Brady ordered to prison

Harold Brady, the disbarred attorney and former politician, has been ordered to serve 30 days in prison for failing to hand over half of the $140 million he collected for a publicly owned company from the sale of a St Andrew property.

However, Brady will remain free because the order, made by the Supreme Court on Friday, was put on hold after his attorneys signalled their intention to challenge it in the Court of Appeal.

With interest, legal costs and other charges, the $70-million debt has already ballooned to approximately $134 million, according to attorneys for the state-owned Factories Corporation of Jamaica (FCJ).

Last year, FCJ, through its attorneys, filed an application in court to have Brady committed to prison for breaching a previous court order – made in December 2018 – to make monthly payments of $1 million to FCJ starting January 2019.

The disbarred attorney admitted in court that he has not made any payment and instead filed a proposal under the Insolvency Act indicating how he plans to settle his debts.

The proposal triggered a clause in the legislation which automatically places a freeze on all bankruptcy-related proceedings before the Jamaican courts.

PROTECTION CLAUSE LIFTED

But in a double blow to Brady, the Supreme Court on Friday lifted the protection clause before ripping into the once prominent attorney and influential figure in the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

“I do not find his evidence that he does not have the means to pay to be believable,” said the judgment seen by The Sunday Gleaner.

It noted, as an example, that the assertion by Brady that the failure to comply with the December 2018 order was because he does not have the means to pay came after his initial explanation that he does not owe FCJ and “cannot pay what he does not owe”.

This, the court said, indicates a “resolution” that he will not pay as opposed to an inability to pay.

“There is a deliberate disregard for the orders of the court by Mr Brady. On a totality of the evidence, I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Mr Brady has wilfully disobeyed the order of the court,” the judgment said.

“In the circumstances, the following orders are made: that Mr Brady is to be committed to the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre for a period of 30 days for contempt of the order of the court dated December 5, 2018.”

The order was suspended pending the outcome of his appeal.

Responding to questions about the grounds for the appeal, Brady directed The Sunday Gleaner to his attorney Douglas Leys.

But when contacted yesterday, Leys said he had no comment on the committal order and the proposed appeal “because I didn’t appear for him in that matter”.

Brady was also ordered to post a $2-million bond and surrender his travel documents at the Supreme Court.

A stop order has also been placed on him at the ports.

MISUSING INSOLVENCY ACT

The Supreme Court, in explaining its decision to lift the protection clause granted by the Insolvency Act, said it was satisfied that FCJ has established that “it is likely to be materially prejudiced” if the freezing order remains in place.

The presiding judge noted that “serious thought” was given to the legal arguments presented by Leys, Brady’s attorney in the insolvency proposal case – that the automatic protection clause should not be lifted because that would be “antithetical” to the objectives of the Insolvency legislation.

“The court finds it ironic that concerns are raised as regards the object and purpose of the act being thwarted if the stay were to be lifted, given the determination by the court that Mr Brady is misusing the act,” the court said.

This decision will be challenged in the Court of Appeal, Leys disclosed.

Brady’s multimillion-dollar debt to FCJ came to public attention in 2015 when the company filed a complaint against him before the General Legal Council (GLC), which regulates the legal profession in Jamaica.

According to the complaint, the former FCJ attorney collected the full $140 million purchase price for a property located on Marcus Garvey Drive from the purchaser, late former Cabinet minister Dr Neville Gallimore.

However, FCJ complained that Brady only accounted for $70 million despite “numerous requests” for him to hand over the funds.

The company complained, too, that Brady’s failure to hand over the file relating to the transaction “with due expedition” and to register the sale agreement within 30 days caused the company to incur interest and penalties that pushed the debt to $111 million.

That figure was updated to $134 million during the committal proceedings hearing.

After a hearing, the GLC found Brady guilty of professional misconduct and ordered that his name be struck from the list of attorneys authorised to practise in Jamaica, and that he should pay FCJ $111 million with interest.

In 2018, the former JLP legal advisor and candidate for the constituency of St Andrew South Eastern was evicted from his rented home in the upper St Andrew neighbourhood of Cherry Gardens.

It came after attorneys for the owner of the four-bedroom property went to court and obtained an eviction order for outstanding rent totalling US$65,000 or approximately J$7.8 million.

livern.barrett@gleanerjm.com