THERE IS EVIDENCE of a finance contract being in place between CLICO and the National Housing Corporation (NHC) for the housing project at Constant, St George.The DAILY NATION has been able to obtain a copy of a contract prepared on April 7, 2009, signed by CLICO International General Insurance Limited’s director Terrence Thornhill, and co-signed by NHC’s acting general manager Lanette Napoleon-Young and sacked chairman Marilyn Rice-Bowen on September 28, 2009. The NHC is listed as “borrower”, CLICO International General Insurance Ltd (CIG) is listed as “lender” and CLICO Property Development Inc. is listed as “contractor”.The arrangement sum is $7 333 030 for the purpose of funding the value of a housing construction programme at Constant, St George, pursuant to a contract entered into between the corporation and the contractor.The contract indicated that the security was a letter of comfort from the Ministry of Finance and that the loan would be disbursed in stages directly to the contractor CLICO.According to the contract, principal repayment of the loan commenced on June 30, 2010, and is slated to continue in semi-annual instalments of $1 222 171 until the loan is liquidated. However, under the terms of the agreement, if the housing units within the construction programme are sold or otherwise transferred to other persons, then the “loan repayment period shall be expedited to terminate upon the transfer of ownership of at least 95 per cent of the housing units”.Explaining yesterday what was a finance contract and its strength, attorney-at-law Hal Gollop told the DAILY NATION that such a document was “a contract for the execution of a project”.He added: “It finances the project; that means everything, from purchasing material to completion of the project before the keys are handed over.”Gollop said that there might be other “subsidiary” contracts that relate to such things as paving, laying pipes and landscaping but they would all still fall within the overall project.He also noted that under the law, where there was no “written contract” between parties, this did not mean that a contract did not exist. He indicated that the existence of a contract as a matter of evidence could be gleaned by part performance, a memorandum or a deed in writing.The DAILY NATION was also able to get a copy of a contract listing CIG [lender], NHC [borrower] and Rayside Construction [contractor] for an amount of $2 359 623. This was for the purpose of the installation of roads, drainage, water and sewerage facilities at Constant. This agreement was also signed by Thornhill, Rice-Bowen and Napoleon-Young.The project has recently been the source of controversy with Rice-Bowen indicating that despite her “best efforts and alerts” she could not ensure that a contract was put in place with CLICO Holdings Limited for the project. She was fired on July 31.
