WHAT HAPPENED AT SSL?

Some of the executives who held the reins at Stocks and Securities Limited (SSL) are keeping to a vow of silence on their stewardship at the investment firm in the throes of an alleged $3 billion fraud that went on for at least a decade.

The Financial Investigations Division of the Ministry of Finance said it has found “questionable transactions” going back over a decade.

SSL’s current leadership includes chairman Jeffrey Cobham and executive director Hugh Croskery, the firm’s founder.

Croskery declined to speak with The Sunday Gleaner, directing queries to the Financial Services Commission (FSC), which took control of SSL as the saga unfolded.

His son, Mark, who was head of SSL from 2007 to 2018, told The Sunday Gleaner on January 18 that he would return a telephone call that day on issues that occurred during his tenure.

“Can I buzz you back?” he said. The call has not been returned.

Zachary Harding, who led SSL from October 2019 to June 2022, has issued a statement giving an account of his role at the entity that the FSC flagged up to 2017 as operating under “a culture of non-compliance and mismanagement of client funds”.

“It was never, at any time, revealed nor brought to my attention that clients’ investments funds were being misappropriated while I was CEO of SSL,” he said, adding that, throughout his tenure, he was also not made aware that Bolt had an account at the firm.

“I also expect the acceptance of accountability and culpability by the perpetrators,” Harding added.

“Like others, I am watching this situation unfold. I too believe that the truth will come out as it should,” Lamar Harris, who headed SSL for just over a year, up to March 2019, told The Sunday Gleaner.