If Government ends up on the ropes due to recent issues concerning the Malcolm Jones case and state owned FCB, it must be counted among the anti-blunder lessons that the six-month-old administration must learn.
Costly, though they could be.
Government’s current Tobago “reassessment” retreat would have become all the more urgent following the matters that arose with discontinuation of the state’s case against former Petrotrin head Jones, plus issues surrounding Planning Minister Camille Robinson-Regis’ FCB deposit matter, which have cast government’s management modus in negative light.
The Robinson-Regis issue is of particular concern due to potential national impact from possible negative fallout.
After being contacted by a reporter on a recent large deposit—$93,000 cash—and alleged lack of the required source of funds declaration, Robinson-Regis accused FCB of facilitating the media leak, although admitting she hadn’t checked with the bank to ascertain what occurred.
She based her opinion on a prior experience—the 2007 credit card furore which affected her standing among the Manning PNM. Robinson-Regis however admitted it slipped her, that she was a politically exposed person making a large cash deposit since she was focused on her husband’s surgery.
Even though it was reported FCB management had blanked the media query about her deposit, citing client confidentiality, PNM sources confirmed that soon after Robinson-Regis vented she was “pulling her money” out of FCB, a female PNM heavyweight Cabinet colleague called FCB to say she was doing same in “solidarity” with Robinson-Regis.
The latter’s Arouca youth league supported her against the bank. Finance Minister Colm Imbert soon after confirmed seeking a report from FCB on compliance with financial obligations’ regulations. And Prime Minister Keith Rowley on Thursday, though saying it was a personal matter, didn’t halt there but said he no longer “trusts” FCB to keep his information confidential.
While not directly intervening in the Robinson-Regis matter—which would have opened Government up to criticism of influencing/interfering with the bank—Imbert’s request for a status report on compliance, still signalled some interest to the extent of finger-shaking at FCB’s direction.
And Rowley’s bald statement cast deeper indictment. The bank consequently has had to reply to steady its image, following the unflattering government attention.
How everything affects FCB is questionable. Bank business is based on trust. It’s been hit by ministerial as well as Prime Ministerial thumbs-down. All amid a negative economic landscape which Rowley (that same day) said was T&T’s biggest problem.
It’s Robinson-Regis’ prerogative to embark on personal action, but the arms-length distance normally maintained by Government from the state-owned bank, was absent. Questions have also arisen on Imbert’s locus standi and limits regarding FCB.
Negative sentiment from the PNM/Government leadership (leader, vice chairman, lady vice chairman) not only undermines confidence in FCB, it appears as serving a personal agenda—in supporting colleague Robinson-Regis—rather than employing professional detachment, considering the situation more widely and allowing the legal/investigatory process to play out on the “personal matter” which she’d said it was.
Before entering the play and risk bungling that could be costly to bank, economy, government and country.
While Robinson-Regis bears some responsibility as a politically exposed person making a hefty cash deposit, of greater concern is government’s handling of the situation. Given T&T’s copy-cat culture, PNM’s own following and FCB’s previous troubled incarnation, the “wisdom” of the collective Government action amid the challenging economic landscape should have been considered.
Similarly, where professionalism over personal agenda is concerned, the Jones case should have been allowed to collapse on its own—soon, if as lightweight as perceived—without decision by the Attorney General or Petrotrin whose board was PNM appointed.
The action exposes Government—for whom both AG and Petrotrin board are agents—to the perception of protecting Jones, who was recently appointed to its Energy committee. He’s alongside Ken Julien (against whom the UTT case by the PP also collapsed).
The PNM, in Opposition, had accused the PP of “protecting” businessmen Ish Galbaransingh and Steve Ferguson. It now stands the risk of facing same regarding its Energy adviser.
