Carey review under way
Published:Tuesday | August 10, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
The judicial review into the eligibility of retired Court of Appeal Judge Boyd Carey to chair the commission of enquiry probing the 1990s financial sector meltdown began yesterday.
Four claimants, including former Finance Minister Dr Omar Davies, are seeking orders from the Judicial Review Court to bar Carey from sitting on the panel because he had a debt with FINSAC.
When the hearing began yesterday, Dr Lloyd Barnett, who is representing Carey, and attorneys-at-law Paul Beswick and Lisa Whyte, who are representing Charles Ross and Worrick Bogle, the other members of the commission, applied to strike out certain documents and sections of affidavits that referred to Carey's alleged debt.
They claimed that the affidavits filed by Janet Farrow, head of the Jamaica Redevelopment Foundation, and Patrick Hylton, former head of FINSAC, contained hearsay evidence in relation to Carey's debt and other alleged transactions involving Queen's Counsel R.N.A. Henriques, who is the lawyer for the commission of enquiry.
Michael Hylton and Patrick Foster, both Queen's Counsel representing the claimants, opposed the arguments on the grounds that the documents ought properly to be in evidence for the court to consider the various issues.
The Judicial Review Court, comprising Justices Lennox Campbell, Paulette Williams and Leighton Pusey, turned down the application and ruled that the documents remain in evidence and that they would attach whatever weight they considered appropriate to them.
The real issue
Attorney-at-law Nicole Foster-Pusey, who is also representing the claimants, argued that it did not matter whether Carey was treated fairly or unfairly in relation to his debt. She said all that mattered was that Carey "was treated", and the perception was that it might cloud his judgement. She said Carey was investigating the very class of persons with whom he was affiliated, and that could lead to an appearance of bias.
The court enquired what Carey's debt was, and Foster-Pusey said it was an overdraft facility which remained out-standing at the time Century National Bank was taken over by the Government.
After lawyers representing the claimants called on Carey to step down in January, because of the alleged debt, he refused. He argued that he had no debt with FINSAC.
The four claimants, including retired Financial Secretary Shirley Tyndall, filed a motion in the Supreme Court in February. They got an order staying the enquiry until the motion is heard and determined.