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Another Heather Cole Column – JERK HAM AND BALONEY

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Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler

Just before Christmas 2017, the Print Media published an IMF Report that had been commissioned by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) of Barbados on the Supervisory Framework for Sagicor Life Inc. The report revealed the dismal state not only of the Insurance Industry but for the FSC itself. It alluded to the lack controls, of compliance, oversight; of an agency not equipped or staff trained; and without technical expertise and knowledge. In other words the report stated that the FSC has a mandate that is above its capacity to implement.

The FSC did not disclose the contents of the report which was subsequently published by the Print Media. The Chairman of the FSC, Dr. Frank was quick to berate the Press for making the report public; for disclosing the damaging and secretive report.

The events that led to the publication of the IMF report are somewhat disturbing. The IMF came to Barbados and their consultancy lasted from October 9th to 13th 2017 and the Report was issued on October 13th 2017.

On Friday December 11, 2017 the Minister of Finance informed the House of Assembly that all the operations of CLICO would be transferred to a company Resolution Life Insurance Limited (ResLife) by December 31, 2017.  He also stated that the process by which the assets and liabilities would be transferred would commence in January 2018. He also stated that government would “issue bonds to facilitate the restructuring of CLICO, preserve the investments of policyholders and transfer the real estate assets to New Life Investment Company (NLICO).”

Firstly, it is regrettable that the Minister of Finance chose to ignore the recommendations of the IMF. If there is no credible oversight for the Insurance industry why choose to go ahead and create a new company that will operate under conditions where the industry is a law unto itself? Why choose to continue operations within the same environment that caused CLICO to fail.  Why choose to continue when the IMF has warned that Sagicor has the propensity to fail. 

Putting the proverbial new wine in old skins will only cause the old skins to burst.  One cannot expect to reap success with any new insurance company in Barbados that exists under the same old rules.

Secondly, based on the timeline it suggests that even though he was warned by the IMF on October 13th 2017, the Minister hurried to Parliament with the Resolution.  In his haste, he also did not state who the owners or principals of NLCIO or who the owners or principals of ResLife. There was no mention of the relationship between these two companies.  It is therefore unclear if the present policy holders of CLICO will have a stake in the real estate assets once the new company NLCIO is formed.  I have not read the CLICO International Life Insurance Resolution so I am therefore not in a position to discuss any further based on the contents of the Resolution.

What stands out in my mind about this debate is Maxine McClean ranting and raving about the Resolution preventing vultures from getting their hands on CLICO’s lands. To me that was a big red flag and I wondered if it was the lands of CLICO that made the Minister of Finance disregard the recommendations of the IMF that were intended for the well- being of the industry to give the lands to his friends.

Thirdly, could it be that the Media’s publication of the IMF Report actually thwarted the secret Christmas gift of Jerk Ham and Baloney? If so, the swift actions of the Minister of Finance had nothing to do with the policy holders of CLICO but to ensure that the title deeds would be delivered well before the next general election.

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96 responses to “Another Heather Cole Column – JERK HAM AND BALONEY”

  1. David Avatar
    David

    In related news.

     
    OPPOSE ROWLEY’S NATIONAL INVESTMENT FUND! By Keston K. Perry

    posted 9 Jan 2018, 10:10 by Gerry Kangalee   [ updated 9 Jan 2018, 10:11 ]

