From Caribbean News Service

ST GEORGE’S, Grenada, Dec 22 2016 – A High Court judge in Grenada has sentenced a former banker to 23 years in jail after he was found guilty of engaging in fraudulent activities.

Finton DeBourg, the founder of Capital Bank International, was also told Tuesday he would have to serve a further three years imprisonment if he fails to pay more than EC$16 million within five years after he is released.

The High Court has also barred the former banker from engaging in any financial business operations after serving his jail term.

Debourg, 66, was charged with two counts of fraudulent appropriation of property; one count of falsification of account; and two counts of falsification of minutes.

In February 2008, all 12 branches of the bank were taken over by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) after the Court ordered that Capital Bank International be placed into receivership.

Hundreds of customers had complained that they were unable to withdraw their deposits from the bank, which was owned and operated by DeBourg. Capital Bank received a licence from the Grenada government, but was not regulated by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB).

Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Christopher Nelson, describing the sentence as “first of its kind,” said that the argument put forward was strong and the judge in going through the evidence said that though Debourg tried to make himself innocence of the charges the evidence showed otherwise.

Each of the charges carried a maximum sentence of between five or seven years.

In 2014, the then Keith Mitchell administration announced that it would reimburse persons who had under EC$500 deposited in Capital Bank International when the institution was put into the court order receivership.

For more on this story go to: http://caribbeannewsservice.com/now/former-banker-jailed-for-23-years/