The following has been delivered from a usual reliable BU source. BU has taken the decision to publish in the interest of pursuing transparency and truth in what can be labelled The CLICO Mess.
It has become public knowledge that the Judicial Management team has compiled its Report on the CLICO matter. However, BU has been alerted that this Report might not see the light of day because of a very fundamental legal obstacle. It has become known to Mr Parris’ legal advisers that one of the Managers charged with the production of the said said Report pursuant to the work it has been doing is MR PATRICK TOPPIN .
This is a very significant fact. Mr Toppin was a former employee of CLICO until he was DISMISSED by the Company then under the management of Mr Parris . It has also become known that there was a subsequent legal battle between the two. The informed view now being expressed is that against this background, Mr Toppin should have recused himself from acting as an official in ANYTHING to do with CLICO far more to act as a member of a judicial management team which could possibly pass judgment on the company . We have been advised that at the heart of the matter is the requirement for any such body like the Judicial Management team to observe the RULES OF NATURAL JUSTICE ; the particular rule being the RULE AGAINST BIAS .
Coming at this stage of the CLICO investigations, this revelation is of immense significance ; we have been advised that Mr Parris is instructing a team of competent lawyers who are well capable of exploiting this obvious oversight . Maybe the Judicial Manager Toppin in his zeal to get back at Parris , with whom we are told he had a very bitter relationship , did not instruct his legal advisers properly , because they could not possibly have slipped up on such a basic point to the extent that would have allowed them to sanction his participation as a judicial manager . However, it does appear now that the work of the Management team will come up against a major legal hurdle . The public is advised to keep a close watch for further developments .
151 responses to “The CLICO Saga About To Take A New Twist”
Spare a moment and sign the petition to stop genetically modified foods (GMO) from entering Barbados which is adversely affecting our health and that of our children.
https://www.change.org/petitions/the-government-of-barbados-ban-the-importation-of-genetically-modified-foods-gmo-into-barbados
@ David | February 23, 2012 at 11:17 PM |
But real (tangible) evidence and the backing of Statute law can increase the chances of securing convictions more so than vaguely drafted SOI or FSC regulations. Public sentiments do not have much play in evidence-based law. For example were the payments recorded in the books and/or included in the tax returns of the recipients involved? YES! Then fine, leave the public to judge on your integrity and honesty! NO! Now pay the taxes and the accompanying fine and penalties. The public will know about your integrity and honesty.
A country, an economy, a government, a political party, a dead man’s memory, my investment, my father’s pension, my co-worker’s debts, people’s emotional sanity, financial confidence and faith in public officers are but some of the other things at stake. AX changed the labour/education landscape. CLICO now will change the political/financial landscape. The FSC is still duty bound to investigate irrespective of toppin, the question is, will they dig as deep as they should. B’dos “quiestly” lost credibility over the marina issue, now we’re poised to lose more over this. And ta think d silly season aint even fully start yet.
@Observing
You are bang on with your last comment. This CLICO matter maybe the crucible for how it carries out its mandate in the eyes of the people.
@ David.
Thanks for your assistance for trying to bring some sanity to the discussion. The crucial factor in this CLICO ” saga” here is that the matter has proceeded to the Law Courts and one of the parties involved in any possible decision that COULD POSSIBLY AFFECT CLICO is a person who was once employed by CLICO and was DISMISSED from his post with the company. A court , faced with this fact MUST invalidate anything coming from the tribunal of which he is a member plain and simple.
A parallel matter is how Deloitte International will regard this matter.
We know there will be a political price to pay but the most important thing is for every last cent should be taken from Clico and all its executives who participated in this debacle.
Those who took their hard earned money to pay premiums and invest in retirement plans should get their money back even if every asset of Clico and its executives are sold to pay back the “Investors”.
There are Bajans who are tortured everyday by the losses they have suffered at the hands of Clico. I hope they have the strength to survive.
The same way Bernie Madoffs assets were sold off to pay investors so should Clico assets. Simplistic in my delivery but you all get the point.
@ David
I rather think that Deloitte International would be most upset with the local branch for its unprofessional conduct because the action of the local branch will have relevance for the International branch.
@Hants
Your sentiment is worthy which brings us back to the court and the law i.e. the point An Observer has been making.
