Phyllis Thomas, Enterprise Editor

Sonia Christie, the employee of FirstCaribbean International Bank who was named in some media reports as the person they believed leaked banking inform-ation that has blown up in the face of the governing People's National Party (PNP), insisted last week that she was no whistle-blower.

Opposition Leader Bruce Golding revealed on October 3, a $31-million transaction between the PNP and the Dutch oil trading company, Trafigura Beheer, sparking fiery debates on issues of corruption, confidentiality between banks and their clients, breach of banking regulations and campaign funding.

Aggressive call

There were aggressive calls in some quarters for the arrest of the alleged whistle-blower for breach of the Banking Act and equally passionate expressions of support for the person whom they said acted for the common good.

In one of the Public Affairs articles published on Page A10 of today's paper, Ken Jones referred to three women, whom TIME Magazine made Persons of the Year 2002, for spilling the beans on organisations involved in billion-dollar fraud and improper conduct which brought about their downfall.

But Mrs. Christie said that she did not blow the whistle that exposed the Trafigura deal, threw the PNP into a tizzy, stirred the indignation of some members of the public and forced Colin Campbell, the former Information and Development Minister from office.

When The Sunday Gleaner contacted her, she was hesitant to comment on the controversy.

She did say, however, "I am no whistle blower," and argued, "I am not even a political commentator; I am a social commentator," referring to the several letters she has written to the editor on social issues, which The Gleaner has published.

She declined to comment further, saying she preferred to allow the bank to do its investigations.

Last Thursday, FirstCaribbean International Bank issued a release over the signature of its managing director Milton Brady, saying that it was standard practice to ask an employee to take administrative leave while an investigation was being conducted.

Mr. Brady said it was not the bank's policy to identify the name of an employee who was asked to take administrative leave.

He stated further that the bank did not accept any responsibility for alleged breach of customer confidentiality, saying too, that the investigations had not yet been completed.

Obliged to report

FirstCaribbean cannot say who is being investigated, but it is obliged, under the Money Laundering Act of 1998, to "make a report to the designated authority" any cash transaction involving US$8,000 or more, or its Jamaican equivalent. The Trafigura 'gift' to the PNP, transferred to the account of CCOC Associates, is several times more than the amount which requires the bank to make a report to the designated authority. Sub-section (5) of the act said that failure to comply is an offence for which the bank can be convicted and fined $400,000.

The same act prevents the bank from disclosing to anyone that the report was made. The Sunday Gleaner put the questions to the Bank of Jamaica which also declined to answer, citing laws which, it said, prevented such disclosure.

"Please note that the bank is not able to make a response on the particular issues relating to its licensee, based on the confidentiality provisions contained in the BOJ Act," said Robin Sykes, senior legal counsel.

However, Sykes said the Financial Investigations Division was the designated authority to which the bank should report, "where either (a) the amount of the cash transaction in question exceeds the threshold prescribed by law, or (b) the transaction is considered suspicious (i.e., it is reasonably suspected that the transaction is related to money laundering).

Mrs. Christie was the subject of the cover story in the Outlook magazine, that was published in The Sunday Gleaner on January 23, 2005.

That article highlighted her work not only as the associate director of compliance at FirstCaribbean where she received awards including the Exemplary Leader Award (2002), but her family life, her activities as a social worker caring for several boys in Stewart Town, Trelawny, and her social commentaries.