PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad – As he called on Government to rethink its bailout plan for CL Financial depositors, Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley on Tuesday apportioned some blame for the company’s collapse to Winston Dookeran and prime minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
Dookeran is a former Central Bank governor and Persad-Bissessar a minister in the United National Congress government when the issue of Clico’s technical insolvency was first raised by former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj.
Saying it was amusing to hear Dookeran, a “regulator par excellence”, blaming the regulator for the CL crisis, Rowley said Dookeran had turned a blind eye to Maharaj’s concerns years ago.
“Mr Maharaj’s concerns were publicly dismissed and told to be untrue by the government of the day. And that may have turned out to be viewed by investors as a vote of confidence in Clico’s affairs. It is noteworthy that Clico’s annuity business exploded to record-breaking levels after this parliamentary rejection of Maharaj intervention.”
Saying that the People’s National Movement government adopted a policy aimed at ensuring there would not be any losses to CL depositors and policyholders, Rowley said this People’s Partnership Government’s plan would cause tens of thousands of people sleepless nights and hopelessness. He urged Government to examine the issue, not only in the context of numbers but in the context of human suffering. (Trinidad Express)
