On the 22 June 2020 the Nation newspaper published a story with the headline $35m ICBL deal in works.
#donvilleinniss
On the 24 June the media reported that former Chairman of CLICO Holdings was being questioned by police. He has since been charged with fraud and released on bail.
#corruption
While some people love to do crossword puzzles, the BU blogmaster enjoys connecting dots!
Discussion on the blog Donville Inniss Case Points to Endemic Corruption in Barbados after reviewing the 2018 financials of BF&M – parent company of ICBL – revealed there is a company called Insurance Corporation of Barbados Limited Limited/National Insurance Board Joint Venture (“ICBLJV”).
Barbadians have been concerned in recent years the ease with which politicians commit NIS resources to questionable projects. The latest is the construction of a fire station to replace the one being demolished at Probyn Street to – in the opinion of the blogmaster – create a more aesthetically pleasing Bridgetown. The Hyatt is coming!
We must not forget the inability of the NIS Scheme to produce audited financials since 2007?
What about the the obligation of the NIS to produce an up to date actuarial review and for the government to lay it in parliament for public access?
The Mottley government was swept into office on the trusted and well used platform message of transparency. Why have we not seen some movement on these nettlesome issues given the importance of the NIS as a social safety net for Barbadians?
Now there is this Insurance Corporation of Barbados Limited Limited/National Insurance Board Joint Venture (“ICBLJV”) listed as a BF&M subsidiary. For those not aware ICBL has been one of the principal actors in the Donville Inniss money laundering case. What does the ICBL have to do with the NIS Scheme?
Extracted from 2018 BF&M Financials page 91
Millar told the court that in August 2015, she attended a meeting with former chief executive officer (CEO) of ICBL Ingrid Innes and former senior vice-president with responsibility for business development and marketing Alex Tasker.
Following that meeting, she said Innes instructed her to make “an urgent payment” of a referral bonus to Inniss.
She said she was uncomfortable with the request made by Innes as he was “politically exposed” and she enquired if she Innes had cleared such a transaction with the company’s chairman John Wight, to which Innes responded, “It’s fine”.
Ingrid Inness
Two of the most newsworthy and jaw dropping events to have rocked the local political scene in the last 18 months were – the decimation of the Democratic Labour Party (DLP) in the last general election, AND, the arrest of former DLP minister Donville Inniss in the United States.
BU pages must record Donville Inniss entered a plea of NOT GUILTY and the case is scheduled to be heard in October 28, 2019. He is charged with laundering USD36,000 derived from a bribe offered by former employees of Insurance Corporation of Barbados Limited (ICBL) Alex Tasker and Ingrid Innes. Said monies were wired by ICBL to the principal of a dental company domiciled in New York with Inniss the beneficiary. Disclosures in documents filed by the United States Attorney Office revealed Inniss’ troubles were said to be linked to political rivals trying to frame him.
Since the news of Inniss arrest there is a sub story that has not been subjected to the full glare of public scrutiny. We have our moribund traditional media to hold accountable for reneging on its mandate to pursue truth. A reminder the media is referred to as the guardian of truth:-
The purpose, ‘raison d’être’, of this fourth element is to act as an counterbalance, a systemically opposite force that is to report, verify and question matters of governance, public matters as well as commercial ones, conducted by the powers, we the people, have entrusted it with and bestowed upon – On the role of journalism: facts vs
The Commissioner of Police (CoP) Tyrone Griffith is on the record he will not investigate the matter involving ICBL – a company incorporated in Barbados – identified as the source of Donville’s legal trouble. The CoP’s position was supported by Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACoP) in charge of crime Eucklyn Thompson who was also quoted in the press:
We can only deal with what is available to us. We can’t go by any speculation or that kind of thing. We will deal [with] whatever comes before us in terms of evidence… and the investigative process . . . . We will definitely do our part. But in terms of names mentioned and that kind of thing so being put on the table, that’s not what it is – Barbados police won’t touch case involving former gov’t minister Inniss
Alex Tasker
The substance of the police position is that they must have a complaint lodged in order to pursue any matter. The idiocy of the CoP and the ACoP declared position is that AG Dale Marshall urged the police chief to launch an investigation into bribery allegations involving Inniss and the Bermudian-owned, Barbados-based ICBL. However, as an independent body, the RBPF cannot be legally instructed by a Cabinet minister to undertake investigations; that role is reserved for the Crown’s Director of Public Prosecutions. Another WTF moment.
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We know that US court documents implicate former ICBL employees Alex Tasker and Ingrid Innes. We know that the local employee implicated in the alleged bribing of Donville Inniss was fired by ICBL and also had to part ways from Digicel as Executive Chairman. To the blogmaster’s simple way of thinking there is enough for the police to initiate an investigation. Instead what we have is business as usual with the authority class closing ranks in BIM.
From the INNISS indictment:-
3. Barbados Company Executive 1, an individual whose identity is known to
the Grand Jury, was a citizen of Canada and a resident of Barbados. Barbados Company
Executive 1 was the Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) of the Barbados Company.
4. Barbados Company Executive 2, an individual whose identity is known to
the Grand Jury, was a citizen of Barbados and a resident of Barbados. Barbados Company
Executive 2 was a senior vice president of the Barbados Company.
5. Barbados Company Executive 3, an individual whose identity is known to
the Grand Jury, was a citizen of Barbados and a resident of Barbados. Barbados Company
Executive 3 was the Chief Financial Officer of the Barbados Company.
Ingrid Innes was the CEO of ICBL in 2015 and there is a reference in the 2016 ICBL Annual Report that she had “resigned from the company.”
Alex Tasker was the Senior Vice President Business Development and Marketing of ICBL in 2015 and 2016 according to the ICBL Annual Reports for those years. His LinkedIn page pointedly omits any reference to his tenure at ICBL and attempts to create the impression that he has been working at Digicel from 2006 to the present.
Kamante Millar was the CFO of ICBL in 2015 and 2016 according to the ICBL Annual Reports for those years. Her LinkedIn page shows that she left ICBL at the end of 2017.
If these are indeed the individuals mentioned in the INNISS indictment, When are they going to be charged in Barbados? The clock is ticking because the DPP has only six months to press charges from August 6th 2018, when the alleged crime came to public notice.
Barbados insurance company receives declination with disgorgement
By Harry Cassin | Monday, August 27, 2018 at 7:08AM
The Insurance Corporation of Barbados Limited (ICBL) received a declination with disgorgement from the DOJ Thursday for FCPA offenses related to bribing a Barbadian official.
Under the terms of the declination pursuant to the DOJ’s Corporate Enforcement Policy, ICBL paid the DOJ about $93,900 in disgorged profits.
The DOJ said agents and employees of the Barbados-headquartered company paid around $36,000 to a Barbadian government official, Donville Inniss, in exchange for $686,000 worth of insurance contracts.
Inness was a member of the parliament of Barbados and the Minister of Industry, International Business, Commence, and Small Business Development at the time.
The DOJ said Inness laundered the money in the United States through a New York-based dental company owned by his friend.
The DOJ gave ICBL credit for its timely and voluntary self-disclosure, thorough investigation, and remediation through firing of the individuals involved, among other factors.
ICBL is the first declination with disgorgement under the FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy (pdf) that went into effect in November 2017.
The new policy made the FCPA Pilot Program permanent and incorporated it, with some changes, into the U.S. Attorneys’ Manual.
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Harry Cassin, pictured above, is the managing editor of the FCPA Blog.
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