Dear Editor,

The way the Government has been handling the Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL) saga has been generating suspicion, doubt, and lack of confidence in all the processes that the Government has committed to pursue in its attempts to resolve the matter.

It is of significance that while the Government is spending $15 million per month paying people employed to SSL, it has not seen it fit to convene a single meeting with the victims to give them an update on what is being done in the matter or, at the very least, extend to them words of sympathy and assurance.

Our client Usain Bolt is one of the youngest, if not the youngest, victim whose assets have disappeared from SSL. We have, however, also been approached by senior citizens and in the interest of avoiding any conflict we have not accepted retainers from these individuals. These senior citizens are staring down a dark avenue of impoverishment, insecurity, and an inability to provide for themselves the basic necessities of life, including medical care, in their final years on Earth.

The Minister of Finance Dr Nigel Clarke has not seen it fit to speak directly to any of these victims. We have written to the minister directly and he has not paid us the courtesy of a response. Despite this, to our shock and surprise, he found time to make telephone calls to individuals who raised questions on social media about the way the SSL saga is being handled.

The victims may be forgiven for forming the impression that the Government, especially Dr Clarke, is more concerned about the public relations surrounding this matter than about making a genuine effort to reach out to the victims of the fraud and theft of funds at SSL.

Recently Dr Clarke announced the pending arrest of individuals touching and concerning the SSL fraud. We do not believe that it was a wise decision on the part of Dr Clarke to announce pending arrests as this could alert the fraudsters to either sell or remove their assets and ill-gotten wealth to safe haven. It would have been a wiser decision to arrest, charge, and then announce.

The effort of Dr Clarke to make a distinction between “taxpayer money” and the $300 million at the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) from which he said he is spending the $15 million monthly is an insult to Jamaican citizens. It invites the conclusion that an effort is being made to pull the wool over the eyes of citizens. Every bit of the $300 million, or whatever amount is at MOCA, belong to the taxpayers. These funds are no different from funds collected at a traffic court from offending motorists.

Indeed, the funds at MOCA were generated the following way: Police officers, paid by taxpayers, investigated matters and placed them before the Court. These officers drive motor vehicles bought by taxpayers and use weapons and equipment bought by taxpayers. These matters are placed before the Court by police officers and are prosecuted in the Court by either a clerk of Court, paid by taxpayers, or an attorney from the office of the director of public prosecution, paid by taxpayers. The presiding judges who sit in judgment over these matters are all paid by taxpayers. Whatever funds are recovered, whether by fines or confiscation of assets, belong to the taxpayers of Jamaica and no distinction can be made between these funds and funds from direct taxation.

The inescapable conclusion, therefore, is that while some victims of the fraud at SSL are suffering and struggling to find food and to meet medical expenses, the Government, instead of coming to their rescue and aid, see nothing wrong with spending the funds of these very victims to pay salaries and operational expenses at SSL. This is a sad state of affairs.

It is, therefore, not difficult to understand why there is this widespread belief that SSL is being treated specially but not for the benefit of the victims.

Linton P Gordon

Attorney-at-law

St Ann

lpgordon@cwjamaica.com