Cash Plus stopgap

Livern Barrett, Gleaner Writer

Services Commission to have internal officers fill in during search for new liquidator

A new liquidator for the failed Cash Plus investment scheme is expected to be in place by September.

In the interim, however, the Office of the Services Commission says arrangements are being finalised to identify a temporary successor for Hugh Wildman, the outgoing liquidator who will demit office at the end of this week.

"The arrangements have not yet been confirmed, but what is to happen is that we will use internal persons to cover the position until we fill the position," said Dr Lois Parkes, the commission's chief personnel officer.

Parkes said the position was advertised and a shortlist was now being drafted from the several applicants who responded.

"We are doing that in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice and then we will schedule the interviews for the position," she told The Gleaner yesterday.

September target date

Parkes said the plan was to have the process completed by September, but cautioned that this timetable could be altered depending on the individual selected.

"The person may have to give his or her current employer adequate notice in keeping with the terms of their employment, but certainly that's when we are aiming for," she said.

Wildman, who was appointed the trustee in bankruptcy for Cash Plus in 2009, announced last week that he was demitting office to take a job in another country.

An attorney-at-law by profession, Wildman said he should have left office in February, but requested an extension to work on a plan which, if successful, "would solve the Cash Plus problem".

Thousands of depositors who were bilked out of billions of dollars invested in the failed investment scheme have not received any payments since Cash Plus was placed into receivership in 2008.

However, Wildman insisted last week that he had "successfully completed some Cash Plus matters" and has put plans in place on which his successor should follow through.

livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com