    Keston K. Perry

    The Prime Minister announced a National Investment Fund that will basically constitute the proceeds from the sale of CLICO assets.. The approximate $23 Billion (though some analysts determine it is more) of public money that had been put into this Private Company will be akin to a holding company. 
    My understanding is that it will be where private investors, mainly high income and upper middle income earners, can buy units that would be denominated so that investors earn interest and other rewards on their investment. Contrary to the Prime Minister’s statement, regular working people cannot afford to invest and do not have the surplus income so to do. So they will lose out and those with means and political connections will gain more wealth. 
    What the government has proposed (that I think should be resisted forcefully) is basically taking monies once owned collectively by all of us to be transferred to a few rich and upper middle income people who can afford and get rich on this fund. I think this is an obscene travesty. 
    Redirecting these funds in this manner is not a useful or long term approach to investment that has any chance to spur diversification. Public ownership of those funds is the ONLY guarantee that any redistribution of wealth will occur so that the labouring and working class people may benefit; even though I am skeptical, given the modus operandi and ethos of this government to be aligned closely to a few members of the upper class. 
    The government has also not outlined any transformative public investment strategy that will redound to citizens’ collective benefit now and the future. 
    Some are engaging in certain bourgeois technical and procedural discussion that is of no use to the collective citizenry. They say that investing in state enterprises is wasteful, leads to corruption and ineffective decisions. This argument is flawed on many levels, not least of which it sets up state enterprises as a bogeyman without appropriate evaluation on their own terms of why they may perform poorly. 
    Many were happy with the de facto nationalisation of Clico with state agents effectively running it over 8 years, but now are saying the state should not hold it in trust or invest the monies on behalf of citizens in transformative diversification projects and collective public goods. This blatant hypocrisy has to be called out. 
    We should not hold out this fig leaf from an anti-democratic elite to decide that these public monies should be transferred to their party financiers. We should resist this action immediately and forcefully. While the people elected the PNM to address a challenging economic situation, we did not do so for them to transfer monies to party hacks and the 1 per cent. It is an undemocratic move that should be staunchly opposed.

    Jamela Khan Salaried people, pensioners and the working poor will not have money to invest.

  2. David Avatar
    David

    CL Financial bailout – 2017 summary

    by AfraRaymond

    This first article for 2018 is my summary of the key issues emerging from the ongoing CL Financial bailout. Yes, the bailout started on Friday 30th January 2009 and nine years later we are still at it. We have spent at least five times more than the original estimated cost, yet the situation remains essentially […]

    Read more of this post

  3. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Bunch pf thieves the whole lot pf them, but they will all get what they deserve as thieves do..

  4. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    The report revealed the dismal state not only of the Insurance Industry but for the FSC itself. It alluded to the lack controls, of compliance, oversight; of an agency not equipped or staff trained; and without technical expertise and knowledge. In other words the report stated that the FSC has a mandate that is above its capacity to implement. (Quote)

    Where have we heard this before? Did we need the IM|F to yell us our regulators were incompetent and lack training?
    Just read the amateurish, nonsensical so-called judicial management review for an example of how grossly inept is our administrative class. It is cheap and easy to blame individuals, especially those who some perceive to be less educated than themselves, for the collapse of Clico and the general mess in the insurance sector. It is too painful to face the facts.
    Wake up.

  5. Tron Avatar
    Tron

    As Dem-in-Chief Barrow predicted: His party will sell out Barbados one day. And this day is today.

  6. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Tron…they are all over the place, running around in circles, dont know theur asses from their elbows, too corrupt, they all have been stealing from the public for too long, their time has arrived and they dont know what to do or say.

  7. Frustrated Businessman: Animal Farm sequel playing out in Bim. Avatar
    Frustrated Businessman: Animal Farm sequel playing out in Bim.

    Hal Austin January 12, 2018 at 4:05 AM #

    the report stated that the FSC has a mandate that is above its capacity to implement. (Quote)

    Where have we heard this before? Did we need the IM|F to yell us our regulators were incompetent?

    how grossly inept is our administrative class.

    ……………………………………………………………………

    And this is exactly what I’ve been typing about the administration of this country for the past 9 years.

    It is our legacy of slavery: every one of the bureaucrats and political appointees is waiting for Massa to show up on his horse and tell them exactly what to do.

    Except now Massa has been chased out and the Pigs living in the farm house have no clue what to do. They assumed that the farm ran itself and all they had to do was get a seat at the big trough so they could enjoy their piece of ‘success’.

    Time for the whole plantation to be broken up into small holdings and let the pigs come out here in the sun and suffer like the rest of us for their daily bread.

    Animal Farm playing out in Bim and the big nose pig Fumble making sure he doesn’t ever have to leave the farmhouse again. Bajans have to look through the windows to get a view of him.

