Ministries said unaware about approval of FINSAC's legal representation
January 17, 2008
THE Ministries of Finance and Justice say they are still in the dark about the circumstances which led to the board of the Financial Sector Adjustment Company (FINSAC) authorising former solicitor general Michael Hylton to act on its behalf in more than 80 cases involving FINSAC clients.
At the same time, despite raised eyebrows and concerns from sections of the government, the former solicitor general has not been asked to return the files, amid the administration's decision to prosecute the cases using its legal expertise.
Acting Solicitor General Patrick Foster said Tuesday that as far as he was aware the former solicitor general had not been asked by the contracting entity (FINSAC) to return the files.
FINSAC answers to a board, which in turn answers to the finance ministry.
"I have seen no letters to that effect," Foster said, adding that, "Had he been written to, it is a letter that I would see."
Observer sources said the financial secretary, who is an automatic member of FINSAC, wrote to Hylton asking that the files be returned.
However, Foster said he had received communication from the financial secretary, Colin Bullock, seeking to find the most effective ways to have the files returned as Hylton had already begun representing the entity.
"I do not know if he wrote directly to Mr Hylton, but up to a week ago, he (Hylton) had not received any notification authorising him to return the files," he said.
Late last year, the Observer learnt that the former solicitor general was now the lawyer representing FINSAC and by extension the finance ministry, and government in these cases.
However, Minister of Justice Dorothy Lightbourne was only made aware of the matter when she was contacted by one of her Cabinet colleagues, asking if her ministry would be handling the cases.
According to Observer sources, the minister said as far as she was aware the Solicitor General's Department would be handling the cases. But she was told that the files were in the hands of a private attorney.
Information from government sources is that Hylton, who obtained the files legitimately, would be asked to return them.
On Friday, when the finance ministry was contacted, Finance Minister Audley Shaw referred questions to the attorney general.
When the Attorney General's Office was contacted Lightbourne, too, was not certain if the files had been returned.
According to Foster, only the contracting entity can ask for the files to be returned.
The files involve clients of the infamous financial crisis of the mid-to-late 1990s and the subsequent collapse of the financial sector.
This resulted in the closure of several financial institutions and their subsidiaries.
Author: Erica Virtue
Source: Jamaica Observer
