Ramesh says he has no political agenda in Clico affair

Former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj told local media Monday his work in representing the Clico Policyholders Protection Association is not politically motivated.

Maharaj was responding to suggestions from Finance Minister Winston Dookeran that people might be jumping on the Clico bandwagon because of their political leanings.  

"I am dealing with a very serious issue," he said and warned that it is Dookeran who has a political career and he should be concerned about that.

He advised the finance minister "to act on the principles of good governance, consultation, transparency and accountability." 

Maharaj has argued that Dookeran was outside his jurisdiction when he announced measures to deal with the CL matter. 

In his budget speech in Parliament on September 8, Dookeran announced that Clico investors would get a maximum of $75,000 of what is owed to them with any other money repaid in equal instalments overs 20 years with no interest.

Maharaj has stated that the Central Bank is the sole authority to deal with the matter based on the amendment to the Central Bank Act passed shortly after the previous government approved the CL memorandum of understanding.

Maharaj has written the Bank asking it to confirm that it won't implement the government plan. He has threatened legal action.

 

However, Clico investors are in no hurry to go to court. They have said they want to have a meeting with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to discuss the matter before deciding if to pursue legal options.

In a related development, former CL boss Lawrence Duprey, 76, is reported to be ill and receiving treatment for an undisclosed ailment at two medical facilities in the United States. 

Duprey quit as chairman of the CL Financial conglomerate and Clico as part of the deal he made with the  Manning PNM administration last year to shore up his company, which was unable to repay hundreds of millions of dollars to depositors.

Duprey told the Trinidad Express his priority now is to restore his health, noting that he had no opinion on the government's plan announced in the budget.