FINSAC Commission archives to be made public this week

By Kimone Witter    

 

Jamaicans should later this week have access to a FINSAC Commission archives covering the more than decade-old enquiry into the collapse of the domestic financial sector in the 1990s.

 

This was announced on Tuesday by outgoing Minister of Finance and the Public Service Dr. Nigel Clarke.

 

The archives comprise all the evidence provided and the submissions made to the FINSAC Commission of Enquiry into the financial meltdown.

 

Dr. Clarke said the release of the information is to help the country close this chapter and learn the lessons from it. 

 

"This, Mr. Speaker, symbolically comes at a time when Jamaica has reached a stage where our debt is lower than it was prior to the FINSAC era.... It is only right, and just that we draw a line under this period by providing the documents," he said, noting that this would not include any personal information except for the persons who appeared before the Commission and testified in public, and whose accounts were already carried in news articles.

 

The finance minister said it is also important that provisions for research are provided that can help Jamaicans learn from the period.

 

Dr. Clarke said the first supplementary estimates approved Tuesday also included amounts of $10 million for the University of Technology and The University of the West Indies to invite people to compete for research funds and to conduct research using material from the FINSAC archives.