  8. David Avatar
    David

    With the transfer of assets to the new company can we discuss what will be the fate of CLICO lands?

  9. Frustrated Businessman: Animal Farm sequel playing out in Bim. Avatar
    Frustrated Businessman: Animal Farm sequel playing out in Bim.

    David January 12, 2018 at 7:57 AM #
    With the transfer of assets to the new company can we discuss what will be the fate of CLICO lands?

    Paris bought the St. John estates so his friend Thompson could cut them up for housing and make them both much wealthier. I expect that plan is still valid, at least until the next elections. There certainly was never any agriculture plan.

  10. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    @ David at 7:27 AM

    The new GOB owned holding company becomes the owner of these assets. The GOB is the sole shareholder.
    It may later divest GOB ownership and reduce the national debt as in the above T&T scenario.

    Of course fiat money or a bond issue may be used to payout the CLICO clients and this increase of liquidity will be reduced by sale of shares in the new holding company later.

    I hope the above makes sense to BU.

  11. David Avatar
    David

    Thanks Bernard, it was a tongue in check comment in text form.

  12. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    @ Heather Cole

    An excellent summary of the issues. As usual I do not agree with every conclusion. But I understand your perspective.

  13. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ Bernard Codrington January 12, 2018 at 10:02 AM #
    “Of course fiat money or a bond issue may be used to payout the CLICO clients and this increase of liquidity will be reduced by sale of shares in the new holding company later.”

    Let us agree that “fiat money” is not on the cards unless the new guv of the CB would be going against his own commitment not to ‘print money’ to accelerate the external Devaluation of the Mickey Mouse dollar.

    It will be most interesting to see how the market responds to the bond issue given the fiscal death trap the government is about to spring with the depleting foreign reserves and an IMF programme on the horizon.

    When confidence is lost in a person or an entity it is almost impossible to be recovered in the short-term.

    BC, just another PR stunt to buy time before elections. Why not buy some more CLICO policyholders votes as was done in December 2012?

    Just remember that a promise is a comfort to a fool.

    The adage: “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me” does not apply to Bajans when it comes to being swindled by corporate con-artists.

  14. Heather Cole Avatar
    Heather Cole

    @ Bernard thanks.
    No public funds should have been spent on Clico. All of the Executives should be behind bars. Their assets and find in foreign bank accounts should have been pursued and seized to be distributed to the policy holders. The estate of David Thompson should also have been made repay all the money it took.
    If the Minister of Finance has chosen to create 2 public companies using taxpayers money one could have lived with that. Instead he is creating 2 private companies using tax payers money and separating the assets from Operations.
    If the deal has been completed it must be reversed by any new Administration so that the taxpayers own these 2 entities and the lands of Clico.
    In addition it is laughable that the Minister of Finance has chosen to use taxpayer money to save Clico which the taxpayers will not own yet he sold the publicly owned Hilton Hotel.
    It was also a waste of time if all the judicial manager did was to bring us to this juncture.

  15. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    Heather Cole January 12, 2018 at 12:32 PM #

    What evidence of criminality has been found against senior Clico executives?

  16. Heather Cole Avatar
    Heather Cole

    @ Hal you must ask the judicial manager? Also ask him if he knew that a Clico Executive has been hiding out in Barbados under his nose while he was conducting this hearings?

  17. Heather Cole Avatar
    Heather Cole

    @Hal, there needs to be a criminal case.

  18. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    Heather Cole January 12, 2018 at 12:43 PM #

    I have read the judicial review on a number of occasions, but they have not made any allegations of criminality against a named individual, nor have they passed on any evidence to the DPP, other than the infringement of a supervisory instruction. That is still awaiting allocation by the incompetent Listings Office.
    The judicial review was a mess. The basic reason for a judicial review is the authority to subpoena pot entail witnesses, which it did not do. Refusing to appear when ordered to would be contempt of court. No one was charged with contempt.
    The judicial review was such a joke that when it recommended that the Financial Service Commission should carry out an investigation it declined. What!
    They wanted access to Clico’s bank records, and could not get them. What!
    It could not even trace emails from the thompy email address. More importantly, we have apparent evidence of the executive chairman of Clico allegedly having a private company to undertake work for the company; his wife having a hospitality company working for the company; and his sister and close associates buying property from a Clico property investment, all under the watchful eye of the regulators.
    THIS IS THE REAL PROBLEM, INCOMPETENT REGULATION.

