Geeta Singh-Knight back in the news

Jan 03, 2012 News

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By Gary Eleazar

While there are some who may not want too many changes this New Year there are others who would love

to see some. In fact there are reports that there are some with senior affiliations to the Ministry of Agriculture who would like to see the back of Geeta Singh-Knights.
Geeta Singh-Knight was the Chief Executive Officer who presided over the collapse of the Colonial Life Insurance Company (CLICO Guyana). Some now would want to see her go.
Given how the administration operated over the last few years under the Bharrat Jagdeo regime, many are still hesitant to talk to the media on the record about this controversial figure.
But there are those who would love to see her removed from the Board of the ailing Guyana Sugar Corporation (GuySuCo).
Recently appointed Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy, who was at the helm of the Ministry of Health for almost two decades said that he will be awaiting the decisions of President Donald Ramotar and the Cabinet as the changes in the board are yet to be made.
The changes are necessary given that senior board member of GuySuCo and also former Permanent Secretary of the Office of the President Dr. Nanda Gopaul has now assumed the position of Minister of Labour.
Another drastic change in the board members of the Sugar Corporation is that of Donald Ramotar who is now the Executive President of the Republic of Guyana.
Following the now infamous fall out of CLICO (Guyana) when Geeta Singh-Knight was at the helm the then President, Bharrat Jagdeo, had defended her move to being a board member of the ailing Sugar Corporation much to the dismay of many especially in the opposition circles.
When contacted yesterday Dr Ramsammy told this publication a final decision is yet to be made by Cabinet as it relates to the full composition of the Board of Directors of GuySuco but Geeta Singh Knights’s name is under active consideration.
Jagdeo, following the CLICO (Guyana) meltdown and her subsequent appointment to the Board of GuySuCo, had said that despite the fact that she presided over the failure of insurance giant, she had skills.
After reporters had listed the fact that several bad investments were made by CLICO Guyana, they asked Jagdeo whether he thought it was a good idea to have her sit on the GuySuCo Board and he said that she has, “significant skills, frankly speaking.”
Jagdeo had just finished telling the media operatives at a press briefing that several bad investments were made by CLICO (Guyana).
He told media operatives that at CLICO Guyana, all of the money spent can be tracked. “It’s not like it disappeared or was siphoned…The problem is it was the judgment, it might be bad judgment.”
CLICO (Guyana) had invested overseas significantly more than what the laws of Guyana provided for but Jagdeo said, “Clearly we can establish that they had inter-company links established across the Caribbean… they had interlocking directorate and they were excessively leveraged.”
The President said that monies were sent from Guyana to CLICO Bahamas, to the Turks and Caicos, to Suriname and to several other CLICO ventures “because of interlocking directorate and because of incestuous transactions…those are clear to us.”
As it relates to CLICO Guyana’s investments overseas, the President reiterated that, if one should talk about that, a lot of our people

made bad judgments…They were lured by high interest rates….This happen in a financial crisis…Look at how much money is lost around the world.”
Jagdeo stressed that if it were a matter of corruption then it would have been a totally different scenario “but we have found no evidence of corruption.”
A lot of people made bad judgments in the period and a lot of people lost their money, some with (Allan) Stanford.
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 that 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, the then Commissioner of Insurance, Maria van Beek, moved to the High Court to wind up the company.
Acting Chief Justice Ian Chang granted Judicial Management to the Commissioner of Insurance 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 US$60M above its liability.
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 was seeking to have the court issue directions under the Insurance Act “to the Judicial Manager as to whether Geeta Singh-Knight was 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.
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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