@ David
Thank you AGAIN for trying to bring persons back to the point that THIS IS A LEGAL MATTER that is engaging our courts. The political sounding off that is currently dominating the debate is a little premature.Let us also not forget ..PARRIS IS NOT CLICO , whatever persons may choose to think about him; CLICO ALSO HAD A BOARD . This fact will also be of immense importance in the future. THAT BOARD WAS THE POLICY MAKER AT CLICO…..NOT PARRIS. HE WAS AN EMPLOYEE.
Please ladies and gentlemen, do not allow your thoughts to run amok. Control them.
and in other news
http://www.nationnews.com/articles/view/parris-missing/
David it seems like this is spinning into a whirlpool of potential endless litigation.
I hope the people who lost money can get some back before the lawyers take all.
According to a Nation newspaper report Deloittes is pursuing legal action.
@Hants
You may recall BU’s advice to policyholders is to take a ‘haircut’. It is too late now, the Court now has the matter.
Green verbs missing in action! RFLMAO Well Well Well! How the mighty becomes a rat looking for a hole! Have they checked the BOX in Martins Bay? Have they checked with the Queen in St. Farlip? Dem check the airport?
Check the throne room in St. John’s church!
@islandgal246 | February 24, 2012 at 1:41 AM |
“Check the throne room in St. John’s church!”
Islandgal, I was also wondering if Leroy might be inside there, but you really think the Greenverb Giant would hide out inside that TOMB?
When was this commission set up and the JMD’s announced? Why is it only now that an objection has been launched? I don’t think that if the time between appointment and objection is excessive, there can be any chance for Mr Parris. Laches and acquiescence may well apply here. In other words, due to their failure to take action earlier, CLICO and Parris may well be deemed in law to have agreed with the appointments. I don’t think CLICO and Parris stand a hope in hell on this one. It is not something that ought to take any COMPETENT judge more than 5 minutes – but of course, in Barbados, judicial COMPETENCE, is the problem.
if someone (Toppin) was employed by Clico and had a case against them should he be excluded from fighting against them in a tribunal. As an ex-employee is he excluded from divulging inside knowledge from company privilege, or is there suggestion he will blow the case deliberately
millertheanunnaki | February 23, 2012 at 11:15 PM |
“If those elected and appointed with the holy mandate of meting out justice are really serious and want to name and shame Le Roi and not bamboozle the policyholders they would try to use the Anti Money Laundering legislation or the Income Tax Act to bring charges of impropriety against the accused.”
VERY MUCH FOOD FOR THOUGHT>>>>>June & co.
Is Leroy Parris happily in Italy this morning with his [business] partner Cyril Duprey and a significant chunk of the policy holder’s money?
We know that our Prime Minister (the dead one) was Leroy Parris’ lawyer friend, and the current Prime Minister (the half-dead one) is Leroy Parris’ friend. The question: Is Peter Gilkes also Leroy Parris’ friend? Not that I take Gilkes seriously. Barbados is a very small place and I’ve known him since he was an elementary schoolboy?
Some other questions: Was Patrick Toppin the only employee dismissed or severed by Leroy Parris? Was it Leroy Parris’ practice to dismiss or sever honest employees? [and unlawfully acting on the ‘legal’ advice of our Prime Minister – the dead one – unmarried pregnant employees even though Parris is himself the father of a daughter, begotten, born and raised outside of marriage] Did Parris dismiss or sever any employees who refused to handle the Flexible Executive Premium annuities? Is it not true that these employees who are highly competent and highly respected insurance executives recognized the Flexible Executive Premium Annuities as junk and refused to sign on and were severed by Parris with the advice of his lawyer our dead Prime Minister? Is it not true further that said employees were aware that the supervisor of Insurance had issued a stop order and decided to obey the supervisor of insurance and disobey Parris? Perhaps Peter Gilkes can answer these questions for us since he seems to know so much. Not that I take Gilkes seriously. Barbados is a very small place and I’ve known him since he was an elementary schoolboy?
Continued …….above
Were the payments made from the CLICO business bank accounts to DT Associates for the benefit of DT Associates or a third party? Were the source(s) of these proceeds declared as required under the Anti-Money laundering regulations?
Were these receipts declared as revenue or income in the tax returns of DT Associates or any other party?
Vote Independent
or NOT at all …!
I mekkin’ Tee Shirts with this slogan …!
After the long talk the question remains: did Toppin’s accounting firm product audited financials for CLICO?
