Dawn Ritch, Contributor
JUSTICE ROY Anderson recently delivered himself of his judgment in the matter of the state against Dr. Paul Chen Young. I have been completely baffled by the whole exercise because I will never accept that it is a crime to be the owner of a failed business, even one in banking.
Moreover, Eagle was a privately-owned company, and if he never defrauded his customers, then he could only have defrauded himself.
When, in 1997, he sold his interest in the companies to the Government for $1, I thought he had defrauded himself. The Government subsequently said the businesses were worthless, but at a price of $1 it can hardly claim to have defrauded itself.
Moreover, they sold Crown Plaza Hotel to the U.S. Embassy, the Government-owned Planning Institute of Jamaica is comfortably ensconced in Crown Eagle's corporate office, the remains of the highly-profitable Eagle Commercial Bank were eventually sold to the Trinidadian company RBTT, and the Eagle Unit Trust was sold to DB&G. I could go on and on in a similar vein about all the assets and businesses that Eagle once owned in Jamaica that were sold by the Government, presumably for more than the dollar for which they were acquired in the first place.
Justice Anderson took nearly two and a half years to arrive at a decision in favour of the Government. There was never any allegation that Dr. Chen-Young took any money out of the country, but the judgment makes him liable for $1.2 billion. I can't help wondering whether or not the income to the Government from the firesale of his assets will be deducted from that total. And since all these sales to third parties were concluded more than five years ago, whether or not any records still exist of these transactions.
NO EVIDENCE
I know a number of very rich Jamaicans who have never been in trouble with the law, but none of them can draw a cheque for $1.2 billion. There was no evidence to suggest that Dr. Chen Young took any money out of the country. It must, therefore, have been the business which lost the money. Losing money is a risk in private business. It ought not to be criminalised.
Under Finance Minister Dr. Davies, however, it has become a crime and that is a disincentive to any entrepreneur.
I was a consultant to the Eagle Group and knew the companies well. I find it impossible to believe a figure owed, much less, anywhere near that sum of money. As an issue before the court, and excoriated over and over again by the Finance Minister himself, and as recently as last Thursday when he closed the Budget Debate in Parliament, the figures should be disclosed. Since this involves the life and reputation of Dr. Chen Young, I think he should be entitled to review the comprehensive figures himself. So, it is to be hoped that meticulous records have been kept by FINSAC.
CHECKED AND CERTIFIED
If Dr. Chen Young, fed up, frustrated, in exile, and with his life on hold for a decade, has lost all interest in looking at anything to do with the progress of his case, then these documents should be checked and certified by a wholly independent authority, and deposited at the Institute of Jamaica. Somebody other than me may one day be interested in looking at them.
All the more, when last week in the House, Dr. Davies said ...
"Mr. Speaker, I have spent some time on this matter because it represents a definitive justification of the position taken by the Government and a clear condemnation of the actions of many who have paraded themselves as entrepreneurs. Whilst Judge Anderson was not passing judgment on the whole financial sector, the findings about the Eagle Group and Dr. Chen Young's behaviour are not dissimilar to that which took place in other institutions.
The country has paid a tremendous price incurring debt of approximately 40 per cent of GDP, not to mention the additional cost incurred by the BoJ in intervening and protecting the depositors.
All who wish to speak on this issue should first read Judge Anderson's masterly analysis and findings.
This is the most outrageous thing I've ever heard in my life. Dr. Davies used the name of Paul Chen Young nine times in his presentation. When he quoted from the judgment he read it out another half a dozen times.
Justice Anderson's findings are being questioned, and will be the subject of an appeal to our Court of Appeal and possibly even the Privy Council if Dr. Chen Young is not satisfied.
Dr. Davies agrees, rightly or wrongly, with Justice Anderson's judgment. This is what Dr. Chen Young is appealing against. It, therefore, inevitably raises the question of whether or not Dr. Davies in his capacity as Finance Minister, is trying to influence the Court of Appeal. The defendant not only wants his day in court, he needs a fair hearing.
When the Finance Minister calls the judgment "masterly" and in his peroration makes Dr. Chen Young effectively responsible for the failure of the domestic financial sector and the national debt, what hope can there be of that?
Could it be that Dr. Davies fears this is the last presentation he will ever make in his life as Finance Minister, and has tried to scapegoat Dr. Chen Young for the collapse of the Jamaican economy?
FUTILE
This is not only dangerous but futile. Not all the forensic reports, studies or legal cases in the world will ever change the fact that under Dr. Davies the Jamaica economy collapsed. The banks' customers lost their businesses, banks lost their customers, and thousands lost their jobs. There is no point going on a witch hunt or looking for a scapegoat. The responsibility was the Finance Minister's and his alone, no matter how many other lives were ruined. Dr. Davies cannot escape it. And it will be his long after he's gone as Finance Minister, so there's no point trying to make it Dr. Chen Young's.
That financier created jobs, he didn't destroy them. He funded whole sectors of local production and facilitated thousands who would not have been able to borrow from the Bank of Nova Scotia. He did a better job as a private citizen and banker, than Omar did as Finance Minister.
So, Dr. Davies, you can call his name as often as you want. You'll never be half the man that he is.
