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THE MONEY GONE!

Apr 03, 2009 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

When the Minister of Finance made his long-winded statement in the National Assembly concerning CLICO (Guyana), I indicated that nothing that he said could be considered comforting to policyholders and investors.
He did in that statement indicate the steps that were being taken to minimize CLICO (Guyana)’s exposure. I did not, however, find reason for optimism in all the talk about the letters of demands and the calling in of guarantees for loans by CLICO (Guyana) to its sister companies.

The CLICO Group is in problems and, as far as I am concerned, those guarantees are not worth at this time much more than the paper on which they are written. In any event, the real problem is not in Trinidad where the CL Financial headquarters is located but in The Bahamas where the bulk of the funds were imperiled because of the collapse of CLICO (Bahamas).
I also said that I did not expect Guyana to see much of that money, if any at all.
My position remains that for all intents and purposes, CLICO (Bahamas) is being liquidated and is not likely to have assets to allow it to return the more than five billion dollars owed to CLICO (Guyana).
I had said in one of my many columns dealing with the CLICO fiasco that Guyana was not likely to see much of that money that was said to be in the Bahamas.

And this was based on the assumption that there were indeed bona fide policies between CLICO (Guyana) and CLICO (Bahamas) for more than five billion dollars.
I did not expect us to receive much of that money and whatever we would have received would have taken years. With this latest twist I do not expect that we will ever again see a cent of that money.
In what seemed to be a reference to the Prime Minister of Bahamas’s statement that there was no record of any investment from Guyana, the Minister of Finance of Guyana had this to say:
“In light of recent statements emanating from the Bahamas on documentation of CLICO (Guyana)’s receivables from CLICO (Bahamas), it is worthwhile to mention that Note 6 (c) of CLICO (Guyana)’s 2007 audited financial statements state as follows:

Cash Resources:
Fixed Deposits G$5,951,151,701
This is Executive Flexible Premium Annuity (EFPA) held in CLICO Bahamas. It is stated at amortized cost with an interest rate of nine per cent per annum and is expected to mature in 2009.
The above is also supported with an audit confirmation. In addition, the Commissioner of Insurance has been presented with policy statements and wire transfer instructions for each annuity placed by CLICO (Guyana) with CLICO (Bahamas).”
He went on to note there was audit confirmation of CLICO (Guyana)’s investments in the Bahamas and that the Commissioner of Insurance had been presented with policy statements and wire transfer transactions for each annuity placed by CLICO (Guyana) with CLICO (Bahamas).
The Minister and the Commissioner of Insurance should now recheck the authenticities of those annuities because a statement coming out of the Bahamas is now suggesting that no policies were placed by CLICO (Guyana) with CLICO (Bahamas) but what we may have had was a transfer of monies which found its way to Florida.

The implication of what is now being reported is that the money gone. NIS money gone! It ain’t gone to Cove and John. It gone to Florida!
And if it is gone to Florida and there are no annuities in Bahamas for CLICO (Guyana) the National Insurance Scheme is doomed.
I am therefore repeating what I said before. I am saying that we have a breach of the insurance laws of Guyana and regardless of what steps were or are being taken to mitigate these losses a Special Prosecutor needs to be appointed to prosecute the breach.
And from what we are now hearing from the Bahamas, we could be dealing with more than just a transgression of the insurance laws. We could be dealing with a massive fraud perpetuated on the Guyanese people.
And therefore, we need an independent commission of inquiry and a Special Prosecutor so that we can be get to the bottom of just what has happened with the five billion dollars that was supposed to have been in CLICO (Bahamas)

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