Wednesday December 12, 2012
Kaieteur News
No-show witnesses so CLICO probe ends early
Lawrence Duprey Trinidad Guardian - The CLICO/Hindu Credit Union commission of enquiry ended four days prematurely Monday as several scheduled witnesses were out of the country. Sir Anthony Colman, chairman of the commission, was visibly upset at this development, describing the abrupt ending as unacceptable. He was speaking yesterday at the current session of the enquiry at Winsure Building, Port-ofSpain. A representative of the CLICO Policyholders Group was supposed to give evidence yesterday but the group asked to be allowed to give an abridged PowerPoint version, as more than one witness would be overseas. Colman said it was not possible, then asked if there were any other witnesses who could testify in the scheduled period. One of the absent witnesses was Jason Julien, a financial analyst at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Colman said it was “astounding” that a public body like the SEC could not find a substitute witness. He added: “We lost four days of hearing. This is not good.” In June, Colman complained about witnesses not showing up for scheduled hearings. Three witnesses were held in
contempt of the commission, which has the same status as a High Court. They were former CEO of HCU Communications Gawtam Ramnanan, former HCU financial consultant Jameel Ali and Dave Jagpat. The next session of the enquiry will be next February. Monday evening, CLICO Policyholders Group spokesman Peter Permell said attorney Lynette Seebaran Suite was supposed to give a presentation on various CL Financial transactions on behalf of the group at the enquiry tomorrow. However, Permell said, Seebaran Suite left yesterday on a business trip to Miami. However, the day was not totally lost. Henry Hamlet, former department manager, health and life, CLICO, testified yesterday afternoon. He spoke about his experience at CLICO and the problems encountered, such as high interest rates, bloated salaries and other efficiencies that led to its cashflow problems. While being cross-examined by Neal Bisnath, attorney for CLICO, Hamlet pointed to some of the major problems: High leveraging of assets, dismissal of key personnel in the company, problems in marketing and a lack of good corporate governance. He gave the example of a $68 million loss because of a deal with the HCU. He said: “The HCU was going through some difficulties and they went into an arrangement with CLICO to exchange their liabilities for overvalued property portfolio. “The property received by CLICO involved buildings with limited income-generating capabilities. “Because of this,” he said, “CLICO incurred $68 million in losses as a result of that transaction. CLICO provided mortgage funding for the HCU Convention Centre which was outside the approval of the board.” He referred to the insurance policy of former CLICO director Gene Dziadyk, who enjoyed special treatment
Barbados not in any immediate danger of losing British aid Barbados Nation - The European Union (EU) has no plans to w i t h h o l d a i d from Barbados if it refuses to decriminalize b u g g e r y. This assurance came Monday from the new a m b a s s a d o r, M i k a e l Barfod, who said the E U preferred to engage in dialogue with nations, rather than impose conditionalities. The ambassador was responding to questions about British Prime Minister
David Cameron’s threat last year to withhold aid from governments that did not reform legislation banning homosexuality. Cameron had indicated that those receiving British aid should “adhere to proper human rights”. At that time, a British diplomat said Barbados was not in any immediate danger of losing aid since there were no bilateral programmes between Britain and the island.
from Lawrence Duprey, who approved an especially high interest rate. He said: “I have a letter dated April 2007 from Dziadyk and it says in accordance with the amendment of the policy in 2004, and approved by Duprey, that 75.4 per cent shall be credited to this policy for the period 2004 to 2007. “At the end of April 2007, his insurance policy was worth US$12.5 million. In three years, he moved from US$2.3 million to US$12.5 million.”
Page 21
Government committed to the survival of sugar industry KINGSTON, Jamaica CMC - Agriculture Minister Roger Clarke says despite relative decline, the sugar industry remains very important to the Jamaican economy. He said the Portia Simpson-Miller government continues to provide support for the industry, with the latest being the provision of four billion dollars (One Jamaica dollar = US$0.04 cents) over the next four years to increase yield, ensuring that the remains profitable.
“Through the Cane Expansion Fund, we are supporting a massive planting and replanting exercise to take cane farmers output to 1.4 million tonnes from about 500,000 tonnes currently, and increase cane yields to above 70 tonnes per hectare from the current average of 50 tonnes per hectare,” said Clarke, who outlined details in a report circulated at a recent conference organised by the Jamaica Association of Sugar Technologists (JAST).
“We also aim to bring an estimated 8,000 hectares of new land into production, and our projection is to get cane farmers to increase production of cane by some 800,000 tonnes within the next four years at a cost of four billion,” he added. Clarke said the Expansion Fund will provide an estimated three billion dollars for land preparation, harvesting, equipment support on a revolving basis over four years, for farmers in Clarendon and St. Catherine.