In the latter half of last year and into this year, Jamaicans who had invested their money with either Cash Plus Limited (CPL) and/or Olint were incensed at the actions of the Government.

They were also incensed at the banks' actions against them and words such as 'bad mind' and 'grudgeful' were used to describe the concerns expressed and actions taken by the Government and the banks.

Now, in the United States, news reports are that Bernard Madoff has allegedly made off with over $50 billion (J$4 trillion) of investors' money.

He was able allegedly to con the rich and famous, the not-so-famous and a number of organisations, including one that is going out of business.

He was able to do this because the regulatory agencies, though told of his shenanigans a number of times between the mid-1990s to as recently as August of this year, did nothing.

Alert the public

At least the Jamaican Govern-ment, albeit after some time, did alert the public to the fact that CPL and Olint were unregu-lated investment entities and what investing in them entailed.

The fact that Madoff and his company in the US, and CPL and Olint locally all promised great rates of return on investments even when their operations were shrouded in that great cloak of mystery, only seemed to further whet the appetites of those who invested with them.

Now we see the end result and it's not pretty.

Now, hopefully, the lesson to be learned is that investing one's money with any financial entity should not be done on or in blind faith.

I am, etc.,

TREVOR DAWES

trevordaws@bellsouth.net