JAMAICA: OLINT?S BOSS ARRESTED IN TURKS AND

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KINGSTON 000123

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR WHA/CAR (BPREMONT/ACADIEUX, VDEPIRRO, WSMITH)
WHA/EPSC (MROONEY, FCORNEILLE)
EEB/ESC/IFD/EPC (MMcMANUS)

SANTO DOMINGO FOR FCS AND FAS
TREASURY FOR ERIN NEPHEW

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON TRYS ENRG EFIN EINV ETRD EAIR IADB
IBRD, IMF, KCOR, KIPR, XL, JM
SUBJECT: JAMAICA: OLINT?S BOSS ARRESTED IN TURKS AND
CAICOS

Ref: (A) KINGSTON 91 (021918Z FEB 09)
(B) 08 KINGSTON 704 (042015Z AUG 08)
(C) 08 KINGSTON 648 (221203Z JUL 08)
(D) 07 KINGSTON 1336 (042044Z SEP 07)


1. (SBU) Summary: After months of investigations, David
Smith, head of the alternative investment scheme OLINT,
has been arrested by the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI)
police. Charged on eight different counts, he has been
released on USD 1 million bail and is expected to return
to court in August. This action was the latest setback
for Smith and his beleaguered scheme, as only three weeks
ago the TCI High Court refused to lift a freeze order on
his assets. The UK Privy Council also handed down a
ruling allowing Smith?s account at National Commercial
Bank to be closed. Matters are expected to become even
more interesting, given the dissemination of an e-mail
purporting to include a list of OLINT investors as well
as written dialogue involving a number of influential
Jamaicans, including government members. End summary.

Smith?s Woes Deepen
--------------


2. (SBU) Following months of criminal investigations,
reputed financial genius and head of the failed
alternative investment scheme OLINT Corporation (reftels
A,B,C),David Smith, was arrested by the Turks and Caicos
Islands (TCI) police on February 6. He has been charged
with: (1) two counts of uttering forged documents; (2)
four counts of false accounting; and, (3) two counts of
theft. Smith has been released on USD 1 million bail.
This latest development comes less than a month after the
TCI High court refused to lift a freeze order on his
assets. The court had ruled that the application could
be renewed after March 11, but ordered that details of
the judgment should not be released to the public. Just
last month the embattled investment scheme suffered a
setback to its legitimacy, when the UK-based Privy
Council gave National Commercial Bank (NCB) the green
light to close the scheme?s accounts (reftel A). A
spokesman for the TCI police also suggested that they
might seek assistance from other jurisdictions, including
Jamaica. However, local police have reiterated that they
have not yet received any formal complaints of fraud from
Jamaica against the OLINT boss.

Investors Losing Hope
--------------


3. (SBU) After the latest developments, even some of
Smith?s most faithful followers are beginning to accept
that their investments might well be lost. This in spite
Smith?s messianic overtures on a radio program last week,
when he again called on Jamaicans to pray for a
successful outcome to his legal woes. Smith went on to
liken his current situation to the biblical story of
Jonah and the whale. Asked to comment on what Smith
meant by this latest characterization, one analyst opined
that perhaps he needed a period to contemplate, while
another said he knew people were praying and keeping hope
alive. One businessman, who admitted that he took a
heavy loss, said it was easy for him to move on, as
unlike a number of investors he had not mortgaged his
properties to invest in the faltering scheme. Another
US-based investor, Dr. Garth Walker, who claims to have
invested USD 2.4 million, failed in his bid to have the
Supreme Court bar NCB from paying over the money it was
holding in accounts maintained by OLINT. Walker told the
court he feared that if the money were paid over to OLINT
it could dissipate.

JLP-OLINT Nexus?
--------------


4. (SBU) The OLINT saga is set to take another
interesting twist, as a series of e-mails have emerged
linking the ruling Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) with the
floundering investment scheme. The e-mails ostensibly
include conversations between now prominent government
officials, JLP financiers, and OLINT functionaries during
the period leading up to and following the closely

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contested 2007 general elections (reftel D). The e-mail
chain also contains a list of investors which includes
some of the most influential Jamaicans. More surprising
though, is the list of financial institutions purporting
to be either directly maintaining accounts with the high
paying investment scheme or investing funds on behalf of
their clients. Ironically, one of the listed companies
was, and continues to be, the main critic of alternative
investment schemes. Post will provide further reporting
and analysis via septel.

HEG