Trinidad and Tobago
members, regulators, shareholders and stakeholders.23 The central bank might also have been able to demand greater transparency regarding the HDC deposit with CLICO Investment Bank. This failure to fully investigate potential conflicts of interest or insider trading in a case in which one individual appears as a leading actor in all the enterprises involved would seem to be, at the very least, unfortunate. Moreover, even after the issue had been brought to the fore, the claim could be made that the central bank failed to follow effectively its own ‘Fit and Proper Guideline’,24 as Monteil was allowed to retain his positions as chairman and director of the HMB for a period of fifteen months after its initial investigation and reporting on the matter. The government’s failure to address the implications of highly overlapping directorships undermines public trust and threatens the integrity of the state. If overlapping directorships continue to be a facet of Trinidad and Tobago’s public and private enterprises, the door remains open for conflicts of interest to tempt those in positions of power to abuse their status for personal gain. While closing that door could put to rest some public suspicions of executive misconduct, avoiding overlapping directorships may not be possible in a market as small as Trinidad and Tobago’s. What is possible, however, is for the
regulatory framework to be reformed to require enterprises with overlapping directorships to exercise much higher standards of transparency and accountability. Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute
Additional reading Integrity in Public Life Act no. 83 of 2000; available at www.ttparliament.org/legislations/ a2000-83.pdf. Integrity in Public Life (Amendment) Act no. 88 of 2000; available at www.ttparliament.org/ legislations/a2000-88.pdf. Judgment in the High Court of Trinidad and Tobago, HCA 1735, ‘In the matter of the Integrity in Public Life Act, 2000, as Amended and In the Matter of the Construction of Paragraphs 8 and 9 of the Schedule to the Integrity in Public Life Act 2000 as Amended’, Delivered By the Hon J. Jones, 15 October 2007; available at www.webopac.ttlawcourts.org/ LibraryJud/Judgments/HC/jones/2007/HCA_ 1735_05DD15Oct07.rtf; and the Addendum of 21 January 2008; available at www.webopac. ttlawcourts.org/LibraryJud/Judgments/HC/j_ jones/2007/HCA_1735_05DD21Jan08.rtf. Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute: www.transparency.org.tt.
23 Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, ‘Corporate Governance Guidelines’, revised May 2007. 24 Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, ‘Fit and Proper Guideline’, May 2005.
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