AMID public scepticism over how high-profile investigations are handled, the Financial Investigations Division (FID) and the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) have dismissed claims of interference by external forces, insisting that all cases are handled independently, regardless of who is involved.

Addressing this week’s Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange, senior officials of both agencies acknowledged the frustration many Jamaicans feel when major investigations appear to move slowly, but argued that delays are more often driven by complexity, legal safeguards, and the need to protect cases from collapse, rather than direction from any outside entity.

Pressed on whether Jamaica’s political directorate attempts to instruct investigators who to pursue, FID Chief Technical Director Dennis Chung said the agency’s internal structure is designed to prevent that kind of influence.

“No one person can influence any investigation, and no one person knows about what comes into the organisation… In fact, as I said, one of the reasons why the FID has moved to a department [from a unit of the Ministry of Finance] is greater independence from the political directorate. Bear in mind also that we have an obligation to secrecy. If you violate that secrecy then you have a serious problem, so there’s no one that can influence any process,” Chung explained.

MOCA Director General Colonel Desmond Edwards, while addressing the issue, explained that there is clear daylight between Government’s administrative oversight and the agency’s investigative operations.

“My own relationship with the policymakers is administrative — dealing with issues to do with budget, and any challenges we have in terms of personnel or any particular things. The MOUs [memoranda of understanding] I sign, I’m required to advise the minister — and I get his blessing to proceed and sign them — but as it relates to our operations, there’s absolutely no direct influence,” said Edwards.

The exchange came against a familiar public complaint that law enforcement moves swiftly against “the little man” but appears cautious when wealthy or influential figures become targets.

Edwards rejected that framing, arguing that investigators are often dealing with offences in which key actors are deliberately positioned far from the visible wrongdoing.

“We treat everybody equally, [and] we can only prosecute matters where we have evidence. What usually happens is that the more structured you are, and organised you are, and wealthy you are is [the] further away from the crime that you are, usually. But the more sophisticated offences that we look at, the more structured and organised criminal conduct like fraud, grand theft, and all of that, oftentimes the main players are further away from it, so it takes a while to get to them,” he further explained.

Edwards added that this reality often shapes the length of time that complex investigations take to reach completion. He pointed out that major cases typically involve layers of financial transactions, intermediaries, and technical evidence which must be carefully unpacked before charges can be laid.

He explained that, unlike simpler offences, major financial and organised crime cases require teams of investigators working across different disciplines — including cyber forensics, financial analysis, and legal review — to ensure cases are strong enough to withstand scrutiny in court.

That view was echoed by senior director of legal and prosecutorial services at MOCA, Nigel Parke, who said the public often underestimates how much legal resistance major suspects are able to mount once investigations begin.

“The more affluent the subject is, the better legal representation they can afford, and because what we try to do is have cases with very cogent, strong evidence, what you find is that lawyers go for technical challenges… and these things take time, because everybody is equal to the same constitutional rights,” Parke said.

He explained that such legal manoeuvring can significantly slow proceedings as courts are required to consider all applications, examine evidence, and rule on procedural matters — a process that can span years and create the impression that cases have stalled.

“An investigation is a living, organic thing. The report that you start off with is not necessarily what you end up presenting to the court, and you are obligated to follow the evidential lines. So, somebody may call and report, ‘Oh, John is a scammer,’ but when you start to look at John, John is not really a scammer; John is doing something else illegal, and therefore the timeline of the investigation is stretched because it depends on what you have to do. Do you have to get bank records? Is there evidence overseas you need to obtain? Do you need to find people who may be difficult to locate because you don’t have current details of them? So a lot of these things take time,” added Parke.

Meanwhile, Chung told Observer editors and reporters that investigators must also be mindful of reputational damage and legal exposure if cases are mishandled, or prematurely disclosed.

“We have to make sure that we cross all our t’s and dot our i’s, because there’s a possibility, also, not of reputational damage for the FID, but also the possibility of a lawsuit hitting us if we don’t do it the right way. So, when we come out with something we need to preserve our reputation of 90 per cent conviction that we have. We don’t want to come out and say something, damage somebody’s name, destroy the case, and then nothing happens after that — because once you do that you destroy public confidence, you destroy the case. [And] when you destroy the case and you come out prematurely, it means that the man continues to get away with the crime,” Chung added.

Financial Investigations Division (FID) Chief Technical Director Dennis Chung (second left) speaking at this week’s Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange. Flanking him are (from left) Garth Williams, brand communications specialist, FID; Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency MOCA) Director General Colonel Desmond Edwards; Nigel Parke, senior director Legal and Prosecutorial Services Unit, MOCA; and Major Basil Jarrett, director of communications, MOCA. (Photo: Karl Mclarty)