  19. Heather Cole Avatar
    Heather Cole

    Hal, I am at a loss why there is not a combined criminal court against Clico at the Caribbean Court of Justice.

  20. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    Heather Cole January 12, 2018 at 1:46 PM #

    If there is a prima facie case, they must first be prosecuted in the local jurisdiction. The big question is: will a future BLP (or UPP or Solutions Barbados) government re-open the Clico investigation and bring in outside forensic auditors?
    They must say it out loud now.

  21. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    @ Miller at 10 :30 AM

    Please note I said the GOB not DLP. Whichever party is in office the State owns the Holding Company. Is this the first GOB company that is /was registered as a private company? I am not a lawyer so I cannot attest to the legal arrangements of the successor company of CLICO.

    In making social decisions what is best for the country takes precedence over vengeance. Jailed citizens cannot restore pensions and endowments to beneficiaries. We have to be wise and pragmatic.
    Of course achieving both is not mutually exclusive. But it is the taxpayers and the majority of the low income earners that pay the bill for incompetence an d bad judgement.. That is why it is important to vote and make an effort to influence the direction of our country.

  22. Bernard Codrington Avatar
    Bernard Codrington

    @ Miller

    Did I not warn that there would be many diversionary tactics leading up to the General Elections? The important response is to keep focused.

  23. Heather Cole Avatar
    Heather Cole

    @Hal, Agreed.

  24. Heather Cole Avatar
    Heather Cole

    There is a story in today’s Friday nation under the caption ResLife take Clico Portfolio. Can someone who has the capability please post.

  25. David Avatar
    David

    @Heather

    All the Nation article has done is to pars the BIPA’s press release found on their Facebook page.

    https://www.facebook.com/145310532208022/photos/970078553064545/

  26. Konkieman Avatar
    Konkieman

    Am I missing something? Where is the mention of the two individuals (Jerk Ham and Baloney) in the initial report? Or is this another racist Heather Cole article with no merit, only an output for a troubled soul?

    Get a life, it feels much better, you know.

  27. Theophilius Gazerts 255 Avatar
    Theophilius Gazerts 255

    .,Is that you kHonkieman 🙂 H silent

  28. David Avatar
    David

    @@Heather

    We can’t have the cake and eat it too.

    If the Clico matter is under judicial management then criminal prosecution/proceedings will have to stay…

  29. millertheanunnaki Avatar
    millertheanunnaki

    @ Bernard Codrington January 12, 2018 at 3:47 PM
    “In making social decisions what is best for the country takes precedence over vengeance. Jailed citizens cannot restore pensions and endowments to beneficiaries.”

    Not so much the incarceration of the fraudsters but the seizing of their assets and other ill-gotten gains which can go a long way of mitigating some of the costs to the taxpayers.

    Just remember there exist on the statute books a few handy pieces of legislation to recoup some of these ‘costs’. The Anti-Money Laundering Act has a lot of teeth that are rarely employed.

    Yes you are right, the GoB can and do have registered private companies.

    You should check to see if the Hilton hotel real estate is/was owned by a government-controlled private company or even the BNTCL or the former GEMS.

    It is doubtful if they are statutory corporations established and operated under Acts of Parliament. But it is possible which- as a former very senior apparatchik in the Army of Occupation you can easily have confirmed.

  30. de pedantic Dribbler Avatar
    de pedantic Dribbler

    @Bernard, reading you above and also reading @Hal it’s interesting how you both present similiar theses but with rather different slants.

