FINANCE Minister Audley Shaw has argued that the Finsac Commission of Enquiry is of much more fundamental importance than the Dudus/Manatt enquiry, and he urged Jamaicans to quickly refocus their attention on the investigation into what he describes as “ministerial incompetence and irresponsibility”.

Shaw made the comments against the background of the enquiry into the mid-1990s collapse of the financial sector and Finsac’s subsequent intervention being arguably overshadowed by the ongoing enquiry looking into the Bruce Golding-led administration’s handling of the extradition of former Tivoli Gardens don, Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke and the hiring of US law firm Manatt, Phelps and Phillips in the matter.

Shaw, speaking with the Observer, especially criticised Opposition PNP members whom he said appeared to have little regard for the enquiry into the financial sector collapse which occurred under their administration.

“One of the things that I find rather curious is how the (Opposition) fought tooth and nail to close down the Finsac Enquiry…That I find to be a national disgrace,” said Shaw, adding: “And while they tried to lock down that enquiry, it’s operating now but what is the star of the show? You compare for me the impact of the financial sector collapse, which can be traced back to ministerial incompetence and irresponsibility, to whether or not a government or a political party has a right to lobby a foreign government.

“And yet, look at where (former finance minister) Dr Omar Davies is sitting down — behind Peter Phillips at the Manatt Enquiry — and he wanted to lock down the Finsac Enquiry,” Shaw declared. “This is ironic and this is wrong and I’m trying to open the eyes of the people to understand that of those two enquiries, Manatt should lock down as quickly as possible and everybody refocus on the Finsac Enquiry.”

The ongoing enquiry into the financial sector collapse and the events that led to the formation of the Financial Sector Adjustment Company (Finsac) have revealed that approximately 24,000 loan accounts were sold to overseas debt collector, Dennis Joslin, founder of the Jamaica Redevelopment Foundation Inc (JRF).

The bad debtors, as they were called, included thousands of entrepreneurs who followed the prescribed tenets for doing business and obtained loans endorsed by the financial institutions. However, rapid increases in interest rates — up to 120 per cent — on the loans pushed the monthly payments way above the projections in the entrepreneurs’ business plans. The higher rates sustained over an extended period, a Government policy at the time, rendered many unable to properly service their loans and led to a financial meltdown.

Shaw said that it was important that Government learnt from the mistakes of the past and the pursued policy that caused the collapse must not be repeated.

“The conclusion has to be that going forward, no Government will allow a situation where interest rates can go to the kind of astronomical heights that they had gone to — it destroyed the economy,” he said.