In the interest of freedom of expression, for availability and reference, I decided to create my own website to publish for the online community, my views on various topical matters.
Afra Raymond is a Chartered Surveyor and Managing Director of Raymond & Pierre Ltd. – www.raymondandpierre.com. Afra is past-President of the Institute of Surveyors of Trinidad & Tobago (2009-2010) and Past-President of the Joint Consultative Council for the Construction Industry (JCC), having served between December 2010 and November 2015. The opinions of Afra Raymond are not necessarily held by the ISTT, JCC or Raymond & Pierre Ltd.
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AfraRaymond.net 
Mr. Raymond,
This is wonderful!! This is truly aimed at the “thinking” public. I wish you the best with your website and will continually be looking on as this positively develops… keep the flag flying higher and higher!!
RR
Very impressive endeavour. Your insight and sincerity shows through. Am also impressed at your use of modern technology in a country that has not yet entered the 21st century.
Mr Raymond
I think you should also try to look at the fact that a true annuity contract cannot pay persons interest separately since the funds are supposed to be locked in until maturity at which point a pension is payable. However, the contract did allow for partial withdrawals.
Further, an annuity has a maturity date which is separate from the end of “lock-in interest period”, so the PRACTICE was that people were surrendering their annuities at the end of a lock-in but were calling it maturity.
Finally, CBTT in May 2008 stopped BAT from issuing EFPAs to non-individuals, in fact the rule was that the annuitant had to be a named individual, so companies still took out the policy but with someone named as the annuitant thus bending the rules.
If the government were to decide to just fill the hole in the statutory fund and leave everything as it is, then there would still be a failure because nowhere can the statutory fund earn the interest needed to cover the interest requests currently paid to EFPA holders as it is.
Who were paid over the last 24 months could make interesting reading, since some may be shown to be friends and family of executives, politicians, directors and shareholders.
What about expenses of these companies over the last 24 months? Did they keep on having the lavish parties and keeping expensive furniture and ordering costly additions to existing infrastructure? Food, coffee, tea, bottled water and juice?
The auditors of CLICO and BAT never provided a qualified opinion on them, doesn’t that indicate some responsibility on their part too? The regulators would look to see if the auditors reported an irregularity before investigating thoroughly, since the regulators cannot thoroughly investigate everyone everyyear with their current manpower.
The accountants who oversaw the statutory fund deposits should have raised red flags based on their profession and if they would not heard, they should have resigned, but instead they remained and in my opinion are as much to blame for any obfuscation to auditors and regulators. Was there material misrepresentation to the auditors and regulators by the accountants?
All financial companies must have internal audit departments, investment committees and board audit committees. Reports of these should be reviewed.
Should directors, executives and agents be a part of the bailout, in terms of getting back their money after being proven incompetent at the very least?
I’m delighted that you choose this medium so as to provide your insight on issues of the day. It allows for quick delivery of responses from your viewers or readers alike.
Before I depart though, I wish to take a moment to address the CL Financial and HCU. fiasco, which had been in the making for some time.
Recall some years ago (probably 2004) when the Supervisor of Insurance relayed his/her concern that CLICO was becoming more an investment entity, thereby placing depositors at risk, very few heeded his/her cause of concern. And more recently, there were numerous complaints by depositors about HCU; Conrad Enill, former Minister of Finance, attempted address the matter with new legislation for Co-operatives, but was halted by the Prime Minster following a protest by a group of HCU members that it was a different type of Credit Union.
Now that the two concerns have ‘fallen from grace’ so to speak, taxpayers are being called to the rescue. But I need to ask though if the population has learned any lessons? Further, what needs to be changed within our legislative framework for operation of financial institutions? Personally I feel that our population needs to become more proactive – as Mr. Larry Howai of First Citizens Bank stated there is usually a going interest rate that is offered, anything much higher should be viewed with caution. Secondly a review of the legislation for financial entities should be considered, clearly establishing parameters for operation of banks, trust companies, insurance, credit unions etc. … as was done in Nigeria. And finally, providing the regulatory bodies with more effective mechanisms for intervention into financial entities.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to allow for contributions to your space.
