ATTORNEY Dr Lloyd Barnett has refuted claims that his client, retired Justice Boyd Carey, was a debtor to Finsac.

Barnett is contending, as a result, that Justice Carey should not be asked to step aside from his chairmanship of the probe into the collapse of the local financial sector in the mid-1990s and Finsac’s subsequent role in the recovery process and its treatment of debtors.

Barnett was making his presentation as the defence yesterday started presenting its argument before a Judicial Review panel looking into Justice Carey’s decision not to rescue himself from the probe.

High-profile claimants — including former finance minister Omar Davies and ex-financial secretary Shirley Tyndall, who are opposing Justice Carey’s chairmanship on several grounds including perceived bias — have argued that the retired judge and his wife, Beverly, had a loan with Citizen’s Bank that had to be taken over by Finsac after the bank failed. The claimants are also arguing for the scrapping of the inquiry.

But yesterday, Barnett said that Justice Carey was not in the class of people who were delinquent debtors and whose debts in failed institutions were transferred to Finsac or any of it entities.

The retired high court judge said in an affidavit filed in the case that he had an overdraft with the bank and not a debt.

The commission started its hearings last September but was in February halted by a court order pending the outcome of the Judicial Review.

Earlier yesterday, Queen’s Counsel Patrick Foster, one of several lawyers appearing for the claimants, argued for the removal of Finsac commission member Charles Ross because of his consistent statements over the years bashing Government high-interest rate policy which he had said led to the financial sector collapse.

He said this could lead any fair-minded observer to form the view that Ross’ statements could result in bias.