Dormant accounts for resilience fund slammed

In a scathing critique, Opposition Leader Ralph Thorne has condemned the government’s plan to seize up to half of unclaimed and dormant bank accounts warning that this move could set a dangerous precedent by violating property rights and overstepping constitutional boundaries.

The Budget proposal aims to redirect funds to support climate resilience efforts, but Thorne argues it represents a brazen overreach of government power that could have far-reaching implications for citizens’ savings.

Thorne said the plan was among the most alarming announcements from the administration and warned Barbadians to pay close attention to what he described as an overreach of government power.

“My interpretation is that this government intends to reach into unclaimed accounts—dormant accounts even—of the living and the dead, and say, ‘I want 50 per cent  of that,’” he said.

He raised serious concerns about the implications of the policy, questioning whether the government had now assumed the role of a “bank robber.”

“Has this government now declared itself to be a bank robber? Is this government proposing to traverse the banking system looking at dormant accounts, unclaimed accounts, and saying, ‘I want half of that’?” he questioned.

Thorne’s concerns follow an announcement by the Minister in the Ministry of  Finance Ryan Straughn who outlined in the Budget that funds from long-unclaimed accounts would be redirected to the Resilience and Regeneration Fund to support climate resilience efforts.

Straughn had defended the move, noting that the “government is not going into anybody’s account and taking any money” but that it is “utilising resources that are idle to help mobilise the response to help Barbados build climate resilience”.

The opposition leader challenged the legality of the plan, warning that such an act may be in violation of property rights enshrined in the Constitution.

According to the Unclaimed and Undistributed Moneys Act, CAP. 93, unclaimed  funds  that remain untouched for three years after being transferred to the Accountant-General are sent to the Consolidated Fund.

The law also states that if the funds remain unclaimed for an additional six years, “the same and all accumulations (if any) of interest thereon shall no longer be capable of being claimed.”

Thorne argued that even if an account remains unclaimed for years, the funds remain the private property of the original owner or their estate and should not be seized by the State.

Thorne continued his attack, asserting that the administration is targeting the savings of citizens, whether alive or deceased, to fund its initiatives.

“The Government of Barbados is now robbing banks. Today, it is dormant accounts. What will it be tomorrow?” he questioned, urging the public to take the issue seriously and demand clear answers from the administration on its justification for using these funds.

Thorne, who accuses the Mia Mottley administration of continuous fiscal mismanagement, called on Barbadians to pay close attention to how the government frames and justifies its handling of funds held in financial institutions.

“The government must explain to the people of Barbados whether it is prepared to set this dangerous precedent of taking private property. This is an issue that cannot be ignored,” he said. (SM)