JAMAICA CALL Centre Limited (JCCL), the company formed by interdicted American information technology investors Dennis and Joseph Atiyeh, has repaid the US$1.5 million it was loaned last year.
Minister of Industry, Commerce and Technology, Phillip Paulwell, told the House of Representatives yesterday a cheque for US$1.5 million was received from JCCL by the National Investment Bank of Jamaica (NIBJ) on Monday. He was responding to questions which had been tabled by Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) spokesman on Finance Audley Shaw on the English Sports/JCCL issue. JCCL was among the first companies to receive loans from the National Investment Bank of Jamaica (NIBJ) to start up information technology operations in the Free Zone. The deal turned sour after the Atiyehs were indicted on money laundering and illegal gambling charges in the United States.
The Minister confirmed English Sports Information Processors Ltd (ESIP) and the Government signed an agreement on December 9, 2000, to modify the arrangement with JCCL to facilitate the Kingston and Montego Bay Free Zones (KMBFZ) in care of the Port Authority of Jamaica receiving the loan to do the build out.
He said now the company had repaid the loan, the NIBJ would in turn make available to the Kingston Free Zone Limited (KFZ) a loan of US$1.5 million to provide a full turnkey facility.
The KFZ would acquire all the equipment already purchased by JCCL for the project at cost. The Auditor General would be invited to certify the transaction. The company would then lease the turnkey facility from the KFZ at a rate which would enable the KFZ to service the loan to the NIBJ.
Mr. Paulwell said last year that the loan had been cancelled and the equipment imported for the project by ESIP had been turned over to the Kingston Free Zone. Mr. Atiyeh, in a statement, said the Call Centre was on target for the start of operations in February, to provide its share of 5,000 of the 40,000 information technology jobs Mr. Paulwell had promised in three years.
Mr. Atiyeh said JCCL was in the process of speedily building its call centre in the Kingston Free Zone and hoped to complete the exercise by late January. Additional state-of-the-art equipment for outfitting the call centre was expected to arrive in the island next month and start-up was expected to take place shortly thereafter, the release said.