If the answer is yes then…
One of the major problems with this society is that most Barbadians don’t give a damn unless something affects them personally. We accept breaches of the law by bid-ups as acceptable as long as everything seems to be going right. But when something happens then we hear a lot of people complaining.
It is well known that CLICO has been putting vast sums in election campaigns contrary to the Representation of the People Act. The majority of which went to the DLP with just enough going to the BLP to ensure that CLICO could get away with breaking the law. No one spoke up. Then these same people who criminally overspend on election campaigns go into the House and call themselves “honourable”.
When the CLICO empire was collapsing, Government set up an oversight committee that gave the people at CLICO enough time to secure themselves, rather than follow the law which already exists. People were fooled into thinking that was a viable solution. After the oversight committee failed they then decide to follow the law but with one condition that still troubles me: they left the people, who should be subject to investigation, in place.
Another issue that should cause right thinking people to shudder is that Government gave Public Workers Credit Union a loan from the NIS Fund to purchase Clico Mortgage Finance Company. This transaction was done without the blessings of the membership as is required by law and not a single member of the membership of over 70,000 objected. Mind you, the public official that should have prevented this breach of the law (Registrar of Co-operatives) collaborated. The purchase price included an amount of $1.9 million for goodwill. The credit union purchased a company to compete with itself which is now becoming a drain on the credit union. Apparently, all of that was fine since it managed to find a job a CEO for a man who could not find a job for five years. I don’t know if Government turned a blind eye to this mess because the CEO is the son of disgraced former Speaker of the House, Neville Maxwell.
@Amused
Why would the parties (Parris/Thornhill) believe he had to make an objection anyway?
@ David
Especially if they wanted this outcome.
The fundamental issue is that the so-called judicial management committee is in insurance terms a fiction. Made up mainly of accountants it was a mistake. Accountants do not run insurance companies. The people who do and understand insurance companies are actuaries.
The judicial management committee would have to unearth the actuarial assumptions made by Clico’s in-house actuaries, on whose judgements executive decisions were made.
But, in any case, this has happened far too late and it is a reflection of the gross incompetence of financial regulation in Barbados.
First, had there been proper supervision the regulator would have known about Clico’s terrible investment decisions; second, after the 2007/8 global banking crisis and recession, Clico (and all other banks and insurance companies) should had undergone extensive stress testing, and the results made public.
Part of the problem is the local managerial mind-set. I remember senior regulators and bankers saying that Barbados was unaffected by the global crisis.
I can only imagine that if they had, and the central banks for one claims to have carried out stress tests, then what are the results?
Further, once the crisis at Clico had become public, the regulator should had ordered all senior managers and executives out of the registered buildings, changed the locks, installed a temporary management team to keep the business as going concern. Given the Clico reach across the Caribbean, the temporary team should have been brought in from Canada, the UK or the US.
Policyholders should be reassured that their policies were still valid, shareholders and other investors should be made to wait for an outcome.
All senior managers and executives, those suspended, should have their passports seized and bank accounts frozen and ordered not to leave the country by.
The a team of forensic accountants should then go through the books and if there was evidence of improper actions, suspected fraud or any other unauthorised dealings, police called in.
None of this has happened and that is down to bad regulation.
Hal Austin
What should and what was is two different things
no one political side should be rubbing their hands in glee because as the facts come to light the truth would be borne out that CLICO was a cash cow for both political parties
@ Amused.
You are obviously learned in the law but you have the bull by the tail. Go read the Pinochet case. There was no obligation on Mr Parris / CLICO to object ; the responsibility was on the Manager who would be deemed to know the facts to recuse himself . In the Pinochet case a decision was given By the HOUSE OF LORDS but was subsequently recalled. That was AFTER THE COURT HAD RULED.
Laches has to do , as I have been advised , with one sitting on one’s rights in a court action ; there is no court action yet as far as this Report is concerned .
Allan Stanford….boy you should have been a bajan racketeer operating et al.
Hey poor Guyanese contractor now in remand….. you.not a big shark….jail is for poor bad boy…..BIG ONES fa Parris. (country)
@ ac & Bajanfuhlfe;
Gone underground on the CLICO revelations? Or are you still blaming OSA for it? Even for the payments in 2009 to DT Associates?
One wonders if your still decent and honest man should be keep friends with frauds and alleged criminals under our Westminster-mimicking form of government.
