By Ricardo Wells
Tribune Staff Reporter
rwells@tribunemedia.net
A BAHAMIAN banker fired for collecting and days later depositing a cheque into the local First Caribbean International (FCIB) bank account of disgraced FIFA executive Charles Blazer, was not told by the bank’s attorneys that he was under an internal investigation into the potential wrongdoing when he was contacted and questioned.
Paul Major, the former FCIB banker is pursuing a civil suit against his former employer, alleging he was unfairly terminated for what the company called a breach of its US Persons Policy - which barred FCIBC employees from conducting transactions on US soil.
Major reportedly flew to New York in April of 2011, where he collected the cheque in question, before flying back to New Providence where he deposited it on Blazer’s behalf.
The bank’s policy would not have permitted the act.
Mayer Brown was contracted by FCIB to investigate and determine whether there was any wrongdoing on the part of its employees in relation to the reported illicit banking practices outlined in a federal report the bank was named in.
In testimony yesterday, Melissa Francis, a former attorney for Mayer Brown, admitted she never informed Major he was being investigated for his handling of accounts.
Rather, she said she informed Major her team wanted to speak to him with reference to some of his accounts.
Ms Francis testified that over the course of a day, her team uncovered several emails and at least one airline transaction that suggested Major did travel to New York on the dates identified in the report detailing the Glazer-NewYork cheque handover.
That report stated specifically that an employee of the bank, who was unnamed, travelled to New York to collect a cheque from Blazer to be brought to New Providence and subsequently deposited.
According to Francis, her team had initially planned to question Major relative to handful of accounts he managed, but when the report highlighted a transaction carried out on Blazer’s account, she added it to the list accounts of accounts to questioned Major on.
The firm subsequently drafted a report on Major’s actions during its request to meet and discuss his accounts. Major is said to have never presented himself for an interview after it was requested saying he would need time to go over the accounts identified by the Mayer Brown team, but never followed up with the attorneys.
According to Major’s legal team, the Mayer Brown report was submitted to FCIB - and used in its determination to sack Major - despite him being unaware he was under investigation.
Meanwhile, in separate testimony yesterday, Edith Sands, FCIB’s former Risk and Control Associate, testified that while the US Persons Policy was discussed and mentioned at the time of Major’s 2011 trip, she had never seen a physical copy of the policy.
In cross examination, she testified she was unaware of the full scope of the policy because she had never seen it in full, but rather only heard it referenced to.
As such, when asked by Major’s lead attorney Krystal Rolle if she, in her daily role in FCIB’s compliance unit, looked out for transactions that might have fallen foul of the policy or conducted specific tests or audits that would have identified accounts influenced by acts contrary to the policy, she contended that she did not.
Moreover, Sands, when presented with physical copy of the policy by FCIB’s legal team yesterday, she seemed a bit surprised by it. Testifying that she could not speak to the full contents of the policy because she had never seen it presented in such a way.
Additionally, when asked if she had carried out a act similar to that of Major’s, would she have volunteered that information when asked by authorities about the handling of the account. She initially responded no, telling the court that such information wouldn’t have necessarily been volunteered by her because she did view it as “untoward.”
She asserted that she was of the view that Major didn’t “do business” in the US when he collected the cheque from Blazer
When directed to view the act from the standpoint of the US Persons Policy as she was shown earlier, she conceded that she would have to, citing the section of the policy that specifically bars the collection of cheques from clients in the US.
Attorney Ferron Bethel represents FCIB in the proceedings.
Justice Keith Thompson is hearing the case.
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