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Mark Kappart / Contributor

Why on earth would NCB have US$2 million in cash in a bag for what it says was “ a business transaction’? 

This sounds like something out of a movie, perhaps “Miami Vice” or “The Sting’, hardly becoming one of the largest financial institutions in the Caribbean.

NCB Merchant Bank, Trinidad & Tobago, saw US$2 million of its cash seized by Trinidad’s Customs and Excise.

Where was this money from? Where was it bound, and who is behind all of this?

Trinidad has a chronic real exchange problem, and US dollars are hard to come by. Is this US$2 million of NCB’s money connected to the foreign exchange crisis? 

It is unheard of for a major bank to find itself in this predicament with its money being captured by a state authority.

As more questions than answers mount, NCB Merchant Bank T&T said the cash “ relates to a transaction conducted in the ordinary course of business with another regulated financial institution.”

Really? Financial institutions swapping a bag full of cash?

NCB went on to explain: “The cash forms part of a legitimate inter-institutional transaction and was intended to transit within the NCB Group pursuant to established business arrangements.

“Importantly, while the principal cash would be transiting, the underlying value would not. Upon completion of the transit process, NCB Merchant Bank would be fully compensated in US dollars for the cash, ensuring that the bank’s financial position and economic interest in the transaction remain protected throughout.”

Did NCB hire a top security firm to transport and protect this US$2 million, which isn’t a small sum of money and if not, why not? Why handle this in such a haphazard way?

It’s hard to believe Scotiabank or Sagicor would go about it this way.

Now Trinidad’s Central Bank is investigating the matter, but one of its spokespersons did say, “ a licensee under the Financial Institutions Act  and an authorised dealer under the Exchange Control Act is permitted to export any notes of a class which are or have at any time been legal tender in Trinidad& Tobago or in any other country.”

The funds seized from NCB were first held in the custody of Customs and Excise before being transferred to the Central Bank. 

Now comes word that the money was found in a white crocus bag discovered at Piarco International Airport, believed to be on its way to NCB’s head office in Jamaica via Miami.

Customs & Excise stepped in because there were transactional and accountability deficiencies.