FINSAC enquiry resumes with emotional testimonies

The Commission of Enquiry into collapse of the financial sector during the 1990s resumed yesterday with two persons claiming to be victims of the Financial Sector Adjustment Company (FINSAC) giving emotional testimonies.

One of those persons, Jean Marie Desulme, former managing director of Thermo-Plastics and its subsidiary Plas-Pak, told commissioners his $2-billion company, Thermo-Plastics, was sold for a mere $22 million after borrowing a loan off US$500,000.

Desulme told the commission his company approached the National Commercial Bank (NCB) in January 1998 for a US$500,000 loan to purchase and clear raw materials from the wharves.

Desulme said NCB, which was unable to provide the loan, subsequently referred it to the National Investment Bank of Jamaica (NIBJ), where an agreement was reached for it to get 50 per cent of Thermo-Plastics' sales, enabling it to pay off the loan in six months. That agreement also called for NCB to receive 40 per cent of sales revenues.

Responding to questions from his lawyer, Anthony Levy, Desulme told the commission that on March 9, three months after the loan was approved, NCB's then managing director, Jeffrey Cobham, requested a meeting following concerns over possible changes to the company's management structure.

He said after the meeting, which had been rescheduled for 3 p.m. Friday afternoon that week instead of the following Monday, he was barred from entering the factory compound on his return by Richard Downer, senior partner at PriceWaterhouse, and two other men.

He said that Refin, a subsidiary of FINSAC, later sold Thermo-Plastics, whose buildings were valued at $2 billion, for $22 million to NIBJ, which later sold it to Omni Plastics.

Plas-Pak, a Thermo-Plastics subsidiary, was also sold for $9 million.