Olint boss unlikely to face local courts
Published:Saturday | August 21, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Philip Hamilton, Gleaner Writer
Embattled Olint boss David Smith is not likely to face charges from local law- enforcement authorities despite many Jamaicans losing hundreds of millions of dollars in his failed foreign-currency investment scheme.
Smith, who was indicted on 23 financial irregularity charges by a United States District Court in Florida last Wednesday, is also awaiting trial in the Turks and Caicos Islands, where he is facing 30 charges for alleged financial crimes.
Assistant Commissioner of Police Les Green told The Gleaner yesterday it was unlikely that Smith would be indicted locally given that other jurisdictions had already implemented investigations and brought charges.
He said although the question as to whether Smith had committed a fraud while in Jamaica had to be considered, he was more likely to be prosecuted in another jurisdiction where the greater offence was committed.
"When we look at these international scams, as this is suspected to be, what is normally common practice is that each of our law-enforcement agencies agrees who is going to take the lead," said Green.
Smith, who has not been accused of any crimes in Jamaica, is one of two high-profile persons said to have caused Jamaicans to lose millions in investment enterprises, which have been dubbed Ponzi schemes.
The other, Carlos Hill, former head of the collapsed Cash Plus, has been accused of various criminal offences as a result of the operations of his investment club.
Local prosecutors have accused Hill of fraudulently inducing persons to invest, fraudulent conversion, obtaining money by false pretense, and conspiracy to defraud.
Off-the-island operations
Green says Hill, unlike Smith, whose operations were outside of Jamaica when they collapsed, was in the island and was arrested and charged for committing an offence by the police acting on information.
"He had his operations and enterprise here, so quite rightly, we should be the lead agency to take any prosecution for him forward," Green said.
It is believed that the US jurisdiction in which Smith has been indicted is currently making arrangements for his extradition to the US.
Up to press time last night, efforts to obtain a comment from Turks and Caicos' Deputy Police Commissioner Hubert Hughes as to whether an extradition request had been submitted by US authorities for Smith were unsuccessful, as phone calls were unanswered.
Meanwhile, Green has argued that if Smith had been convicted of fraud in Jamaica, he was likely to receive a very small sentence in contrast to other jurisdictions where he could receive more substantial prison time.
Declining to provide further details regarding Smith, including his likely extradition to the US, Green would only say that local police were cooperating with American law-enforcement authorities.
"We've agreed there's no need for us to implement a separate investigation when there are already two others in place, and we've been working and assisting with those other investigations," Green said.
"The Americans are likely to be applying for that from Turks and Caicos, and whether Turks and Caicos will deal with him first is a matter for them."