Scammers beware!

Lotto Scam Act passed

BY ALICIA DUNKLEY-WILLIS  Senior staff reporter   dunkleya@jamaicaobserver.com

Monday, March 25, 2013

THE Upper House passed the Law Reform (Fraudulent Transactions)  (Special Provisions) Act 2013, otherwise called the Lotto Scam Act, with some 14  amendments after close to six hours of intense debate on Thursday.

Justice Minister, Senator Mark Golding, in closing the debate,  made it clear that the fines, which some senators felt were too high, would not  be adjusted.

“The policy of the legislation is that we need a strong  deterrent… we feel the levels of the sentences are appropriate…,” he told  the Senate.

The Senate should have passed the legislation, which was  previously passed by the House of Representatives, a week ago. It was, however,   pulled back for review following concerns raised by the public and the senators  themselves. The Bill with the amendments will have to go back to the House of  Representatives when it sits tomorrow.

Making suggestions as to how the Act could be further tightened,  Government Senator KD Knight said concerns about the absence of a jury and  preliminary enquiry in trying people under the provision were unfounded as the  same practice obtains in the Gun Court. He, however, was one of the first to  express concerns about the length of the proposed sentence, stating that it was  “disproportionate and a little too high”.

In the meantime, he argued for an increase in the number of judges  in the system, warning that if steps were not taken to do so the Supreme Court  would be further hampered when these cases end up there, given that the  provision does not allow for committal proceedings.

“You are going to have prosecutors lagging if you don’t get more,”  he  warned, adding that this would mean less time to prepare cases properly  leading to “acquittal after acquittal”, for which “the country will come down on  them heavily”.

Senator Knight said while he was against scamming in any form, it  could not be denied that those who allowed themselves to be drawn in had a  personal responsibility to exercise prudence. Their home countries, too, he  argued, had a responsibility to educate them. He said, however, that Jamaica was  “prepared to legislate in its parliament to offer protection to persons in other  countries”.

Leader of Opposition Business in the Senate Arthur Williams said  he was sufficiently satisfied that the result of the amendments was “better  legislation”, which would go a long way in reducing the damage done to Brand  Jamaica.

There was, however, still some discomfiture with the decision not  to permit trial by jury. Arguing the point, Government Senator Lambert Brown  noted that when accused individuals are extradited to the United States they  would face jury trials there.

“There is no magic in the trial with a single judge,” Brown  said.

The senator said he was offended that the scam has been branded  Jamaican as the “overwhelming majority of Jamaicans are not involved”.

Closing Thursday’s debate, the justice minister acknowledged the  concerns and said the need to increase the number of judges was “impatient of  debate”, adding that steps were being taken to address this. In defending the  decision not to allow for such matters to be tried by a jury, Senator Golding  said it was a fact that “there are certain cases in Jamaica where jury trials  are not effective”.

The Opposition’s Robert ‘Bobby’ Montague was, however, uneasy  enough with that provision to call for a divide when the clause was being  examined. When put to the vote, he registered the sole ‘no vote’, with 12  senators voting in favour and one abstaining. Six senators were absent.

The Act makes new provisions for offences relating to lottery  scams, advance fee fraud and other fraudulent transactions.

The Bill addresses, among other things: obtaining any property or  inducing any person to confer any benefit on any person by false pretence;  inviting or otherwise inducing a person to visit Jamaica for the purpose of  committing an offence under the Act; and knowingly conducting a financial  transaction with the proceeds of an offence. It also makes provision for powers  of search and seizure and restitution.

The legislation is expected to take effect by the end of this  month

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