CAYMAN ISLANDS MONETARY AUTHORITY REFUSES TO ASSIST NORTH AMERICAN AGENCIES INVESTIGATING $450m CAYMAN GANG OF FOUR SCANDAL

Investigators at a North American regulatory & law enforcement agency are reportedly incensed that the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, CIMA, has refused to supply any assistance to them, in connection with an investigation of the theft of close to a half a billion US Dollars, in the Cayman Gang of Four case. CIMA officials have declined to make any information available, regarding banking transactions, claiming that such data is confidential, though some legal observers advise that the Cayman agency has the authority to render the cooperation requested.

CIMA, which has known about the loss of funds for at least six months, has not interviewed any of the alleged perpetrators, all of whom are Cayman residents, though most have subsequently fled, and gone into hiding. It has not closed down B & C Capital, Ltd., a shell company that held itself out as a "bank," and received the assets of as many as 60 Canadian and American retirees and pensioners. B & C's surviving Managing Director, Fernando Moto Mendes, remains on Grand Cayman, but CIMA has taken no action against him, notwithstanding his prior spotty record as a financial services agent.

Some whistleblowers have called for CIMA, which reportedly has at least a dozen unresolved fraud cases pending, to be taken over by the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO), for malfeasance in office; others assert that CIMA should be dissolved, and replaced by a more effective agency; the fact that its large staff has failed to complete multiple investigations, which are incomplete after several years, is prima facie evidence that it is ineffective. Reports that official US & Canadian investigations of the Gang of Four case are in progress continue to surface, which could further embarrass CIMA, should they take action, where the Cayman regulator does not.