Chen-Young testifies today

Former chairman of the Eagle Group of Companies, Dr Paul Chen-Young, is scheduled to testify before the FINSAC commission of enquiry via videoconferencing from abroad today.

Chen-Young, whose Eagle Group was taken over by the Financial Sector Adjustment Company (FINSAC) during the financial meltdown in the 1990s, emigrated to the United States after he was slapped with a lawsuit by Eagle Merchant Bank and Crown Eagle Life Insurance Company, two firms he founded, but which were taken over by the Government.

The suit charged that two business transactions by Chen-Young, on behalf of his Ajax Investment Limited and Domville Limited, constituted breaches of fiduciary duty, breaches of contract and negligence. He has since written a book, The Entrepreneurial Journey in Jamaica: When Policies Derail, in which he describes how he saw the financial collapse which wiped out a number of indigenous firms, and left many individuals indebted to the financial institutions. The collapse and takeover has been linked to the then government's high interest rate policies.

Chen-Young was originally scheduled to appear on Wednesday, March 30, but his appearance was postponed. No explanation was given.

hylton to appear

Patrick Hylton, former managing director of FINSAC and the current group managing director of National Commercial Bank, is scheduled to appear at the enquiry on Tuesday, April 26. Errol Campbell, the current FINSAC managing director, will reappear on Tuesday, April 19. Representatives of the Jamaican Redevelopment Foundation Inc, the firm created by the late Texan millionaire, Dennis Joslin, to operate the bad debts he bought from FINSAC in 2002, should appear in late April.

The commissioners are chartered accountant Worrick Bogle, chairman, and investment banker Charles Ross. Legal adviser is retired judge Justice Henderson Downer.

- JIS