‘VERY SCARY!’

Chinese business operators are running scared. That is the revelation from Dalton Yap, president of the Chinese Benevolent Association (CBA) Jamaica chapter, following the arrest of two policemen who last week allegedly stole nearly $15 million from a merchant.

Yap told The Gleaner the state of crime against members of the Chinese business community is a cause for concern and the latest incident with criminal involvement of policemen is “very scary”.

Said Yap: “I think we’re under some pressure, and you know, being stressed. Not withstanding that we have to go deal with the common criminals out there but now when you have the police who are now in cahoots with the criminals, that’s a horse of an entirely different colour.”

Yap said the incident was never expected and the business operators trust the police would always carry out their functions to serve and protect.

“When we have this added thread of criminal element within the police force it is obvious of great concern to us,” said Yap, who will serve as president of CBA for at least another year.

Many challenges

He acknowledges the business community has faced many challenges in the past, citing downtown Kingston and gangs who target them for extortion, and acknowledging the police were helpful in those instances.

Yap said that not only are the Chinese merchants affected, but other business operators in the society, with how quickly the criminal element engulfs the police force.

The police, he argued, need to weed out the rogue elements and reassure the public they are doing everything that they can to deal with them.

“They carry out their criminal acts, using uniforms or using the fact that they are part of the force,” Yap said.

He added that, though the incidents are frequent, the CBA does not keep a record of the millions stolen over time.

“Whenever we see these things, or whenever we have functions or get-togethers or even through our social media, we always tell our members and the extended community, ‘Do not walk around with cash, make use of the cash couriers and try to go cashless as much as possible’,” Yap said.

He noted that it was not a fact that the Chinese religiously store large amounts of cash but, because Jamaica is a cash-based economy, it is difficult and they will always be at risk.

“Some of these merchants, like many other businesses in Jamaica, we haven’t reached the (cashless) stage yet where transactions are largely done by credit cards … and until we get there, we still have that risk,” Yap said.

Responding to a commonly held view, he stressed that there was no evidence to indicate Chinese merchants are forgoing banks.

According to Yap, it is possible that the merchant who was victimised last week just did not get a chance to make in-branch deposits.

“Maybe they need cash to deal with their purchases … they are the ones who are exposed to this risk. They must be aware that the criminal elements are watching them and unfortunately, this time, including the police,” Yap said.

The CBA president said offerings by the Police High Command to provide police escorts for the transportation of large sums of cash may now be a pipe dream.

“All of a sudden, we say, ‘Wait, the police is the problem as well? Who do we turn to?”

He is, however, encouraging the business community to spend the money needed to use couriers, even though in recent times that modus operandi has sporadically come under siege.

“You just never know these days. We have never seen the spate of ATM robberies in Jamaica and, with this added element of police being involved in robberies, it is very scary,” Yap said.

According to him, Dr Horace Chang, deputy prime minister and minister of national security, is the hardest working minister.

“Unfortunately, he is really under a lot of pressure. I feel sorry for him,” Yap told The Gleaner.

In the meantime, Septimus Blake, president of the Jamaica Bankers Association (JBA), also told The Gleaner there was no supporting data to suggest merchants are forgoing banks.

Blake, who is also chief executive officer of the National Commercial Bank (NCB), shared the sentiment that with Jamaica remaining a cash-based economy, from time to time individuals will have large sums of cash on them.

The senior banking executive, who spoke with The Gleaner before the latest multimillion robbery, said he has heard of robberies of large sums reported in the media at homes and businesses and, while not overly alarmed, he would prefer the monies be in the banking system, citing access, convenience and security.

Blake said the association was championing the move to a more digital economy.

He said the aim was to reduce the level of cash usage because of the expense associated with cash.

“Cash has significant cost in terms of counting, transporting or courier of it, security, storage, issuing and handling of it. We have seen an increase in transactions in the digital platform,” Blake told The Gleaner.

He said that, by and large, there is an increase in electronic transactions and one of the duties of the JBA is to invest in and push its adoption and reduce the level of cash in terms of daily transactions and activity.

He said the COVID-19 pandemic has broker the inertia around digital adoption.

Blake, however, cautioned that digital is not riskless and that banks have to be vigilant and improve their efficiency to safeguard against acts of fraud.

Among other safeguards, he pointed to EMV chip and pin, to reduce fraud related to the outdated magnetic strip on bank cards.

In the latest robbery incident, two policemen were arrested in the departure lounge of the Norman Manley International Airport (NMIA) last Wednesday when they attempted to flee the island.

They were implicated in the robbery of the Chinese businessman the previous day.

Reports are that the plainclothes constables and their accomplices fleeced the approximately $15 million in cash from the business operator.

The men are now the subject of an identification parade while police hunt their accomplices.

andre.williams@gleanerjm.com

There have been several reports of robberies and attempted robberies perpetrated against Chinese business operators across Jamaica since the start of the year:

January 9 – Two Chinese business operators were shot and injured during an attempted robbery in the Ingleside community in Mandeville, Manchester.

February 18 – Another Chinese businessman was reportedly shot and injured during a robbery in Ballard’s Valley, St Elizabeth.

March 3 – Chinese businessman (wholesale owner) robbed of $10 million by men posing as police in the Hopefield area of St Andrew.

June 6 – Almost $15 million swindled from wholesale/home of Chinese businessman in Kingston.