Boycott email targets National Commercial Bank (NCB)

Jonique Gaynor, Staff Reporter

The National Commercial Bank (NCB) is concerned about an email that is being circulated by persons claiming to be investors of Cash Plus, World wise and Olint. The email which has been forwarded to several individuals, urges recipients to immediately close all NCB accounts. NCB’s public relations and corporate affairs manager, Belinda Williams, told THE STAR, “It is of concern to us because it is putting the company’s reputation and image in disrepute. It is a viral mail so it spreads really fast and everyone is adding something else to it.” Rational and responsible She said the company was looking at the matter to decide on the best way to “manage and counteract this.” She also appealed for customers to be rational and responsible and to “not be a party to the circulation of information that, to a large extent, is not without fault or flaw”. The email blames the organisation for the downfall of the schemes and calls on all NCB account holders to withdraw their funds as a collective gesture of their objection. One section of the email declares, “… let us as investors, who are most affected, show our support and solidarity with these institutions by closing all our NCB accounts …” The message also encourages recipients to, “Pass this on to everybody you know and add your story …” Tek out everything One World Wise and Cash Plus investor, Ray Alexander, who admitted to forwarding the message, told THE STAR, “I have three accounts with NCB. I have the Omni, which I just closed and tek mi money to [another bank]. I had a US account, which I basically tek out everything an jus leave like $100 and I had another local account and I just took out all the money and move it.” He explained that the returns he received from his investments made a difference in his way of life and said, “It was coming in like clockwork, not because of Cash Plus, but because of these people. We need to take some placards and go up there. Poor people need to stand up as one. We can make a difference. We need to withdraw our money. Even if it’s just a dollar, we need to show them that we don’t need them and that we’re in control.” Chris Gouldbourne, vice- president of Cash Plus, told THE STAR that he was not aware of the email. However, when asked whether the company supported such a move, he said, ” I really don’t have a comment on that.”

Cash Plus boss tells court why he sought divorce

‘My wife slept with my uncle while I was in prison’ Cash Plus boss tells court why he sought divorce

PAUL HENRY, Observer staff reporter henryp@jamaicaobserver.com Thursday, February 14, 2008

CARLOS Hill, head of the beleaguered Cash Plus group, said he sought to divorce his wife because she allegedly slept with his uncle while he (Hill) was in prison in the United States.

Hill is defending himself in the Jamaican Supreme Court against a US$12-million maintenance suit brought by his estranged wife, Velma Hill. The case was adjourned yesterday until March 12, 2008, because of the death of Hill’s mother.

On a previous court date, Hill was ordered to make interim payments of US$2,000 per month effective January 7, 2007 to his wife of over 30 years until the matter is resolved.

Breathing room for Olint

Breathing room for Olint
published: Friday | February 8, 2008

Investment club Olint Corporation Ltd has been given a stay of cease-and-desist order which was issued by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) in March 2006.

The stay is to remain in force until the appeal which Olint has brought against a Supreme Court ruling in December last year has been heard and determined. The Supreme Court had upheld the cease-and-desist order which the FSC had issued.

Lord Anthony Gifford, QC, and attorneys-at-law Huntley Watson and Canute Brown made the application for a stay.

Justice Mahadev Dukharan (acting), in granting the stay after a hearing in chambers at the Court of Appeal on Tuesday, made several orders for Olint to comply with.

No new clients

The judge ordered there should be no increase in Olint’s membership or clientele pending the determination of the appeal. Olint is to complete a list of its members as at February 5 this year.

One of its directors is to file an affidavit verifying the number of members in the club and serve it on the FSC before February 19.

Olint has also been ordered to provide an affidavit exhibiting the list of members in the club and place it in a sealed envelope and deliver it to the Registrar of the Court of Appeal before February 19.

The envelope will remain in the Registrar’s possession until the appeal has been heard. If Olint is successful in its appeal, the list will be returned, but, if it loses, list will go to the FSC which is the respondent in the appeal.

Olint is contending that it deals strictly in foreign exchange and therefore should not be regulated by the FSC. However, the FSC claims that it has authority to regulate Olint because it was dealing in investment.

Neil Lewis and Janice Lewis, trading as LewFam, are also appealing against a Supreme Court ruling in December last year which upheld the cease-and-desist order which was issued by the FSC.

World Wise application lacking – Cash Plus, FSC meet today

World Wise application lacking – Cash Plus, FSC meet today Sabrina N. Gordon – Business Reporter

World Wise Partners is the only so-called alternative investment scheme to have formally applied to the Financial Services Commission for a licence since a December ruling by the Supreme Court suggesting that all such schemes are subject to the regulatory jurisdiction of the FSC.

However, the FSC has asked World Wise for more information on the documents before its application can be fully processed, both officials of the company and the regulatory agency confirmed yesterday.

The FSC has estimated that there are more than two dozen of these companies operating in Jamaica.

Officials of the Carlos Hill-led Cash Plus Limited – perhaps the largest and most controversial of the schemes – having dropped its application for a court declaration on who should supervise it, are to meet FSC staff for exploratory talks today on possible compliance.

They have, however, not filed a formal application for a licence.

Additional Information

Nadine Newsome, the FSC’s communications manager, said that World Wise filed its application last week, but commission staff on Monday asked for additional information.

Other companies have made queries about registration, Newsome said, but none has actually filed an application.

Precisely what more the commissioners want to know was not disclosed, but World Wise’s CEO, Patrick Covey, said his company would comply with the request.

“It is within the normal process of the regulating authority and this happens to everyone,” Covey told the Financial Gleaner.

“We missed a day yesterday with the holiday, but we are almost ready to return the added information requested by the authority.”

A rash of unregulated investment vehicles, offering returns as high as 200 per cent a year, has mushroomed in Jamaica since early in the decade.

But they mostly operated quietly, if not below the radar, until two years ago when the authorities, fearing the possibility of Ponzi schemes and/or money laundering began to crack down on the businesses.

The FSC’s first targets were the foreign exchange trader Olint and an independent agent LewFam, whose offices were raided and documents taken away.

Both outfits insisted that they did not fall within the purview of the FSC since they were private clubs. In any event, they did not trade in securities over which the commissioner had regulatory power.

But in a December 24 ruling, the court held that while foreign currency may not per se be securities, the outfits did issue investment contracts that amounted to certificate of participation in profit sharing agreements, thereby bringing them under the umbrella of the FSC.

Both Olint and LewFam have appealed the ruling, but LewFam’s Ransford Braham said his clients were in touch with the FSC about the process for licensing.

They are yet to receive a response from the FSC, Braham said.

Withdrawal

In the face of the ruling, Cash Plus, which said it did not trade in foreign exchange, announced its withdrawal of its application for the court to determine whether it should be regulated by the FSC or the Bank of Jamaica.

At the same time, the FSC issued a cease and desist order against Carlos Hill’s company, which had earlier flirted with the possibility of submitting to the FSC’s jurisdiction.

That project, however, unraveled when the FSC held that financial information provided by Cash Plus was inadequate.

sabrina.gordon@gleanerjm.com