The Clico Policyholders Group (CPG) says it feels vindicated with the referral of the Central Bank Governor Jwala Rambarran’s report to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Especially since, according to CPG chairman Peter Permell, the group had raised the first red flag in respect of that “obscene, unauthorised and possibly illegal multi-million dollar payout to a few former Clico directors while over 15,000 ‘assenting’ Clico policyholders are still waiting to be paid their just due.”
Permell, through a statement in response to queries from the Sunday Guardian, said the group was looking forward to working with newly sworn-in Finance Minister Colm Imbert to bring closure to the Clico matter in the shortest possible timeframe.
He also added that he was monitoring the developments between the Central Bank Governor and former Clico chairman Gerald Yetming which had been unfolding in the public domain.
Last week, the Trinidad Express reported that Rambarran, in his report on the events surrounding the removal of Yetming and Clico managing director Carolyn John, referred the issue to the DPP to determine if there was any possible criminal liability on Yetming’s and John’s part arising out of the payments to former Clico directors.
Yetming has dismissed the claims as he said both he and John followed procedure and were in constant communication with Central Bank officials on the payment made under the Clico Resolution Plan.
When asked to comment on the issue Permell referred to the old African proverb: “When two elephants fight only the grass gets hurt.”
He said, “Prudence and good sense dictated” that the CPG be very careful not to allow itself to be drawn unwittingly into what appeared to be “a looming Battle Royale or Clash of the Titans, between Rambarran and Yetming which is likely to have a sequel in the courts.”
He said for the most part both men seemed to have agreed with the CPG and the wider public that these payments should not have been made.
“However, without having sight of either the Central Bank's or the former Clico chairman’s report, it is virtually impossible to properly glean who’s at fault and/or whether there may have been more in the mortar than the pestle,” he added. (RR)