Mark Thwaites, former Dyoll Insurance executive.
FIVE MONTHS after his resignation from the Dyoll Group, the former Chief Executive Officer (CEO), 47-year-old Mark Thwaites, was yesterday arrested and charged with four counts of breaches of the Insurance Act. Mr. Thwaites was also a board member of the collapsed Dyoll Insurance Company.
Attired in a dark-coloured grey T-shirt, Mr. Thwaites was charged by members of the Financial Investigation Division (FID) and taken before the Corporate Area Criminal Court, where he was offered bail in the sum of $1.5 million by Resident Magistrate Judith Pusey.
"We do not have any details of the particulars comprising the charges or what case it is that our client is to meet," said Mr. Thwaites' attorney, Winston Spaulding, QC., when contacted yesterday.
NO SPECIFICS
Reports are that the prosecutor, Phillip Sutherland, had only indicated to the court that Mr. Thwaites was charged with four counts of breaches of the Insurance Act, but did not outline any specifics.
Mr. Thwaites is to return to court on August 23, when his case will again be mentioned.
A release from the Financial Service Commission (FSC) confirmed the arrest. "Mark Thwaites ... was taken into custody and arrested on charges for violation of Section 147 of the Insurance Act 2001." Allegations are that Mr. Thwaites recklessly supplied false information under the provision of the Insurance Act. Further allegations are that the former insurance executive failed to comply with directives that were given on December 17, 2004, by the FSC.
This apparently refers to the meeting on December 16, 2004, when the representatives of the Dyoll Group and Dyoll Insurance met with the FSC's executive chairman, Brian Wynter, giving the FSC the assurance that it would inject $435 million of new capital into the insurance company by the first week of January 2005.
Dyoll's problems began late last year following a deluge of claims arising from property damage as a result of Hurricane Ivan last September. The vast majority of the claims originated from the Cayman Islands, amounting to $850 million and contributed to the company's deficit of $1.1 billion, wiping out its capital base.
When the Jamaica Stock Exchange (JSE) suspended trading in Dyoll's shares on February 15, it claimed that the group's management failed to "provide material information to the JSE in keeping with the Exchange's Policy Statement on Timely Disclosure (JSE Rule Book Appendix 8)."
SNUBBED BY THE MANAGEMENT
In March this year, the chairman of the JSE, Roy Johnson, said that the Stock Exchange was snubbed by the management of Dyoll which refused to provide information on the financial status of the insurance company.
The JSE launched an investigation into insider trading of Dyoll shares and turned over its findings to the JSE.
The former CEO's arrest comes against the recent decision by the Supreme Court to approve the FSC's application for the liquidation of the company. Investors in Dyoll stand to lose almost $1 billion in the collapsed entity (at share price of $14.50 with 60 million ordinary shares in issue).
