Arianne Hammond, Orane ’Nero’ Hart and Danielle Martin of the ‘The Fix’ podcast did a fantastic job with their fulsome interview with sprint legend Usain Bolt. 

Kudos to them and their team.

What came from it is the widespread support Usain Bolt enjoys in Jamaica and the sense of injustice felt over his missing US$12.7 million which has gone missing from local investment house Stocks & Securities Limited (SSL).

It has been two years now and there is no word on where this case is and how close investigators are to uncovering what transpired.

Will Usain Bolt, who has served his country well and continues to be a very good ambassador for Jamaica, get both justice and restitution? Will his efforts and hard work pay off so that he can create generational wealth that flows to his children and grandchildren?

Usain Bolt said that international media has been on his case to speak on the matter but he did not want to place his country in a negative light. This speaks volumes about his character and loyalty to Jamaica.

What does he get for it?

Betrayal and theft of his hard-earned money with the Government seemingly unable to redress the situation.

Given the ramifications of this malfeasance, the Government should be pulling out all the stops to find out just what transpired here and to ensure that one of Jamaica’s greatest living sons is not out of pocket, robbed by his own people.

Foreign investors are taking note and will feel that Usain Bolt was hard done by and that Jamaica is a bad bet, riddled with corruption and skullduggery.

Compounding matters further is that Prime Minister Andrew Holness was able to get his money out while the beloved Usain Bolt was shafted after taking the decision to have a Jamaican entity invest his funds for him. He did not opt for international finance houses like J.P. Morgan, Citi Group or Morgan Stanley. He went with Hugh Croskery’s SSL.

The multiple gold medal champion is astute enough to recognise that his missing money is not down to just Jean Panton. Others at SSL were involved.

Furthermore, how did CEOs Zachary Harding and Lamar Harris not know that the company vehicle containing Bolt’s funds was being plundered consistently? Where was management on this? 

Bolt’s name would not be on the account but the company being drained by SSL employees with the senior management team being asleep on the job is worrisome.

To date up town Jamaica has not vociferously condemned what happened to Bolt. The PSOJ has not regularly called for action to be taken or sought updates on the investigative process.

Former Minister of Finance Dr Nigel Clarke did say US feds and British investigators were brought in to help. What have they unearthed?

Reactions to ‘The Fix‘ interview come at a time when Jamaica has risen on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI).

Bodies like the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce, The Rotary Club, the Polo Club and the Yacht Club have nothing to say. Yet everyone cheered and hailed Usain Bolt’s incredible feats on the track. Where is the support for a national hero, a country boy who did good and made his homeland proud and continues to set a good example for the youth?

This could turn out to be a land mine for the Government in an election year. If Jamaicans feel that Bolt got robbed and the Government has made no concerted effort to make this right, voters can turn on it at the polls.

There will be more solidarity for Bolt than for sticky-fingered, two-faced politicians. 

The track legend has the support and sympathy of the Jamaican people. It is well earned as result of his accomplishments and the way he has always comported himself.

Usain Bolt’s glory days are behind him but if his fortunes were to dwindle over the years and he is unable to retrieve millions of US dollars for his accomplishments, the Government and Corporate Jamaica will take the blame and rightfully so.

The DPP Paula Llewelyn has already declared that there is insufficient evidence for a case and important evidence is yet to be provided.

Only last month she is reported to have said: “From my information from the team of four prosecutors dealing with the matter, unless we get one critical aspect of it, then we are not put in the best-informed position to complete our consideration.”

What this says is that your investments in a Jamaican financial institution are not safe and that employees can take a big spoon to your money and not a damn thing will be done about it.

You can hear President Donald Trump saying “Typical banana republic and these cowboys have aspirations of joining the developed world?”

Usain Bolt’s predicament makes all of Jamaica look bad and that is why the Government must do its utmost to solve it. 

Nero asked the salient question, “We have heard you talk about pride for your country and how much you give back to Jamaica. How much does this SSL saga which has been going on for two years now hurt you, knowing how much you have given to this country? You have kept silent for the most part but how much does this hurt you?

Bolt’s answer was prophetic: “Brother it’s tough. It’s tough to know this happened and it has gone on this long. This has made me see who I am and evaluate where I am on the food chain in Jamaica. For over two years I have not seen a dime. This has lick me for six.

“What I expected, I didn’t get. I didn’t get help from certain people. The Government can go in and say this needs to be fixed. The Government is yet to do anything – it’s has been two years! There has been conversations but nothing has materialised from them.”

Nero continued: “Do you feel they have done enough to solve this?

Bolt was disconsolate: “No brother. If they were doing what they should be doing, it would have reached a certain level already. I need to get back my money!” 

Bolt remained composed throughout the interview. He was sanguine yet forthright. He said he had to keep a more careful eye on Jamaican institutions that house his money, double-checking his accounts in Jamaica. He added that he has to monitor every little account movement.

He doesn’t want to get defrauded again, left high and dry by unreliable Jamaican financial institutions.

While the blame for Bolt’s missing funds cannot be placed on the Government, it must do all it can to rectify this situation. It cannot blithely dissociate itself and allow for an indefinite conclusion.