The Federation’s Minister of Industry, Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Dr Timothy Harris has expressed that it was over twenty plus years since the collapse of the Bank and depositors were still no clearer as to when they could receive some monies.

Dr Harris said from the vantage point of the depositors this is a travesty. Senior Minister Harris was speaking in Parliament on the amendment to the Companies Act which was promoted as a way of improving the ease of doing business. The World Bank’s Report ranked the Federation last at the bottom in terms of the ease of bringing closure to businesses.

Dr Harris said such a rank was bad for the country and opined that when one sees how long depositors in the defunct Bank of Commerce have been waiting for a resolution, one can well understand that it was a protracted process to bring closure to entities.

Dr Harris said he was sorry for all those who having deposited their moneys at the Bank of Commerce, were now experiencing difficulty to get back their moneys. “I know one man from Molyneux who died with thousands of dollars on his account with the Bank,” Senior Minister told the Speaker of Parliament.

The Senior Minister urged that the Attorney General to take a look at legislation in St. Lucia and other jurisdictions which have done better than St. Kitts and Nevis on the closure indicator and adopt the better practices. We do not need to reinvent the wheel, said Dr. Harris.