Ivan George Leopold Douglas
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NCB, Barclays sued for alleged breach of trust
Barbara Gayle,
Court Reporter
National Commercial Bank (NCB) and its former
owner, the United Kingdom-based Barclays Plc, have had a J$504.68
million lawsuit filed against them by the son and three daughters of
a Kingston businessman who died 40 years ago.
NCB said it
will be fighting the suit.
The banks have been accused of
negligence in the management of the estate of Ivan George Leopold
Douglas, who held majority shares in Douglas Prefabricating and
Construction Company Limited, stockholding of 100 shares in another
firm, Tru Shade Awnings Limited, and was a client of Barclays Bank
in Jamaica for about 10 years before he died in October 1969.
The claimants have said that at the time of their father's
death, Douglas Prefabricating and Construction Company was a very
lucrative business, having secured a number of contracts for the
construction of infrastructure for schools and housing estates
throughout Jamaica.
The Government of Jamaica bought all the
shares of Barclays Jamaica operation in 1977 and changed its name to
NCB. Barclays is now a major global financial services provider
operating in some 50 countries.
Douglas, in his will, which,
according to papers filed in the Supreme Court, was prepared by
Barclays Bank and signed by Douglas on April 29, 1969, had named the
bank as the sole trustee and executor of his estate.
The
businessman is also said to have owned properties in St Catherine,
St Thomas and at 3 Winchester Road, lot 239 Beverly Hills, 8 Toronto
Avenue, and Lots 20 and 21 Riverton City in Kingston and St Andrew.
His other belongings included a Mercedes-Benz motor car, a motor
boat and land-surveying equipment, the claimants said, in the suit
filed December 18, 2009 in the Supreme Court in Kingston.
Joy, Marlene, Jacqueline and Ivan Douglas have accused Barclays of
breach of trust by failing to invest £30,000 (J$60,000 equivalent)
in accordance with their father's directions.
Barclays, they
said, was required to use the money to establish a trust fund which
was to be invested in the bank to provide income for his widow and
the mother of the claimants until the children reached the age of
21.
fiduciary duty
The allegations against bank also
include breach of its fiduciary duty for selling the properties
under value and disposing of the property in what the claimants have
described in court filings as "less-than-'arm's length'
transactions".
Barclays has also been accused of selling
household goods and the motor car for far less than they were valued
and of failing to account for the sale of the yacht.
The
claimants said the bank failed to ensure that the construction
company was managed with the required skill and neglected to take
appropriate action to ensure its viability. They also accused the
bank of failing to pay into the trust account the profits from the
voluntary liquidation of Douglas' majority shareholding in the
construction company.
The second defendant, NCB, is accused
of failing to manage or administer the trust property in accordance
with the trust instrument and its many duties as trustee resulting
in loss to the estate and beneficiaries. The Jamaican bank has been
accused of failure to act in accordance with the trust instrument
when, in 1979, it discontinued payments for the maintenance of the
claimants, resulting, the suit said, in severe hardships for them.
The allegations against NCB also include failure to supply the
claimants, as beneficiaries, with sufficient information about the
transactions regarding the trust.
The alleged negligent
mismanagement and administration of the trust and breaches of
fiduciary duties by the two defendants are said to have resulted in
damages and loss to the estate and the beneficiaries.
The
more than J$504.68 million, plus costs, being sought includes J$383
million for alleged failure to manage the construction company and
alleged failure to properly invest the money when the company was
liquidated in 1989.
The claimants are seeking an order for
the defendants to account for trust property and a declaration from
the court that the trustees were negligent.
"We certainly
deny the allegations that the estate was mismanaged, and are
surprised that these allegations are being made at this time," Dave
Garcia, NCB's chief counsel and company secretary, told the
Financial Gleaner.
Garcia said the bank was challenging the
claim, and that attorney-at-law Sandra Minott-Phillips of the law
firm Myers, Fletcher and Gordon who is representing NCB, was in the
process of preparing the bank's defence.
Attorneys-at-law
Wentworth Charles and Floyd O'Brian Green, who are representing the
claimants, said the first defendant, Barclays Plc in London, which
was created by virtue of a merger between Barclays Bank and Barclays
Bank International Limited in 1985, has been served with court
documents.
A date has not yet been set for the case to be
heard.
Ivan was married to Edmah Laur Douglas, Retired Civil Servant, and
had a daughter, Joy
Any contributions will be
gratefully accepted
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