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Geeta Singh-Knight’s GuySuCo appointment preceded CLICO revelations
– Agriculture Minister
GuySuCo interim management to review Board members
At the end of the term of the Interim Management Board of the Guyana Sugar Company (GuySuCo) all of the members of the board will be reviewed before the appointment of any substantive board.
Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud
Geeta Singh-Knight
This is according to Agriculture Minister Robert Persaud, who emphasised that the appointment of Geeta Singh-Knight occurred prior to the revelations at Colonial Life Insurance Company (CLICO) Guyana.
A source close to the issue had said that Singh-Knight had indicated that she was only temporarily assisting and did not plan to seek to be on the substantive board. Ever since the CLICO (Guyana) debacle, her role at GuySuCo has been questioned.
Singh-Knight was placed on an interim management board of GuySuCo to assist in drafting a ‘turn around plan’ for the industry.
It was later found that while she was at the helm of CLICO Guyana, the company breached the Insurance Act by investing more than it should have overseas and the company was well below its liquidity rate.
Following the move to the court in The Bahamas to wind up the CLICO company there, and realising that CLICO Guyana has in excess of $6B locked in there, Commissioner of Insurance, Maria van Beek moved to the High Court to wind up the company but Acting Chief Justice Ian Chang granted Judicial Management and asked for an in depth report on the affairs of the company.
That report has been completed and, according to van Beek, in a worst case scenario the company was some $US60M above its liability. In March, also, a Director of CLICO (Guyana) and General Insurance Company, William Ramalho, filed a writ for a hearing in court challenging Singh-Knight’s authority to act at the company.
The director is seeking to have the court issue directions under the Insurance Act “to the Judicial Manager as to whether Geeta Singh-Knight is authorised to act as and to perform the duties of Chief Executive Officer of CLICO Life and General Insurance Company (S.A.) Limited whilst the said Company is under Judicial Management.” The Director had previously moved to the court by way of a motion, to have Chief Executive Officer of the Company, Geeta Singh-Knight, suspended.
A suspension letter was delivered to Mrs. Singh-Knight on March 23, last, signed by Ramalho.
“I am instructed to notify you, and I hereby do, that your position as Chief Executive Officer of the company, CLICO Life and General Insurance Co. (SA) Ltd is suspended with immediate effect until the determination of the Judicial Management matter and related proceedings.”
According to the motion filed in the High Court against Mrs. Singh-Knight, upon receipt of the suspension letter, Mrs. Singh–Knight was instructed by the Judicial Manager, Maria van Beek, not to obey the letter of suspension and to remain in her office even though, according to the motion, van Beek has no authority to intervene and interfere in matters touching and concerning the corporate structure of the Company.
Leader of the Alliance For Change, Raphael Trotman, had lambasted the decision to place her on the GuySuCo Board, pointing out that it was known for a long time now that she was in breach of the Insurance Act.
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