I’m not involved, says Norton Hinds
Norton Hinds, whose signature appears on cheques drawn on the First Caribbean International Bank account into which over $30 million of campaign donations from oil trading company Trafigura Beheer BV to the People’s National Party was transferred, has flatly denied knowledge of any of the transactions and yesterday sought to distance himself from the controversy.
“I have no idea of what goes in, what comes out, or where it goes,” an indignant Hinds told the Observer yesterday. “I was very surprised to hear my name being called, because I have nothing at all to do with any of this.”
On Tuesday, Opposition Leader Bruce Golding called for the resignation of the entire Government over what he said was “the mother of all scandals”. To support his allegations, Golding presented documents, including several First Caribbean cheques drawn on the account of the CCOC Association and signed by Hinds, as well as an account statement that listed the address of CCOC as “c/o Portmore Gas, Bridgeport PO, St Catherine”.
At a press conference on Wednesday, PNP general-secretary Colin Campbell, one of the signatories on the CCOC account, told the media that CCOC stood for “nothing in particular”, and that the account was simply one the party used to deposit campaign finances.
Campbell, who is also minister of information, went on to explain that the funds from Trafigura were deposited into that account, which has no mention of the PNP, because many donors, due to Jamaica’s often turbulent political climate, were hesitant to draw cheques in the party’s name.
But yesterday, Hinds, who is the chairman of both the Jamaica Urban Transit Company and the Transport Authority, readily explained the CCOC/Portmore Gas connection.
“That account was opened in 1992 when Colin Campbell went into politics,” he told the Observer. “At that time, a group of us came together to give him support, and we formed a group we called the CCOC Association, which stands for Colin Campbell Our Candidate.”
Hinds, who was the chairman of the CCOC Association fund-raising committee, opened the account with himself and Campbell as signatories, and listed the association at the address of his primary business at the time – Portmore Gas. He said he also used that company to collaterise the account.
In the 1993 general election Campbell was successful in his bid to become the member of parliament for Eastern St Andrew, which ended the need for the CCOC Association.
But the account was never dissolved, said Hinds.
“After he won, Colin asked me to leave the account open so that he could have that facility available, I suppose to continue his fund-raising for the constituency and so on,” said Hinds, adding that he agreed to leave the account open, but removed his company from a position of liability for the account.
Yet, although he kept out of the day-to-day operations related to the account, Hinds said he remained a signatory, and never bothered to remove his company’s address from the account, even after he closed that business in 2003.
“Portmore Gas was sold years ago, in 2003, and it’s even a totally different business at that location now,” he said.
For many years since, he said, Campbell would, from time-to-time, come to him with blank cheques to be signed – which he would – without asking what the funds were for.
“Colin brings the cheques and I sit down and sign them, but I have no involvement in the use or acquisition of those funds,” Hinds insisted.
CORRECTION: In yesterday’s front page lead story an error of omission incorrectly suggested that Hinds still owned Portmore Gas. The sentence should have read: “However, the Observer learnt that Hinds has not owned Portmore Gas for more than a year.” We regret the error.