    In Hal’s case he seems to be concocting a legalistic way to support his ‘acquaintainces’ by attesting to the lack of damning indictments from Jordan et al in the JD. You on the other hand use equally poetic palaver to assert what you describe as a non-vengeful approach.

    Well done to both of you!😁

    HAL, I did NOT read the JD several times but after my reviews of key segments I absolutely interpreted the remarks about the transfer of that $3 mil cheque to Mr Parris as a very suspect and on its face absolutely illegal act.

    I also cannot comprehend your euphemistic way of claiming that the supervision was ‘incompetant’ despite the fact that a senior officer in the supervisory office was summarily removed from their role at the cusp of this sordid affair after attempting to bring the CLICO execs to court.

    And Bernard, as suggested by Miller when we pierce that veil and actually put malfeasors in jail only then will the importance of voting and influencing the country’s direction really MEAN something.

  31. Gabriel Avatar
    Gabriel

    I agree with Heather.The Treaty of Chagauramas provides that disputes in the Caribbean Community be settled at the CCJ.One wonders why this was not a unanimous decision by the PM’s and Presidents of the Community.This is a classic case of “who will bell the cat”.It is suspicious.

  32. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    de pedantic Dribbler January 12, 2018 at 6:37 PM #

    I also cannot comprehend your euphemistic way of claiming that the supervision was ‘incompetent’ despite the fact that a senior officer in the supervisory office was summarily removed from their role at the cusp of this sordid affair after attempting to bring the CLICO execs to court.(Quote)

    First, a single individual cannot supervise an insurance sector. No man or woman is that professionally or intellectually equipped to. So, I am blaming the system, not an individual. It is team work, comprising actuaries, lawyers and management consultants.
    Second, and it flows from the first, a competent insurance (financial) regulator must be fully aware at all times of everything the company is doing, from the hiring and sacking of executives (approved persons), to the design of new products before they were marketed. New products should have been analysed by the regulator, including the actuarial assumptions underlying the products before going on sale. The regulator ultimate responsibility is protection of the consumer.
    Senior Clico executives should not be allowed to run their own private companies, and even worse, undertake work for the company. Apart from the conflict of interest, it is morally wrong.
    And, at the risk of repeating myself, Clico’s investment policies should have been cleared with the regulator, including setting itself up as a commercial and residential property dealer.
    Remember, unlike a bank, whose business model is borrow short and lend long, insurance companies’ business models are based on long-term obligations.
    If you are a young person aged 25 and you have bought an annuity, it will be at least 40 years before you draw on it; your hope is that the company will be in business in 40 years’ or at the very least the annuity has been sold on.
    If you have bought a whole of life insurance policy at least you hope to live for a further 60-70 years.
    Compared to insurance companies, banks operate on dodgy business models, which is why their accounting revelations differ from ordinary companies.
    Most big companies have assets of about 30 per cent of their liabilities; at the height of the financial crisis most banks had assets of about seven per cent of their liabilities. This has since increased to about 18 per cent. Banks live in fear of a run.

  33. Gabriel Avatar
    Gabriel

    The Myrie case went straight to the CCJ.

  34. David Avatar
    David

    @Gabriel

    The CCJ is recognized as the final court of appeal for what again?

  35. Gabriel Avatar
    Gabriel

    David
    The CCJ is the final appellate court for 4 Caribbean countries only.

  36. David Avatar
    David

    @Gabriel

    What point of law would you carry the CLICO matter to the CCJ in its original jurisdiction?

  37. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    When rich and powerful foreigners speak you have to listen.

    ” If hotel magnate Gordon Butch Stewart were in charge of the Barbados economy, ”

    https://www.barbadostoday.bb/2018/01/12/too-many-entitlements/

  38. Bajan in NY Avatar
    Bajan in NY

    @Hants January 13, 2018 at 12:43 AM #

    After this bloated gut SOB fleeced the stupid ministers of govt for every penny in corporate welfare he could, he has the nerve to tell people who actually pay taxes about too much social entitlements. Stupse

  39. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Stewart is indeed a bloated, greedy welfare rat and crook, but blame the bribetaking, incompetent government ministers who allowed him back into Barbados to be insulting and disrespectful to people on the island….again….it appears these clowns in parliament dont think Stewart did enough damage to the island the first time he destroyed paradise hotel out of spite…they gave him a second go around to do even more damage.

