THE WHEELS of justice turn slowly in Jamaica, even moreso if it's of the white collar crime variety.
One could be tempted to say that even a snail moves faster than these cases through the justice system, but I suppose it's because the legal system was more built on the notion that the poor man is far more likely to steal than the rich man, when it's far more likely to be the reverse, since it's the rich that have the greater opportunities to do so.
Stiff punishment for 'white-collar' crime and effective legislation to deal with such breaches have long been absent in Jamaica, especially the expertise to investigate such cases, then the willingness to try such cases, then the stamina to go through the rounds of the court system (all the way up to the Privy Council).
COMMENDABLE STEPS
Nowadays there have been commendable steps to deal with such issues although it was only after the financial melt-down in the latter 1990s and the huge financial strain it cost taxpayers, that the required regulatory oversight and legal sanctions have been introduced, or tightened.
It is disappointing too, that so few of these cases are being fully tried, but then I suppose the fact that many of these white collar criminals can hire some of the best legal minds in the country to defend them, may intimidate less confident police and financial investigators and crown counsels from pursuing all of the cases.
The perception that the current attention being paid to white collar crime is largely due to external pressure (similar to the overseas telephone rate cuts declining due to United States. Federal Communication Commission pressure) is hard to ignore.
NEW LOOK AT THE ISSUE
I wish it was not so, but primarily in the wake of U.S. fears of terrorist cells sending money around the globe through financial conduits (led by the large number of off-shore banks in the Caribbean), as well as the illegal drug kingpins doing similar financial cleaning, has there been a new look at the issue?
It's an important step if we are to get more persons to accept that justice is indeed even-handed, regardless of the skin colour, class or income power of the defendant.
Now if we could only produce more restorative and deterrent judgements to send out the strong message that those who steal, defraud or get rich off ill-gotten activities and financial scams will eventually lose such gains, civil society will likely be better off in the future.
Taken from the Financial Gleaner, Friday, October 21, 2005
