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Anslem Clouden |
Local attorney Anselm Clouden will be moving to have the Chairman and Managing Director of Capital Bank International Limited, Finton De Bourg sent to prison for violating an order of the court.
De Bourg has reportedly failed to comply with the terms of a court order handed down by Justice Francis Cumberbatch to pay to one of the bank's depositors, David Mc Intosh from Limlair, Carriacou, the sum of one million dollars which he deposited on March 3, 2007.
The court order which was dated November 30, 2007 and entered January 23, 2008 called on De Bourg to pay the money together with interest thereon at the rate of nine percent within 45 days of the date of the request (30th November 2007).
The court order concluded with a penal notice saying, "take notice if you Capital Bank International Limited fails to comply with the terms of this order, proceedings may be commenced for contempt of court and you Finton De Bourg may be liable to imprisonment or to have an order of sequestration made in respect of your property."
Clouden told the media that in pursuant to the penal order an application for contempt is now being pursued since the city banker failed to obey the order of the court.
"We are taking the matter to court for contempt and to ask that Mr. De Bourg be imprisoned for disobeying the court's order," he said.
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Finton De Bourg (front) |
The lawyer stated that in keeping with the court order, he wrote De Bourg on November 30, 2007 demanding from the bank within 45 days to pay to Grenlaw Chambers the full amount of the CD Account, number 70110277 of the one million dollars together with interest thereon at a rate of nine percent per annum, less charges normally arising on the early breaking of the CD account in accordance with the said CD account terms and conditions.
The outspoken attorney showed the media correspondences that his law firm has been having with another law firm involving Cajeton Hood who is acting on behalf of Capital Bank to have payment of the money.
Clouden made mention of a response received from Hood, dated December 19, 2007 requesting that Capital Bank either have direct contact from Mc Intosh or some power of attorney from someone acting on his behalf to release the funds.
He spoke of bringing Hood's letter to the attention of his client who then granted the power of attorney to Grenlaw Chambers to look after his business.
He said that on January 14, he wrote to Hood and enclosed a copy of the power of attorney, dated January 10, from Mc Intosh requesting that the money be paid forthwith.
"I have not been privileged with a response from Mr. Hood nor Mr. Finton De Bourg," he remarked.
Clouden said that he also wrote to Prime Minister Dr. Keith Mitchell in his capacity as Minister of Finance last November advising him of what he termed, the very untenable situation that had developed at Capbank.
"I advised the Prime Minister that the bank had refused to pay out to my client, Mr. David Mc Intosh one million dollars on a CD that he needed to terminate, and also one hundred thousand, one hundred dollars of a savings account," he said.
Clouden indicated that Dr. Mitchell has, to date, not afforded him the courtesy of a response to the letter.
He was adamant that the Ministry of Finance, headed by Prime Minister Mitchell, is the only regulatory mechanism that can put a halt "to this outrageous conduct by Capital Bank International."
"It is in this context I now call on the Prime Minister and the Director of Public Prosecution, Mr. Christopher Nelson to look into the operations of Capital Bank International with a view to protecting the rights of depositors such as David Mc Intosh," he said.
Clouden claimed that on a daily basis his law firm is bombarded with telephone calls from various people complaining about their deposits at Capital Bank.
In addition, Clouden stated that the application for De Bourg to be imprisoned for contempt of court does not exculpate Dr. Mitchell from his responsibility as Minister of Finance to now introduce the regulatory mechanisms at his disposal to ensure that depositors at Capital Bank International are protected.
He said that should Capital Bank fail to discharge its obligation to its depositors, the government would be held responsible.
"Should the Minister of Finance cause depositors' money to be put in jeopardy, I can assure you that we would be taking steps to ensure that the government be held responsible for those monies that Cap Bank cannot pay out to its clients and customers," Clouden said.