    Not only has the island become a self created shithole, but now they got a Jamaican parasite butch stewart, with 40 years of welfare concessions, given to him by the corrupt government ministers in exchange for their cut…read bribe……and a few hundred low paying jobs for the underpaid and exploited……and very little else to benefit the island financially….telling bajans, they get too much welfare, the same parasites of his disgusting ilk who monopolize every business opportunity on the island enabled by corrupt ministers and politicians….to disenfranchise the same population, rendering them social dependents.

    Now this parasite stewart who destroyed paradise hotel with his racist intent….got talk for the people…..

    …..any intelligent incoming government would roll back that 40 years of bribe driven welfare concessions to sandals….to 5 years retroactively. ….and only 5 year incremental concessions going forward once sandals buys local products from the island for his chain and bring a portion of the hotel’s earnings to the island…….let sandal earn it’s welfare concessions.

    Stewart is a damn welfare sucking crook and should not have been allowed into the island again…ever

  40. lawson Avatar
    lawson

    ” the island has become a self created shithole” WW… are you saying trump was right about something?

  41. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Lawson…of course trump is right, he himself is turning the US into a shithole, the Norwegians told him as much yesterday, very explicitly…..google it yaself.

    …the leaders are the ones turning countries into shitholes and and have for centuries causing the prople to run from wars, poverty and hardships…because of leadership greed and lust for power and dictatorships.

    Why ya think France cannot say anything, because the greedy pigs know they spent centuries stealing from Haiti and many African countries with the help of their dumb black leaders, turning them into and keeping them as shitholes for as many centuries as they could to feed off the backs of black people like the parasites and welfare rats that they are….

    The world leaders, the small island leaders….they are the shitholes.

    Glad he exposed this and made it easier to deal with his funky ass.

  42. Gabriel Avatar
    Gabriel

    David
    Dispute settlement within the community.CL Financial is the mover and shaker of Clico.Barbados contends that Clico Barbados is nothing to do with Trinidad .The OECS contend that Barbados has some responsibility since it functioned as a Head Office for Clico in the OECS.I think Ralph Gonsalves has an issue with Barbados on this Clico affair.

  43. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Gabriel….serves them right, if the corrupt government had locked up leroy leper for theft and seized all his stolen property…

    ….and seized the 30 million dollar David Thompson estate instead of helping Leroy Leper and all the CLICO crooks escape justice without consequences, including the trini woman the government allowed to hide out in Barbados from the Bermudans…I think it was…after she laundered so much money….that could never happen..

    Hopefully, there will be some international warrants out for all of them…they are criminals and thieves.

  44. Heather Cole Avatar
    Heather Cole

    Something that is quite puzzling is why the Clico policyholders agreed to the creation of 2 separate companies.

  45. Well Well & Cut N' Paste At Your Service Avatar
    Well Well & Cut N’ Paste At Your Service

    Lack of understanding, lack of knowledge, mediocre sellout lawyers.

  46. David Avatar
    David

    @Heather

    All the information in the public domain support the conclusion that the policyholders had no real say in how the new company companies were setup and are to operate. The single director appointed to sit on the new company board of directors smacks of tokenism. Feel free to google June Fowler and BIPA or check their Facebook page.

  47. Heather Cole Avatar
    Heather Cole

    @ David it seems like a classic case of wilful blindness or the blind leading the blind. In addition their legal representation left a lot to be desired. Perhaps they needed a criminal lawyer that specializes in insurance. I do not think that they have yet realized what has it them.

  48. David Avatar
    David

    There is too much politics Heather. The other consideration is the lack of resources. You hire monkeys with peanuts.

