Colin Hamilton/Freelance Photographer
Carlos Hill, Cash Plus's founder and CEO. The FSC gives him until Thursday to give a full account of the scheme's assets and liabilities.

Saying that it is fearful for the safety of money "loaned" by thousands of Jamaicans to the controversia investment scheme, Cash Plus, the Financial Services Commission (FSC) has given Carlos Hill's organisation until December 20 to disclose details about its assets, including how and where they are held.

The FSC has also demanded balance sheets and profit and loss accounts, according to information on the agency's website and a notice published in the press at the weekend.

Next Thursday's deadline for Cash Plus to deliver the requisite information represents a 10-day extension on the 12 days the FSC originally gave Hill's organisation in a communication of November 28.

Cash Plus asked for more time, and did supply some information two days later, which the FSC deemed to be inadequate.

In any event, Cash Plus was two days late.

On Friday, neither Hill nor other senior officials of Cash Plus were available for comment on the issue, and lawyers for the organisation declined to speculate on whether it would meet the FSC's demand within the specified time.

"I am going to a meeting, so maybe we can do this later or Monday," said Harold Brady, an attorney, who has represented Cash Plus in a number of matters. He could not be reached later on Friday.

Pressed on the possible consequences for Cash Plus if it failed to make the deadline, Brady said: "You have lawyers at The Gleaner, right? Why don't you ask them?"

Most visible institution

Cash Plus is among the most visible of a slew of institutions, that have sprung up in Jamaica in recent years, inviting people to put cash with them, and offering returns of up to 200 per cent a year. They have mostly resisted attempts at regulation by the FSC, arguing that they are private members clubs and outside the ambit of the regulator.

While David Smith's foreign- exchange trading club, Olint, has gone to court to contest the FSC's regulatory authority over it, Hill's organisation has consistently hinted at its willingness to be formally policed. But the FSC has complained that its declarations have been unmatched by action.

More recently, though, Cash Plus has gone to court seeking a declaration on whether its activities would fall within the jurisdiction of the FSC or the Bank of Jamaica.

In Friday's public notice, the FSC indicated that its more aggressive stance against Cash Plus was driven by recent media stories about Hill having been jailed in the United States for investment fraud; the difficulties faced by some clients in making withdrawals; the dishonouring of Cash Plus cheques; and, the closure by some banks of the accounts held by Cash Plus and its subsidiaries.

"The effect of all these matters is t the FSC's concerns about the safety of the financial interests of persons who have loaned money to CPL (Cash Plus Limited)," the FSC said.

In the statement, the agency said that it held the view that Cash Plus's activities amounted "to the issuing of securities by CPL to the public".