Alliance court case delayed

THE case against the principals of Alliance Financial Services Limited (AFSL), Peter and Robert Chin, has been postponed to Friday.

The matter was scheduled to be heard before Senior Parish Judge Lori-Ann Cole-Montague in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court yesterday, but a court clerk had indicated that a new date was proposed.

There was no clear indication why the matter was rescheduled; neither party was present.

Peter Chin and Robert Chin, the president and vice-president of AFSL, Alliance Finance Limited (AFL), and Alliance Investment Management Limited (AIML), respectively, were arrested and charged with breaches of the Banking Services Act and for allegations that they accepted deposits in excess of US$7.5 million over the three-year period 2014 to 2017 — without the requisite licence from the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ).

Peter Chin and AIML are charged with failure to file threshold transaction reports as mandated under the Proceeds of Crime Act for transactions exceeding or equal to US$15,000 (or its equivalent in any other currency) to the Financial Investigations Division (FID).

Both men are being represented by attorney-at-law Tom Tavares-Finson.

At their second hearing on December 17, 2021, Tavares-Finson told the court that the then-initial date (January 10, 2022) should give sufficient time for investigations to be completed.

The Crown, which was represented by Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Maxine Jackson, did not object.

At their first hearing on December 14, 2021 a stop order, which prevents the Alliance executives from leaving the country, was issued by Cole-Montague. However, their bail, which is in the sum of $1 million each, was extended.