Rowley, Opposition lay out clear position to support bailout

The Trinidad and Tobago Parliament will vote Wednesday on two finance bills to allow the government to bail out financially strapped CL Financial, the country's biggest conglomerate. It requires a three-fifths vote to pass but there is doubt about whether that would happen.

There are 26 members on the government side, which is the exact number required to pass the multi-billion-dollar measure.

But there is no certainty that fired cabinet minister Keith Rowley would support the bills unless certain conditions are met.

And while all MPs agree that there is an urgent need to step in and prevent the collapse of CL, there are concerns about the way the whole matter has been handled.

Rowley is asking for an airtight guarantee that funds would not be at the disposal of Calder Hart, the controversial chairman of the National Insurance Board, which would take control of 55 per cent of the shares of the CL subsidiary, Republic Bank, the country's largest bank.

Hart is under fire for his role in the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (UDeCOTT), of which he is executive chairman. UDeCOTT is under probe by a commission of enquiry and Hart's CEO told the commission last week UDeCOTT doesn't have to take instructions from any cabinet minister.

Rowley finds that offensive and dangerous and told the House of Representatives Monday he cannot vote for a bill that would give Hart control of billions of dollars of taxpayers' money without proper cabinet oversight.

He appealed to the government to deal with the matter in the national interest. Rowley said he would vote for the bills if he has a clear guarantee from the finance minister that Hart would not be involved. In any case, Rowley is confident that the bill would pass, meaning he wants to support it.

The opposition also has some clear conditions. Chief Whip Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj said his parliamentary colleagues are adamant that the government must place the assets and shares of the CLICO businesses in a special purpose company established for the sole purpose of holding these assets in trust.

He said the directors of this company must be selected according to certain criteria and approved by the Parliament. He said the opposition needs to be convinced that there are no other options than those currently before the House.

Maharaj also wants Hart removed from UDeCOTT and that statements made that State companies are not accountable to ministers be withdrawn.

The UNC is also insisting on equality of treatment for the shareholders and depositors of the Hindu Credit Union (HCU). The government refused to bail out the HCU last year and ordered it closed. Tens of thousands of citizens stand to lose millions.

The opposition's conditions, including the concerns over the HCU, are identical to those outlined by Rowley, which means that if the government maintains its stand the bills could be voted down and the rescue plan would collapse.

Senior Cabinet minister Conrad Enill told the Trinidad Express Tuesday he doesn't know if the Government is trying to meet any of the conditions. "I have no idea and those will be dealt with by the appropriate people - the Minister of Finance and the Leader of Government Business," he said.