Victims in the dark

The Ministry of Finance has denied a request for the release of the multimillion-dollar Kroll forensic audit report into collapsed brokerage Stocks & Securities Limited (SSL), saying the Government “has not concluded its deliberations” on the matter.

The report, prepared by UK firm Kroll Associates at a cost exceeding US$1.2 million, was submitted in November 2023. It was expected to provide the most comprehensive account yet of how more than US$30 million (J$5 billion) vanished from more than 200 client accounts.

But despite its significance, the report has been kept from both the public and affected clients like Usain Bolt’s company Welljen, which the authorities confirmed in court was defrauded of at least US$6.2 million ($950 million).

Last week, the ministry formally rejected a Sunday Gleaner access to information (ATI) request for the report, citing Section 19 of the ATI Act, which shields Cabinet deliberations and government decision-making.

In July, The Sunday Gleaner requested a copy of the full Kroll report or any executive summaries, briefings, or extracts of the report that were prepared or circulated internally or externally for communication or policy purposes.

“The government has not concluded its deliberations pertaining to this matter,” said a ministry official in a response dated August 20 that was provided on Friday. “While it is the ministry’s aim to provide information whenever possible, in this instance, the information is exempt from disclosure under Section 19 of the act. Any updates on this report will be communicated through Parliament.”

The official reminded The Sunday Gleaner of its right to appeal the decision.

Renewed criticism

from victims

The refusal has drawn renewed criticism from victims and their attorneys. Linton Gordon, lawyer for Bolt, said the secrecy undermines the rights of those defrauded.

“The report that was done by foreigners and sent here has been assessed as not to be released to the very persons who lost money. We find that most unfortunate and a ruling totally against the interests of the persons who suffered loss,” Gordon said last Friday, unaware of the ATI decision.

He said: “We anticipate that that report will highlight and at least assist with how the funds were taken and, possibly, point in a direction either to persons or in a direction that could lead to identifying persons who benefited or took funds that they were not entitled to take, including our client’s funds.”

Gordon argued that if not publicly released, the report should be shared with defrauded clients because “they are the ones who suffered the loss of their monies”.

“At least they should have something that they can look at and see if their attorneys can take it any further, or it can take their attorneys any further with it,” he added.

Finance Minister Fayval Williams has maintained that any release would pre-empt ongoing work by the Financial Investigations Division, Financial Services Commission, and prosecutors.

“After they’ve completed their work and I am so guided, then it would be, if I am guided to doing that,” she said in February when asked about the release of the document.

Her predecessor, Dr Nigel Clarke, who oversaw the commissioning of the Kroll report, noted in 2024 that it confirmed “that the suspected fraudulent activity and mismanagement at SSL and its related parties were much broader than initially understood”.

Opposition Spokesman on Finance Julian Robinson has long accused the Government of “disturbingly” leaking sections of the report to media to smear Bolt while withholding the full document.

“Put the entire report on the table so that all Jamaicans can see what took place,” he demanded earlier this year.

The controversy has spilled into court proceedings.

Sylvester Hemmings, attorney for Jean-Ann Panton, the lone accused in the criminal case, has asked for disclosure of the Kroll report, arguing that it may shed light on whether his client was a scapegoat in a wider institutional collapse.

“We believe that if the Kroll report is auditing the finances of the company, then the report must locate and trace monies that came in and monies that went out,” he said during a March court hearing.

But Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn insisted her office had never had custody of the document and did not rely on it in crafting the indictment against Panton.

“At no time was it ever in our custody, at no time did we use it to prepare our indictment,” she stressed.

Llewellyn said the prosecution stands ready to pursue Panton on a 22-count indictment, even without the Kroll analysis.

Hemmings said last week that he has not yet received the document from prosecutors and “I don’t want to make an issue of it”” because “they have a certain time within which to deal with these matters..

“ ... Some time in November, they should be making an indication as to where they are in relation to documents we have asked for,” he added.

A hearing to check on readiness for the trial is scheduled for November 13. The trial is set to start on May 4, 2026.

Meanwhile, it is still unclear whether there will be any other charges in the fraud case despite suggestions from investigators in 2023 that more persons would be implicated.

That uncertainty remains an issue for Bolt’s attorney, who said he remains concerned over “both the lack of other persons being charged, the pace of the investigation”.

DPP Llewellyn did not reveal much when asked Friday whether her office received additional information requested to complete its ruling on the file first submitted more than a year ago by the Financial Investigations Division (FID).

“We have been awaiting further input of the FID. It’s a very sensitive matter. My head of unit (Mutual Legal Assistance and Financial Crimes) has conduct of it and all I will say, having discussed the matter with her a short while ago, I have no comment to make on the matter at this time,” she said.

Keith Darien, the head of investigations at the financial crimes law enforcement entity, said earlier this year that efforts were being made to satisfy a request of the prosecutors for further information.

“We have allocated sufficient resources to ensure that we try our best to obtain the vital piece of outstanding information. And we believe that these will be obtained,” he said.

The fraud, which reportedly dates back to at least 2010, was uncovered in January 2023, prompting an intensive investigation by law enforcement authorities.

The UK government provided US$50,000 of the audit cost, with the rest coming from the civil recovery fund of the Financial Investigations Division.

jovan.johnson@gleanerjm.com