with those scamming funds. However, what is deadly and cause for concern is the fact that they are getting involved into the criminal underworld, trading drugs and guns valued at millions of dollars.

What Lloyd B Smith has eloquently and astutely posited is that those scammers with significant sums of raw cash should, instead, be using those funds to fund educational projects and programmes and assist poor and needy children to attend school in the communities to which they reside. They already have the cash in hand. That is the fact. The fund could now be used constructively. We have to be realistic here.

I totally concur with Lloyd B Smith’s recommendation in this regard. Even those scammers who have been caught and imprisoned still have huge sums of money hidden away, and some have been passed on to their immediate families for safe keeping. These funds could be spent on erecting educational and vocational centres in the communities in which they reside. That is what Smith has suggested and it is worthy of serious consideration.

Quite frankly, it is preposterous for people such as Ray Ford to be lashing Lloyd B Smith for his suggestion; they should recognise the facts as they are and support the recommendation. ‘Governor’ Smith has not stated that he supports lottery scamming.

Let me take this opportunity to commend Smith on being a hard-working, dedicated, devoted, sincere, and inherently professional MP who has accomplished many tangible achievements and continues to work to develop and equip the constituency. He has been a fine MP and is a major asset to the parish of St James and the Parliament. I wish him continued success.

Robert Dalley

robertdalley@outlook.com