The former head of the Public Service and retired career diplomat Reginald Dumas says an apology from Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira will not be enough to end the controversy surrounding her alleged conflict of interest in the Government's bailout of CL Financial.
Nunez-Tesheira is expected to make a statement on the issue Tuesday.Dumas' views are shared by former finance minister Gerald Yetming and former Central Bank governor Winston Dookeran, who is also the political leader of the Congress of the People (COP).
"Sorry would not be enough, she must leave," Dumas told the Trinidad Express. "She should step down as Minister of Finance altogether, because she has lost creditability, considerable credibility in the eyes of the population, in the eyes of the financial community both at home and abroad.
"I hope her remarks will not be confined to saying that in the light of criticisms expressed by the population and the Opposition too, about her role in this whole matter of CL Financial, that she will be stepping down as the lead Minister and leaving somebody else because that will not be sufficient."
Yetming expressed anger at the prospect that the minister might try to close the matter with an apology.
"Sorry? What the hell is that? No, no, she ought to resign immediately and if she doesn't resign, the Prime Minister must fire her ... No if but or maybe," he told the Express. He said that he is shocked by what has been disclosed in the media about Nunez-Tesheira regarding the CL Financial matter.
Dookeran said Nunez-Tesheira "has already failed 'the fit for office test' and it is really a mater of personal honour on her part. I don't think this will solve the problem of which this is simply a symptom," Dookeran said, adding the matter strikes at the very "foundation stone on which confidence" is built.
The Sunday Guardian has reported that Nunez-Tesheira owns millions of dollars worth of shares in the group, which she inherited from her late husband Russell Tesheira, a former Colonial Life Insurance Co (CLICO) executive.
The Express reported last week that documents from Clico Investment Bank (CIB) showed that Nunez-Tesheira closed two US dollar accounts with the bank last December 31, before they were scheduled to mature later this year.
She claimed that she did not realise she was breaking the deposits adding that she was not informed by anyone at CIB that she was, in fact, breaking the accounts. However documents showed that she signed the relevant documents to close the accounts and pay a penalty.
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