Eustace questions why Luke Browne went public on Building and Loan

The only justification for Luke Browne going public about the St Vincent Building and Loan Association is that he had tried unsuccessfully to get the matter addressed, the opposition leader has said.{{more}}

Leader of the Opposition Arnhim Eustace, at a press conference yesterday, said,that the letter written to a local newspaper by Browne, a research economist in the Ministry of Finance, “precipitated a run on the institution”.

“… as an official of the Ministry of Finance, the only moral justification for going public with respect to the state of affairs at Building and Loan, which precipitated a run on the institution, as his letter has done, is that he has tried all proper internal channels to draw the matter to the attention of his superiors in Ministry of Finance,” Eustace said.

On January 18, the Vincentian newspaper published a letter written by Browne, entitled “Is the Building and Loan Association on the brink of collapse?” The letter expressed concern about the management and financial health of the institution.

“In going public, was Mr Browne inviting inferences that: the Minister and all relevant authorities were unwilling to deal proactively with what he, an official under that very minister, deemed to be an institution on the brink of collapse and that he (Browne) was therefore faced with no other option but to expose it publicly and risk a run on the institution?” Eustace said.

The opposition leader also asked what previous efforts did Browne make to have the matter addressed internally, so as to avoid a loss of investor confidence in the Association.

In an interview with SEARCHLIGHT on January 29, Browne defended his decision to go public, saying he only published the letter after he “tried to get some answers to what were legitimate queries and experienced some frustration in going about that process”.