Employees of Clico employees are calling on CL Financial Chairman Lawrence Duprey to tell them and their clients what happened to more than $5 billion from the insurance company's statutory fund. And the new board newly appointed managing director, Claude Musaib-Ali, has called in lawyers and auditors to find out what happened to the money. "We don’t know where it went to,” Musaib-Ali told workers at a meeting last week, the first since taking over the company.
He told them some of the funds were invested with “companies that were connected with CL Financial” and advised them that the lawyers and auditors are trying to trace the funds.
He also told them CL may not be able to repay the money. The new Clico chief promised to update workers again to tell them “where the money went and if they have got some back.”
While Musaid-Ali was telling workers that the company is facing a $5 billion crisis he was at the same time urging them to work harder and tighten their belts. He told them the company would recover because of the intervention of the Government and Central Bank.
The new managing director said he is determined to change the way things have traditionally been done at CLico with middle and upper management enjoying big perks and high salaries. “We cannot have that display of opulence, as though it is a big rich company and you could drive around and gallery. Days for gallerying are over,” Musaib-Ali told workers.
“This is a burden everyone has to share. This is not a burden that is going be shared by just lower staff. It is going to be shared by everyone,” he added.
Musaib-Ali also made it clear Clico is not being managed by the Government, but by Carolyn John and himself. He said his mandate is to turn Clico around in two years and put it on the stock exchange.
“We are getting help but we don’t want it for too long. We want to be able to stand on our own two feet,” he explained.
( The new Clico board, announced on Feb. 3 by Finance Minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira comprises former Central Bank governor Dr Euric Bobb, who was appointed chairman of Clico, Claude Musaib-Ali, Judy Chang, Marlon Holder, Hayden Charles and Anthony Watkins.)
Opposition Chief Whip Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj and former independent senator Mary King have called for a forensic investigation into CL Financial.
Maharaj said it is necessary in order to put the minds of the public at rest, in particular the policy holders and investors of CL Financial. And he told the Trinidad Guardian he believes now is the time to begin civil proceedings to recover lost monies.
The former Attorney General said a public hearing is also was necessary, noting that Cl Financial had not been complying with the statutory laws as far back as 1999 when he was in office.
“It became clear that the Supervisor of Insurance and Central Bank did not perform their statutory duties. This is an act of negligence,” he told the paper adding that a similar situation in in developed nations like the U.S., England or Europe would certainly lead to prosecution.
One example is former Canadian newspaper baron Lord Conrad Black, who is serving more than six years on prison in the United States for fraud.
There are also the more recent cases of Bernard Madoff who defrauded investors of more than US$50 billion and Texan billionaire Sir Allen Standford, who is under investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for alleged fraud similar to the one committed by Madoff.
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