Now that the royals are in town be careful how you respond. And don’t go blaming “Affa” for this or make references to the 14 years bogeyman. (Affa made FS keep friends greenverbs!).
@ David .
I do not understand how Peter Gilkes is of any relevance in this matter, email or no email. The question to be FACTUALLY CONSIDERED is : was Toppin a former employee of CLICO who was dismissed from the Company ? If this is true , then the rest is straightforward..Toppin should have recused himself.
You know this PR stunt sure to back fire….yesterday it was the dead king et al getting nuff heat on another post……dead king and freinds & co…din like this..HEAT HEAT….calling fa justice MAFA..
In comes this post…Clico saga Twist…..attention switch ….same shit different dip…all roads lead to…..FD….nice move and play for time…
others too stratagizing don’t YOU…. fagget
what is there to talk about when Both parties were complacent in their actions or non actions to protect the policy holders .
@An Observer
As you probably know the CLICO Mess is bound up in politics and emotion.
There are any political operatives even on BU who forget that CLICO is a private company. To illustrate the point: this is a company which has been under judicial management for months and senior official continue to be paid.
The CLICO Mess as political operatives would make out is not isolated to Barbados. This is a regional regulatory failure of a catastrophic nature. If we don’t believe it check this link out:
http://www.stabroeknews.com/2012/news/breaking-news/02/23/will-duprey-laugh-last/
It is most insidious,how a dead man dealings could so extensive and permeating a year after interment .It begs of one the extent of that realm had he been spared with more life.Not to be a party pooper, there is more that has been kept close to breast…and for good reasons..the Clico saga post will be a good forerunner for June & co.. and the rest of us the electorate.
The present issues all point to one and only one thing…… a lack of integrity and decency.
Had this been the US ( Hal Austin) as with Stafford….some one would be up in Dodds eva sense, but in a paradise where a prime minister has more power ( in his realm) than a president of america…shit duz have wings.
May the Almighty be there to console those poor policyholders and investors.The agents also surely feel like shit.What I would like to ask all those culprits and benefactors,how do you sleep at night? The sins of the fathers( mothers) surely shall falls to the children.
@Onions
Relax because if we were talking about locking up the buck would not stop at DLP.
Sounds to me like Patrick Toppin was the best man in Barbados for the Judicial Manager job!
According to Toppin’s lawyers (Clarke Gittens & Farmer) as reported in today’s Nation, there were court proceedings between Toppin acting as receiver for Plantation Holdings and CL Financial and some of its subsidiaries including Clico Holdings. Toppin had been appointed receiver for Plantation Holdings which was a subsidiary of CL Financial.
Toppin had also provided consultancy service to Clico Holdings in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Oh, David you are too partisan…..
@Brutus
The article to which you refer states Toppin declared his interest when he operated under Pannell Kerr Foster as receiver for Plantations. Here is a question for you. His lawyers stated that he declared his interest to the Supervisor of Insurance (the same office where regulatory failure occurred) and to the ministry of finance (where political chicanery weighs heavy). Given that CLICO is under judicial management did the Courts of Barbados give its approval having been apprised of the involvement of Pannell Kerr?
The fact the Plantations Holdings was a subsidiary of CLICO’s parent company CL Financial is just legal mumbo jumbo.
@ David BU:
I have sign the petition against GMO entering Barbados.
@David….as I scrolled down reading I was thinking, I wonder if this is not a good opportunity to get a few extra signatures on the petition about our health and the poisons we are importing…and then there you were….catching the wild cat while you can and posting it yourself…is this a case of great minds think alike and fools seldom differ? Or you think we just might get a more signatures today as we puff along like half dead cats trying to climb a ladder?
The fact is – what a great captured audience…the only problem is that all the above have to put a name to the petition David…perhaps we should have thought of that and had people sign the petition under a sweet made-up name. Ah! Well! No harm in trying….and it is an important petition….as important as the mess of CLICO is to each Barbadian.
.. and den…to hit the nail on the proverbial head…there was oldonionbags who is now me friend (for a likkle while anyhow) mentioning someting ’bout food for thought…and that was it…I made a decision to ONCE MORE appeal to those on this blog to please, please sign the petition about banning GMO foods and Monsanto products….or we will all be far too sick to be able to do anything about CLICO and the ress’ o’ dem mekking we snort ’bout hey….did I say snort????? Oops! dat is another whole big issue and I in enough trouble with me big mouth and me name for all to see…..so hey is de petition again.
