Retired British judge to probe CL/HCU: AG Ramlogan

Attorney General Anand Ramlogan announced details Thursday of the Commission of Enquiry into the fianancial crisis at CL Finance and its subsidiaries, and the Hindu Credit Union.

Ramlogan said the probe will be conducted by one person - Sir Gavin Lightman a specialist in insolvency, arbitration, intellectual property and administrative law. 

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar announced in Parliament earlier this month that her government would launched the probe to determine the circumstances relating to the problems at the institutions.

The intention, she said is to find solutions and to ensure that there is no recurrence of the problems.

Ramlogan told reporters at the post cabinet briefing about some of the terms of the Commission: 

• Circumstances, factors, causes and reasons the led up to the January 2009 intervention into CLICO and its subsidiaries
• Legal & Fiscal basis for January 2009 decision. How was the injection of capital structured. What happened in the first place and where is the money
• Causes, reasons, circumstances leading to the deterioration of health in these institutions that affect shareholders, investors and others
• Effectiveness and Accountability of the auditing firms of the institutions which could include Central Bank, Security and Exchange Commission. What were the weaknesses and shortcomings of these in relation to the crisis that took place
• If prudent and proper corporate financial practices were adhered to whether such a situation would have occurred
• Whether any 3rd party acted in a manner that would have misled any person/s...

The AG said there will be an outer limit of 6 months and an inner limit of 4 months for this commission.