by Balford Henry (Jamaica Observer) Jamaica’s law enforcement agencies probing the multi-billion-dollar fraud at securities dealers Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL) have asked the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) for assistance, Finance Minister Dr Nigel Clarke told the country on Monday.
Clarke also said that today he will reach out to Jamaica’s overseas partners in order to include forensic auditors in the investigation of what is being described as the largest fraud in the island’s history and which the Financial Investigations Division (FID) has said started more than a decade ago.
“Based on the magnitude of this fraud and the lines of enquiry being pursued, the FID and the Fraud Squad last week sought assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigations and other international partners,” Dr Clarke said while giving a special policy address at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, downtown Kingston, on regulation of the financial sector in light of the SSL fraud case.
“Today I will write to our international partners, who have traditionally provided support to the Financial Investigations Division and other law enforcement agencies to specifically request the assistance of international forensic auditors to help unravel this 13-year fraud so we can bring to justice all perpetrators and all co-conspirators,” Dr Clarke said.
