The Financial Services Commission

It is not contemplated by the Jamaica Constitution that the FSC have police power to affect citizens’ freedom of movement, freedom of speech or freedom to spend their own money. In a thoroughly unconstitutional manner, this outrageous committee has assumed a tyrannical role that deserves immediate parlimentary inquiry in the House of Representatives.

Our senior legal officers need to intervene before the FSC does permanent damage to the Jamaican economy and further violates the constitutional rights of Jamaicans. How much more money needs to leave our shores for other Caribbean destinations?

Regrettably, the FSC seems to operate with a large budget which is inconsistent with its ordinary parliamentary line item allocations. It holds its meeting at the superb Courtleigh Hotel at great expense to the Government and the committee seems to have a large public Relations Budget.

Somehow without cabinet approval, the FSC was able to send armed police officers into private commercial establishments and private homes associated with those commercial establishments.

If politicians misbehave themselves we the Jamaican public have recourse against them. If police officers misbehave themselves we have recourse against them also, however, when this mysteriously powerful FSC conducts itself in an unconstitutional and violent manner, the public has no recourse against it.

Sadly, it appears that the Solicitor General is an ex-officio member of the FSC, although it is not clear whether he is aware of or condones the threatening and unconstitutional utterances of the FSCs’ Executive Director.

Several observers would derive enormous comfort from the following disclosures from the FSC:

1. The complete academic credential of all FSC members.

2. The amount of the annual salary of Bryan Wynter, Executive Director of the FSC.

3. The reasons why FSC meetings are held at the 5-star Courtleigh Hotel as opposed to a Government office.

4. The source of the payment of the legal fees by those Lawyers defending the FSC in the lawsuit filed against it by Olint; i.e., how much has the FSC’s misconduct cost the Jamaican taxpayer?

5. Whether any FSC member received an emolument from any commercial bank licensed by the FSC in the last year.

6. Whether any member of the FSC has ever been licensed by the US SEC to do anything?

To use Mr. Bryan Wynter's words, there are no free lunches at the 5-star Courtleigh Hotel and further, "it is too good to be true", that the FSC might operate in a constitutional manner rather than using armed menace to achieve its misconceived regulatory goals.

Mr Wynter speaks about not pre-empting the legal process. We do not allow our elected officials to pre-empt the legal process. Why should we allow un-elected mandarins to violate our constitutional rights?


David P. Rowe is a Professor at the University of Miami School of Law and the St. Thomas University School of Law

Copyright © 2007 The Law Offices of David P. Rowe & Rosemarie D. Robinson. You may reproduce materials available at this site for your own personal use and for non-commercial distribution. All copies must include this copyright statement.

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