By Noel Thompson,
Freelance Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
CONFUSION REIGNED yesterday at the Barnett Street police station, Montego Bay, as more than 100 people turned up to collect the refund of money they had put in the Friends in Partnership scheme, (FIP) which collapsed in the city a few weeks ago.
Detectives from the Area One Flying Squad had a difficult task maintaining order, as the crowd grew bigger and became boisterous at intervals. As the situation threatened to get out of hand, the police asked the FIP's representatives to halt the payments, ordered the crowd downstairs and shut the door.
By 6:30 p.m., 151 people had received payments. Thirty-eight others, who were scheduled to be repaid, did not show, while 380 people will have to wait until next month to be paid.
One member, Robert Johnson, said he had placed $1,800 in the scheme and had received an initial payment of $600. He reinvested $800. But when told yesterday that he would be reimbursed only $600, he became irate, demanding back his money.
FIP's Mr. Charles Williams explained that because Mr. Johnson had not recruited two other members he had received level one payment which was $600. This meant that he was not eligible to be reimbursed his $1,200, but only the $800 which he had paid for two monthly dues.
Cassandra Brown, the mother of a four-week-old baby, and Clarabell Courts, 77, were among the many persons who turned up to be reimbursed.
Friends in Partnership is a registered charitable organisation with offices at Brunswick Avenue, Spanish Town, St. Catherine.
Controversy erupted on October 6, when members of Friends In Partnership (FIP) held hostage one of its Spanish Town directors -- Nathaniel Taylor, a 48 year old accountant -- and marched him to the Montego Bay police station, demanding payment.
