Leader of the Opposition, Mark Golding, says there must be a commission of inquiry surrounding the downfall of investment firm Stocks and Securities Limited to avoid a repeat of such scandal.

Former Wealth Advisor at SSL, Jean Ann Panton, admitted to defrauding over 40 customers in a fraud scheme that lasted over a decade. Her confession prompted a massive investigation that uncovered multiple fraud schemes totalling over US$30 million stolen from some 200 customers since 2006. 

Panton has been the only person arrested and charged in connection with the scandal, to date. However, speaking on Taking Stock with Kalilah Reynolds, Golding said that there are still lingering questions that Jamaicans need to have answered.

“I don’t think you can have something like SSL just go past and go by the wayside with no accountability. Nobody really knows what took place and we need to get to the truth of it, and we need to have it done in a proper transparent and independent way,” he said.

A Commission of Inquiry is an official review of events or actions of public importance. Commissions of Inquiry were also conducted on the financial meltdown of the 1990s and on the West Kingston incursion of 2010.

Golding noted that the SSL fraud scandal has destabilised the Jamaican stock market and devastated investor confidence, and the shortcomings of the industry’s regulator, the Financial Services Commission, needs to be examined. 

“The demise of the stock exchange predated the SSL debacle but the SSL debacle has compounded the problem and in my view, it’s a governance issue primarily,” he said.

“The FSC I think was not given the necessary, strong independent board that was required to implement the regulatory regime which exists. The real problem with SSL was that the regulator

essentially dropped the ball they did not follow through with the necessary measures of enforcement which the law provided them,”  he added.

He noted more clarification is needed on why the directions that [SSL] was issued were “essentially lifted when there was no basis for thinking that SSL had improved its performance”. 

He also questioned several of the board appointments at the FSC, commenting that many of them had no experience in the financial sector and “didn’t understand  the risks that are inherent in the financial industry.”

The Opposition Leader said there are many lessons to be learnt from the SSL scandal. He urged the Government to ensure that Jamaicans are given clear and transparent answers.