Cash Plus liquidator, Hugh Wildman (trustee in bankruptcy), fielding questions from journalists at a press conference held on Tuesday. - Colin Hamilton/Freelance Photographer

THE OFFICE of the Trustee in Bankruptcy is being flooded with daily calls from investors in the unregulated investment scheme Cash Plus Ltd.

Hugh Wildman, trustee in bankruptcy and court-appointed liquidator for Cash Plus, said his office was not only getting calls from the 40,000 investors, but some of them were coming into the office to ask about their money.

Wildman added that since revealing on Tuesday that he had located US$25 million (J$2.2 billion) linked to Cash Plus in the United Arab Emirates, some of the investors had called to congratulate him on the progress he was making to recover the assets.

"It is a process and they must understand that," Wildman stressed.

Selling assets

The liquidator said he was doing everything he could to realise the assets, recover them and sell them so the depositors could be compensated as early as possible.

He also indicated that he was in the process of selling some of the assets.

Wildman told The Gleaner that he had US$8 million (J$712 million) secured in assets at a development project in which Cash Plus had invested.

He said he had struck an agreement with the operators of the project to give him a stake in relation to the US$8 million and, in due course, "we can sell our interest there".

Legal action

The liquidator is also in the process of taking legal action against the owners of a hotel in an effort to recover US$8 million, which Cash Plus had deposited when attempts were made to purchase it.

"We are working to recover other assets overseas," he added.

Wildman announced on Tuesday that former Cash Plus boss Carlos Hill and his brother Bertram Hill were suspected of depositing US$25 million (J$2.2 billion) in a Swiss bank in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. He said legal efforts were being made to recover the money.

Cash Plus has 40,000 depositors, and investors have filed claims for approximately $5 billion.

The Hill brothers are facing fraud charges in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com