..all it takes is a likkle click with a finger, no stress, and a signing and a posting and a sharing with friends. And it is for FREE. No insurance policies to buy. No money to be tiefed. Do it befo’ it is too late…and that could come soon – we already got GMO foods from the US hey…more coming with CostULess and we growing it in St. John and St. George – we soil, water, food and health has been compromised and we need to clean all of it up NOW!
https://www.change.org/petitions/the-government-of-barbados-ban-the-importation-of-genetically-modified-foods-gmo-into-barbados
@oldonionbags my friend….Stanford would not have had a chance in Buhbayduss….he too white and a foreigner….we does blame dem fuh everyting…so all now so he would’ah been in Dodds. Lock up fuh years without a chance of even gine back to de US…beaten every day too jess for fun…not even a chance to make a free phone call to de US Embassy.
Re CLICO….my heart really, really goes out to all the hard-working people living on this island who put all their faith (and money) in a son of their soil (one who even worked it as a young man as I understand de background), one of their own who rose above them like Jesus himself…a man to revered and respected….him an’ all de ress of his cronies…I feel so, so bad for those who went off to far-away places wukking dem raas off, leaving family and friends behind, out in de cold o’ winter sometimes, sending home every cent to this same company headed by those who had made it and would ensure their money was safe. I real serious ’cause I know what it is like to lose your hard-earned life to thieves and lecherous people. Dat I can tell ya for sure!
God must have given me a lot o’ brain when I was borning…’cause from de time I know meself I decided dat insurance companies had read and taken to heart Dale Carnegie’s book “How to Make Friends and Influence People” and therefore nevah trusted dem with my likkle pittance of creative money except for car insurance of course and only ’cause it mandatory! But even wid dat I look fuh de cheapest ’cause I know dat in time o’ need dem not gine help muh anyhoo!!! Unfortunately, the Almighty did not gee me enough brain to realize dat what de insurance man did not tekk me ‘good pals and de bankers’ would!!! So I know and feel the pain of all the investors in this what-appears-to-be-quite-blatantly-a-Ponzi-scheme but den, I ent no lawyer.
Barbadians…the time has come not to sit back and watch….stand up and be counted…play an important part in your lives….do something constructive and good to make you proud of being a Bajan. Let your feelings be known and force the powers that be to do what is right. And if they do not….well….tell me what you do with things dat doan work no’ mo’?? do you keep them or do you throw them in de rubbish? The ball re the future of this country is after all in your hands. That is the way I see it anyhow!!! May be wrong but who knows. I MIGHT BE RIGHT. And no! this does not reek of any political siding ’cause I would say this no matter who in power. We as human beings should have a government that loves us – not hate us. Simple tings.
Shoots! I should’ah been a writer!! True True.
DT was his lawyer, his friend and playmate; FS claim he is a friend and not a leper and he will stand by his man; CS was drinking champagne with him and telling the policyholders to shut up and be careful; now Peter Gilkes a DLP government senator and a loon is muddying the waters to question the validity of the JM appointment; CS as Minister of Finance was informed of the previous attachment and accepted it. The question needs to be asked was this a ploy to frustrate justice while appearing to do something? By the time the DLP is finished they will tarnish the reputations of everyone around them, from Barrow back to David. This Clico debacle not just the misdeeds of Parris and the board; but the handling of the matter by Thompson, Freundel and Sinckler will devastate Bajans for years to come.
WOW !!!
TO BAJAN TRUTH
ITS LIKE
WOW !!!
Lawyers have put the case for Toppin – he was a consultant to the firm, it ended not because of firing; he since then worked on the receivership issue it was no legal battle personal or professional as opined by Gilkes drivel. He declared his connection. The forensic audit was conducted by the innternational office, why not the local , to protect integrity and indpendent distance maybe. The court issue was not adversial. What is Gilkes trying to do, protect someone, hide something, unfair policyholders? When will Bajans catch a break from this gov’t which is protecting friends at their expense. David I would cross Gilkes off my reliable source list.
Aren’t you all missing something in relation to all this talk about natural justice and conflict of interest? How is the Financial Services Commission going to escape some of the same questions when its chairman, Frank Alleyne is a former board member of CLICO?
@Onions
Carson Cadogan a rabid DLPite asserts that BU is partisan. You a BLPite asserts the same. Rest assured that all views are challenged on BU even those from the BU household.