Barbados PM faces confidence vote over CLICO affair

The leader of the opposiition in Barbados has has filed a motion of no confidence against Prime Minister David Thompson over his handling of the CLICO affair. Mia Mottley filed the motion on Friday.

She contends that the Thompson misled more than 38,000 CLICO policyholders, when he indicated that CLICO Barbados was "sound, prudently managed and well regulated” and that Barbadian depositors, investors and holders of insurance policies could be considered safe.

She said the Prime Minister knew or ought to have known that the company’s statutory fund deficit was US$46.5 million at the end of 2007.

The motion also argues that Thompson failed to tell Barbadians what action he had taken, or would have taken to protect the thousands of policy holders, depositors and their families, given the "extraordinary risks" they face because of the deficit that the fund was in, especially with the volatile nature of the financial sector across the Caribbean and worldwide.

Under Barbados law, an insurance company must create a statutory fund placed in trust, with enough assets to match their liabilities in order to protect policy holders, in the event that financial problems would make it difficult for the company to meet its obligations to policy holders.