FORMER OPPOSITION?LEADER Mia Mottley asked Prime Minister Freundel Stuart a series of questions last Sunday night, indicating that Barbadians are going to sleep every night none the wiser on a range of worrying issues.
At a meeting of the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) St James North branch at St Albans Primary School, she asked the Prime Minister a number of questions about CLICO:
“Why did the Government let the Oversight Committee come to an end one year ago this week and leave CLICO without any oversight over its management decisions?
“Why did the Government not act with alacrity in appointing a judicial manager?
“Why is the Government not telling CLICO and later now the judicial manager [who acts as manager, like a receiver] that they have to take action to defend the Supreme Court suit that Leroy Parris has brought against CLICO for more than $10 million so that he is not given preferred status over the hundreds of Barbadians who are unsecured in trying to get their money back from the EFPAs [Executive Flexible Premium Annuities]?
“Why is the Government not stating publicly that Leroy Parris should be held accountable and should be countersued as the Central Bank of Trinidad has sued [Lawrence] Duprey and others in CLICO Trinidad?
“Why is his Government not telling the public of Barbados, and in particular the CLICO EFPA depositors, that they are entitled under Section 61 (3) of the Insurance Act to go and see the report of the judicial manager at the Registry of the Supreme Court or any other place the Supervisor of Insurance designates?
“Will the PM indicate whether any payments were made to CLICO in respect of Leroy Parris’ gratuity that would have been banned if the Government Oversight Committee was still in place?
“Is the Prime Minister not aware that the Government’s failure to act promptly, as well as the report of his describing Mr Parris as “his pal”, has left thousands of Barbadians without confidence in this matter?
“When will a forensic audit be done of CLICO to get to the bottom of the facts and to provide confidence that the Government is defending the public interest?” (ES)
