George Burrow is a
British citizen who has spent most of his working life abroad as an engineer.
He is now 60, married and looking forward to retirement but £100,000 of his relatively
modest savings have been “lost”.
Not lost through
gambling on the horses or left in a plastic bag somewhere – but “lost” by the
respectable and trusted bank that he had trusted for over 30 years. Of course,
the bank would no doubt dispute the circumstances.
In the modern world of
failing banks and collapsing national economies this may come as no surprise to
many but George Burrows has been visibly protesting in Jersey over the past few
weeks about his case – the details of which he discusses here in this
disturbing video interview.
“Ex Pat” people like
George are – or were - the very bedrock of the Jersey finance industry. He
needed a safe and secure place to deposit his earnings because he was often
working in places that lacked any banking infrastructures of their own.
Whilst working in
Africa he opened an account with the Jersey branch of Standard Chartered and
had been supposedly secure and happy there for over 30 years. Many thousands of
others must have done the same over the years.
What is especially
revealing here is that no amount of “regulations” can help somebody like George
Burrow if nobody is empowered or prepared to enforce them.
In his case, £100,000
is considered too small an amount to fight for in the courts and the lawyers
fees (in Jersey or America) would swallow it up in any case - even if he should
win.
As always, the
professional people and their organisations, which should be defending him,
seem to have evaporated. The unique jurisdiction of Jersey is another barrier
too with its strange but inadequate avenues for redress such as no Finance
Ombudsman.
Some local Jersey
politicians are clearly trying to help but they lack any direct powers. Those
in authority who ought to hold the key to a fair hearing refuse to act, or even
respond to George Burrow’s invitations.
The “accredited
media”, both in Jersey and the UK seem afraid to challenge such a rich and
powerful adversary as an international bank.
Even the police seem
reluctant to investigate because it might not be “cost effective.”
So it is particularly
revealing to hear what George Burrow has to say about Jersey’s Finance industry
which claims to be a world leader in regulation and competence.
All PR and
salesmanship but no substance – or as one UK journalist warned him so far as Jersey Financial Regulation is
concerned - “it is like the Wild West.”
George Burrow’s own
You tube site can be found HERE
