Former PNM minister admits 'mistake' in Clico matter

Former PNM Minister Senator Mariano Browne

Former Minister in the Minister of Finance in the Patrick Manning PNM administration told the Senate Friday that his government should have paid off CLICO's $12 billion liabilities when it intervened in February 2009.

Mariano Browne admitted that the government made a mistake.

"The one thing that we made a mistake in is not spending the $12 billion immediately," he said. 

Browne suggested that the Manning government might have pulled back from doing that for fear of losing an election.

"We ought to have done that. We ought to have been brave enough to stand up and do it, even if we were going to lose office next year," he said, adding, "We lose it anyway." 

The former minister was speaking during the debate on the Central Bank Amendment Bill and the Purchase of Certain Rights Validation Bill in the Senate.

Browne also made the point that the administration had no choice but to intervene to help bail out CLICO. 

He admitted that the Manning government did not act properly and put the economy at risk. "There has to be bailout at the end of the day...You have to do it and you have to do it fast. And our mistake was not to do it fast enough," he said.

He explained that the PNM didn't do it fast enough because of the high cost but in hindsight it should have been done. Browne noted that what would have cost $12 billion in 2009 is now going to cost the new government $15 billion.

"That delay has cost us $3 billion," he said. "We should have just paid them off and be done with it. That was our mistake and I concede that we didn't just it all right," he added.

Browne told Senators he was not involved in the matter at the time although he was a minister in the finance ministry. He explained that he did not wish to create a conflict of interest situation so he did not get involved. 

Browne reminded the Senate that he ran a bank in Barbados for 11 years on CL Financial's behalf and was involved with CLICO Investment Bank. He said he left in 1993 "long before these difficulties took place".