Former Prime Minister PJ Patterson says the Financial Services Commission (FSC) “had better pad up a top-class legal team” over potential lawsuits from 200 clients whose funds were stolen from their investment accounts at fraud-hit Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL).

Among the potential claimants is track legend Usain Bolt who was reportedly robbed of more than US$12 million in the scandal.

“Mr Bolt has very competent lawyers. I do not intend or need to offer them legal advice, but what I would say is, if they have not already done so, the FSC had better pad up a top-class legal team, because the question is going to arise, has there been a breach of its statutory duties?

“And they certainly exposed themselves to civil action in our courts by any or all of the 200 investors whose money has disappeared,” Patterson, a lawyer by profession, said at a People’s National Party event held at Summit Hotel in St Andrew on Thursday night.

In early 2023, SSL found itself at the centre of what has emerged as the biggest fraud in Jamaica’s history. However, despite the ballooning fraud, and the expansive investigation involving the Financial Investigative Division, Fraud Squad, the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), a UK-based forensic firm and other agencies, just one individual, former wealth advisor Jean-Ann Panton, has been charged.

Panton confessed to stealing from clients’ accounts and has been charged with three counts of larceny as a servant, five counts of forgery, five counts of uttering forged documents, three counts of engaging in transaction involving criminal property, and three counts of breaching the Cybercrimes Act. Her case is currently before the Home Circuit Court.

Patterson believes it is unlikely that Panton, if guilty, acted alone.

“I know there is a legal presumption of innocence to which all accused are entitled… If anyone thinks that whatever Miss Panton is accused of doing, if in fact she did anything, could be done by her alone, must still believe that the world is flat,” Patterson said. “Justice demands that the thief or thieves be found and receivers of the stolen money end up where those who have been convicted by a court of competent jurisdiction go, where criminals belong.”

The former prime minister also criticized the government for what he suggested was its attempt to “muzzle” the Opposition in the matter.

“I ask how could any government in their right senses possibly think that the failure of a licensed institution to repay 200 investors whose money has vanished could become an issue of national secrecy. It is a matter which is of concern to the entire nation and our standing in the world, and for them to have thought so, borders on lunacy when one of the members is a living legend,” Patterson said.

“Usain Bolt is a loyal Jamaican who is an international icon, it is just sheer stupidity for them to pretend that this thing can happen and the Opposition is not going to say anything about it… we’re not creating any partisan issue out of it … this is a national issue,” he continued. “We must not prejudice the right of a fair trial of any accused, but there are issues which, according to our constitutional entitlement of free speech, demand ventilation and not a muzzle.”

– Video by Llewellyn Wynter