FINSAC chairman clarifies Justice Downer's role

Chairman of the FINSAC Commission, Worrick Bogle, said Tuesday that retired Supreme Court judge, Justice Henderson Downer, is not a member of the commission but its legal adviser.

Bogle said that following the removal of former chairman, Justice Boyd Carey from the Commission last September, based on a court ruling, a decision was taken that the enquiry would continue with the two remaining commissioners - investment manager Charles Ross being the other.

"The appointment allows for a quorum of two, so we continue to sit as a commission of two," Bogle said.

A newspaper report on Sunday had suggested that there could be a conflict of interest if former head of Century Financial Group Don Crawford, appears before the commission and is examined by Justice Downer.

The judge is said to have presided over the Appeal Court's decision blocking the banker's attempt to appeal to the Privy Council in the United Kingdom in 2002.

However, Crawford is not expected to appear before the commission, and Downer does not question witnesses at the enquiry, which sits at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

- JIS