Dionne Rose, Business Reporter

Patrick Hylton, NCB Group managing director and former head of Finsac, says he is ready to face the commission of enquiry into the financial sector crash of the 1990s. - File

Patrick Hylton, former managing director of the Financial Sector Adjustment Company (FINSAC), says a commission of enquiry into the financial meltdown would clear up misinformation about the events, and was, for him, welcome.

"I have no issues with a commission of enquiry," Hylton told Wednesday Business.

"I support it because I think that there is a lot of misinformation out there that needs to be corrected. It might provide a forum for that to happen so that the truth can be told."

Hylton, one of Jamaica's most powerful businessmen as head of one of the island's most expansive banking networks, National Commercial Bank, presided over the reorganisation and sale of several entities that Finsac acquired when it took control of the financial sector's bad debts.

Finsac bailout

The Finsac bailout cost the country an estimated $140 billion, which Government is still in the process of paying off.

Hylton, as head of Finsac, was involved in the sale of the very bank he now heads, to billionaire investor Michael Lee Chin, his current boss.

But Hylton, who is also chief spokesman for the banking sector as president of the Jamaica Bankers' Association, told Wednesday Business he was willing to appear before the commission of enquiry.

Finance Minister Audley Shaw, who proposed the enquiry, has not said when it will happen.

The timetable became even fuzzier yesterday when Wednesday Business sources close to Finsac said an audit of the agency and its dealings had been cut short.

Sources say the audit was under way when instructions were handed down to put it on hold.

"It started and stopped within a week," the source said.

Finsac is in the process of moving offices, and will be sharing space with the Financial Investigation Division, in Vineyard Town, Wednesday Business was advised, but the instructions to halt the audit were said to have been given before the decision to move.

Clarification

Attempts at comment from the Finance Ministry to clarify the issue were unsuccessful up to press time.

Initially, Shaw had told our sister publication, the Financial Gleaner, in February, when he first advised he would be setting up the commission of enquiry, that it would have followed the forensic audit of Finsac.

The latter is meant to establish whetherthe sale of government entities were above board or, as Shaw put it in Parliament, "to examine and report on the probity, propriety and legality of sale agreements ... and whether the Government of Jamaica suffered any loss that could have been avoided."

Hylton said everyone had a perspective on what transpired during the Finsac years, which, he added, did not necessarily reflect the accuracy of what happened, referring to views advanced by both the Government and Opposition.

There are also charges from the recently formed Association of Finsac'd Entrepreneurs, which, citing the disposal of personal assets, says its members' human rights were violated.

"It will give the opportunity for a full review of what took place and an opportunity and for conclusion on that," said Hylton. "It was a major undertaking and in that regard, I don't have an issue."

The banker refused to respond to charges, at least not now, that the agency mishandled the disposal of assets of debtors.

"When the right time comes, I will say what I have to say," said Hylton, while insisting that the operation of the entity at the time was above board.

Last week, Shaw announced while closing the 2008-2009 Budget Debate that he would shortly be naming the members of the commission who would preside over the enquiry.

dionne.rose@gleanerjm.com

The headline ‘Bring it on!’, published on D1 in Wednesday’s Gleaner, wrongly imputed that statement to Patrick Hylton, managing director of the NCB Group. The Gleaner acknowledges that the headline did not reflect the comments or sentiments of Mr Hylton. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.