By Denise Clarke, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
Get-rich-quick hopefuls are already lining up to join Montego Bay's latest partner plan, even as clients of the Speedy Cash Partner Plan clamour to collect their promised fortune.
The city's fifth partner, the Quick and Reliable Partner Plan, opened to an anxious crowd at Market Circle on Tuesday. The Gleaner visited Market Circle at 1p.m. yesterday, where about 20 persons were patiently waiting to invest in the new partner plan. Manning the gate were three ganja-smoking, earring-wearing men, who informed the waiting crowd "...de staff gone fi lunch."
The new plan promises a first draw of $25,000 one month after a $6000 deposit. A second draw of $10,000 is promised approximately one month after the first. The Fair Trading Commission (FTC), the Consumer Affairs Commission (CAC), and the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ) have all warned potential investors that they have no legal protection if the plans flop. But with the emergence of each new partner plan, attempts are made to fine-tune the pyramid scheme and avoid its demise. In an information sheet titled 'How to gain your wealth in life' the operators advised prospective clients that they are compelled to re-enter the initial deposit into the partner and to throw back other hands if the plan is to continue. However, unlike its predecessors, the new plan promised to refund money to persons who want to withdraw from the plan.
"Let us put our trust in the Quick and Reliable partner plan as together we work to build our country and ourselves," quoted the information sheet. As this plan tried to lure clients with fliers and newspaper advertisements, over 1000 persons crowded the Strand Theatre in a frantic attempt to collect the monies promised to them by the Speedy Cash Partner plan. There was no sign of order when The Gleaner visited the location yesterday afternoon. The crowd was pressed against the grill gates, with those at the front pushing and competing to get inside the building on the rare occasion that the gate is opened.
Speedy Cash started to make payments at Strand Theatre on Tuesday, after they were ordered out of the Barnett Street police station. The Montego Bay police hierarchy said they were not aware of any arrangement with the plan's operators to pay its clients from the police station, and did not give permission for this to take place.
The police stepped in to assist the operators of Speedy Cash after 20 persons were injured in a shooting incident outside the offices at Oneness Plaza last Friday. The police estimate that between 1500 and 2000 receive payments daily.