  49. Hal Austin Avatar
    Hal Austin

    Something that is quite puzzling is why the Clico policyholders agreed to the creation of 2 separate companies.(quote)

    @Heather,

    As a nation, we are in denial. Financial regulation in Barbados is so bad it is silly. What the government should have done ten years ago was to set up a ‘good’ Clico and a ‘bad’ Clico.
    The ‘good’ Clico would have been mandated to continue the company’s legal obligations ie annuities etc; while the ‘bad’ Clico would have managed the dissolution of the awful investment decisions they have made.
    But it is part of our decision-making culture to make a mountain out of a mole hill. We messed up the regulation and supervision and we have also messed up the resolution of the problem.
    I remember saying to you sometime ago, government is the lender of last resort, policyholder obligations would have been underwritten by the government. We are jokers, we are a mess, we do not know as a nation anything about financial services.
    But when people from the diaspora, with huge experience, want to contribute to their island home, they are turned down by incompetent civil servants and politicians.

  50. Artax Avatar
    Artax

    de pedantic Dribbler January 12, 2018 at 6:37 PM #

    “In Hal’s case he seems to be concocting a legalistic way to support his ‘acquaintances’ by attesting to the lack of damning indictments from Jordan et al in the JD.”

    @ de pedantic Dribbler

    Hal Austin’s comments is consistent with someone pretending to know what a forensic audit and its scope of work entails.

    Judicial management is essentially a process concerned with rescuing a “financially distressed” company as a going concern through the formulation and implementation of a plan to restructure the company. For example, if for reasons of mismanagement a company is unable to meets its financial obligations, a Judicial Manager is appointed by the Court to manage the affairs, property and business of that company, and present an interim report.

    It is also interesting to note that (1) a Judicial Manager is appointed for a SPECIFIC PERIOD of TIME and (2) the company is also temporarily shielded from legal proceedings by third-parties, such as the starting of lawsuits against the company and the enforcement of charges on, or security over, the company’s property, thereby giving it the opportunity to rehabilitate.

    According to page 1 of the Deloitte “Forensic Audit of CLICO International Life Insurance Ltd. (under Judicial Management): Report as of December 5, 2011,” under the caption: “Introduction and Background:

    “On April 14, 2011 the Supreme Court of Barbados (the “Court”) appointed Deloitte Consulting Ltd. as Judicial Manager (“Judicial Manager”) of CLICO International Life Insurance Ltd. (“the Company” or “CIL”) pursuant to section 57 of the Insurance Act of Barbados.”

    “On April 29, 2011 the Court issued a further Order, setting out the authority of the Judicial Manager. The Order dated April 29, 2011 required the Judicial Manager to file an Interim Report with the Court regarding the operations of CIL within 30 days. Accordingly, the Judicial Manager filed an Interim Report on May 27, 2011; the findings in that report were presented by the Judicial Manager before the Court on June 22, 2011.”

    “On July 8, 2011 the Judicial Manager submitted an Application to the Court setting out the basis for its recommendation that a forensic audit of CIL be undertaken by the Forensic & Dispute Services team of Deloitte & Touche LLP in Canada (“Deloitte & Touche LLP”) to assist the Judicial Manager in identifying, securing and reviewing the documentation available to support the inter-company balances and to identify related party transactions.” [Page 1, Forensic Audit Report as of December 5, 2011]

    The main “objective of the forensic audit was to obtain information to assist the Judicial Manager in its efforts to recover the inter-company assets of CIL and realize them for the benefit of CIL’s creditors.”

    The audit revealed a number of questionable financial transactions and omissions were included in the forensic audit report.

    It would be unreasonable for anyone to expect the JM to recommend criminal charges to be brought against any individual when such was not included in the “scope of work” of the forensic audit.

    During a meeting held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Convention Centre in September 2011, the Judicial Managers told CLICO policy holders that on September 20, 2011, the High Court the Judicial Managers’ request to track down “other assets that could be identified for the benefit of policyholders,” and a forensic audit would begin on October 11 to investigate undocumented assets worth 350 million dollars (17 million US dollars) “as well as any other unknown assets.”

    What we should be asking is if the forensic audit was completed…….. and if it was, where is the report?

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