-Trustee in Bankruptcy says new documents do not help in liquidation process

Jerome Reynolds, Gleaner Writer

Trustee in Bankruptcy Celia Barclay has revealed that documents received from former Cash Plus boss Carlos Hill show no signs that he is in possession of any funds to hand over to the authorities.

In documents sent to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions on March 7, Hill indicated that he had come into US$75 million, which he intended to hand over to the authorities.

The money was reportedly held in a United States-based foundation.

But speaking with The Gleaner Power 106 News Centre, Barclay said checks of those documents could not confirm if the funds were available.

She added that there was no verification, even if the funds did exist that they could be accessed.

“So these documents do not assist our liquidation process. Our investigations are still proceeding,” Barclay said.

The declaration of the sums by Hill had reignited hope in Cash Plus depositors, who have been waiting for years to get back their investments.

Cash Plus was placed into receivership in 2008 following the collapse of the investment scheme.

About 40,000 Cash Plus investors are owed $10 billion.

It is not the first time that they were promised refunds. In 2009, Hugh Wildman, the then liquidator of the unregulated scheme announced that his team had discovered US$25 million (J$2.2 billion) that Hill was suspected to have tucked away in a Swiss bank in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Investors were promised a “merry Christmas”. And in 2011 Wildman announced another plan to begin disbursing to victims.

Carlos Hill has been hauled before the courts on fraud charges, but that case took a dramatic turn this week after he was rearrested moments after being freed by the courts.

When the case resumed in the Home Circuit Court on Monday, Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn halted the trial when she entered a nolle prosequi.

A nolle prosequi means that the Crown will not pursue the case at this time, but could do so at a later date.

The DPP made the decision to enter a nolle prosequi following complaints by the defence that it was getting some bits of evidence very late. Supreme Court judge Justice Paulette Williams later ordered that Hill be freed as there was no longer a case against him before the court.

HILL REARRESTED

Moments after leaving the court, Hill was rearrested by the police on the same indictment for which the DPP had entered the nolle prosequi. Hill’s lawyers then went before Justice Lloyd Hibbert in chambers to make a bail application.

In granting bail in the sum of $15 million, Justice Hibbert ordered that the former Cash Plus boss surrenders his travel documents and report to the Organised Crime Unit on Mondays.

The case is set for mention on May 17.