DPP fast-tracks SSL case to Home Circuit Court

The attorney for one of the founders of Stocks & Securities Limited (SSL), the investment firm that collapsed amid allegations of a $4-billion fraud, has cautioned that the criminal charges laid against his client “do not relate to any stealing of funds”.

Instead, King’s Counsel Peter Champagnie, the attorney representing SSL’s founding Director Hugh Croskery, said the charges are related to breaches of several laws governing the financial sector.

“While it is acknowledged that a lot of persons have been affected by how the entity was run and there is financial loss to some, and while we bear in mind the public’s right to know what is happening, I ask that these factors be managed against the background that there is a presumption of innocence,” Champagnie said yesterday.

The caution came hours after the country’s top prosecutor exercised her constitutional powers and had the cases against Croskery, his daughter, Sarah Meany, and former SSL Chief Executive Officer Zachary Harding skip the lower parish court and head directly to the higher Home Circuit Court.

During a brief hearing in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court, prosecutors told the presiding judge that Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Claudette Thompson had entered anolle prosequi, effectively discontinuing the case there.

Hours later, the former SSL executives appeared before the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston on a voluntary bill of indictment.

Croskery, Meany and Harding have been charged with fraudulently inducing persons to invest; failure to register a company carrying on business in Jamaica; carrying on a securities business without a dealer’s licence; breaches of the Banking Services Act; and failure to apply to the Financial Services Commission to be registered for securities issued.

Criminal charges filed against SSL Growth Equity Limited and Delta Capital Partners Limited, an investment firm founded by Harding, were also transferred to the Circuit Court.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP), in explaining the decision to skip the parish court, noted that one of the charges falls under the Larceny Act, giving the Circuit Court jurisdiction to hold the trial.

The ODPP is Jamaica’s prosecutorial authority.

Putting the cases before the parish court would trigger a committal proceedings hearing during which a judge would be required to examine all the evidence before deciding whether there is enough to send them to the Circuit Court for a trial, legal experts explained.

“Instead of having some 30-odd statements examined, I decided to waive the committal hearing and take all the matters to the Home Circuit Court,” said the DPP, explaining her decision.

Champagnie said he was not surprised by the move “because one of the charges would lend itself to jurisdiction being in the Supreme Court”.

Michael Hemmings, the attorney representing Meany, said his client maintains her innocence and denies any wrongdoing.

Meany remains on bail with the same conditions that were imposed at the time of her arrest last month, Hemmings toldThe Gleaneryesterday.

Croskery and Harding also had their bails extended.

A case management hearing is set for April 27.

SSL collapsed in January 2023 amid allegations of a fraudulent scheme that fleeced over 200 investors, including Jamaican sprint icon Usain Bolt, of over $4 billion, according to the authorities.