KINGSTON, Jamaica— The Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Counter Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigation Branch (CTOC) and the Financial Investigations Division (FID) have denied accusations made by the People’s National Party (PNP) of discrepancy about the Federal Bureau of Investigations’ (FBI) involvement in the ongoing fraud case at the Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL).

The Opposition, in a statement on Sunday, called for updates on the FBI’s involvement in the SSL fraud investigation after it said that the Head of CTOC, SSP Anthony McLaughlin, revealed that local law enforcement had the capacity to conduct the investigation and did not need the assistance of the FBI at this time. This, the PNP said “is in stark contrast to the prior public statement by the minister of finance, that the FBI were to be engaged in the investigation of the SSL debacle.”

In a joint statement on Sunday, CTOC and the FID vehemently denied the accusation stating, “There is no discrepancy in this matter. As has been stated by the minister of finance and the Chief Technical Director of the FID, the FBI has been officially engaged in the SSL case since January 2023.”

However, in response to the accusations made by the Opposition, CTOC and FID said that SSP McLaughlin’s statement was in reference to the arrest and charge of Jean-Ann Panton for fraud, where he said that the FBI was not involved.

“However, he was referring specifically to the local aspects of the Fraud Squad investigation that led to the initial charges against Ms Panton, and not to the wider dimensions of the SSL probe. We apologise for any misunderstanding that may have been caused in this matter,” the investigative bodies said.

“It has been outlined in previous joint releases by FID and CTOC that this case is a complex one because of the length of time, the number of transactions and the number of accounts involved. We are already seeing the benefit of engaging and involving the FBI, as the extent of the case becomes clearer. There are elements of the case that cross into other jurisdictions and elements that will require detailed forensic auditing,” the statement said.

It added that the investigation is being jointly conducted by the FID, CTOC, with continuing support from the Major Organised Crime and AntI-Corruption Agency (MOCA) and the FBI.