Derrick A. Scott, Gleaner Writer
CRAWFORD
ATLANTA, Georgia:
FORMER BANKER Don Crawford came out swinging yesterday in a tirade against Monday's ruling by the United Kingdom-based Privy Council that he will have to pay nearly $3 billion to the Government of Jamaica.
"It is shocking, mysterious and devastating and I don't understand it!" Mr. Crawford said.
Speaking to The Gleaner at his upscale Alpharetta residence in the suburbs of Atlanta, Mr. Crawford, former head of the Century Financial entities, said that something had gone awry.
"This is a very strong and positively clear-cut case, and all of a sudden it falls through the cracks," he said.
Mr. Crawford said that, as it relates to the case, the truth had been manipulated and skewed in a manner that suggested he had been recklessly or carelessly mismanaging the bank.
He said the Privy Council ruling was based on a misdirection the law lords had received.
The former banker said they had been misled and, based on the facts before them, handed down judgement.
Mr. Crawford said yesterday that he was still waiting to receive a printed copy of the judgment. After that, he added, he and his lawyers would decide the next move.
Mr. Crawford was defiant when asked whether he would be paying the $2.8 billion he was ordered to pay to the Jamaican Government by the High Court.
ACCOUNTABILITY
He said the Govern-ment had failed to account for even a dollar for the sale of the Jamaica Grande Hotel, which he owned, or a dollar for the sale of his shares in Blue Cross. He also stressed that the Government had not accounted for hundreds of millions of dollars of Century National assets which were sold and not brought to the books.
He said the debt was one thing, but that the motive was clearly to destroy him.