I was pleasantly surprised on discovering this site after listening to the RICS Americas podcast. I will certainly be following all the posts. Finally, here is a forum for candid and public discussion on real estate matters in Trinidad. Keep up the excellence!
Hello Angelique,
Are you a member of the property/construction sector?
Thanks for joining-in, please note that the complete series of ‘Property Matters’ articles is at our firm’s website – http://www.raymondandpierre.com
Please spread the word.
Afra
Mr Raymond,
I think you should also try to look at the fact that a true annuity contract cannot pay persons interest separately, since the funds are supposed to be locked-in until maturity, at which point a pension is payable. However, the contract did allow for partial withdrawals. Further, an annuity has a maturity date which is separate from the end of the lock-in interest period: so the PRACTICE was that people were surrendering their annuities at the end of a lock-in but were calling it maturity.
Finally, CBTT in May 2008 stopped BAT from issuing EFPAs to non-individuals, in fact the rule was that the annuitant had to be a named individual, so companies still took out the policy but with someone named as the annuitant, thus bending the rules. If the government were to decide to just fill the hole in the statutory fund and leave everything as it is, then there would still be a failure because nowhere can the statutory fund earn the interest needed to cover the interest requests currently paid to EFPA-holders as it is.
Who were paid over the last 24 months could make interesting reading, since some may be shown to be friends and family of executives, politicians, directors and shareholders. What about expenses of these companies over the last 24 months? Did they keep on having the lavish parties and keeping expensive furniture and ordering costly additions to existing infrastructure? Food, coffee, tea, bottled water and juice?
The auditors of CLICO and BAT never provided a qualified opinion on them, doesn’t that indicate some responsibility on their part too? The regulators would look to see if the auditors reported an irregularity before investigating thoroughly, since the regulators cannot thoroughly investigate everyone every year with their current manpower.
The accountants who oversaw the statutory fund deposits should have raised red flags based on their profession and if they were not heard, they should have resigned, but instead they remained and in my opinion are as much to blame for any obfuscation to auditors and regulators. Was there material misrepresentation to the auditors and regulators by the accountants? All financial companies must have internal audit departments, investment committees and board audit committees. Reports of these should be reviewed. Should directors, executives and agents be a part of the bailout, in terms of getting back their money after being proven incompetent at the very least?
+1
Hello!
Today I got up and watched your Ted talk about the 3 myths of corruption. I live in Canada, a country rich in natural resources that has been drained off in the last 100 years through practically untaxed mining of ores in south eastern Ontario and Quebec.
The sad part is that no one talks about it and it’s the elephant in the room. The mining companies make billions and give nothing back to the communities they are in, contaminate the land with heavy metals from their process’s and leave the site as is once they have taken all the worthwhile resources from the area.
There is over 400 abandoned mining sites in Ontario and Quebec poisoning the environment slowly and no reprimands have been made from the companies that have destroyed the land.
None of this is hidden and it is all “legal”.
This is unacceptable.
How can I get involved?
I am in the United States and I am fighting hard to change the way public construction projects are done. Many states lack procurement oversight and have a “revolving door” between the state level design and construction groups and private sector architects and engineers. While the NIGP (Institute of Government Procurement) tells me that procurement oversight is increasing, which is good, I question by how much and how fast. We desperately need more transparency, more accountability, and LESS discretion to bypass competitive buying rules. An OBJECTIVE outside risk analysis of the construction process would easily find many conflicts of interests and positions of high risk. Essentially the attitude in the US is that engineers (I am an engineer myself!) are infallible, inherently honest, and therefore do not require supervision from procurement nor anyone else with the primary charge to protect the taxpayer.
I am so happy I found this blog, very interesting and informative.
I myself blog, but am focused on environmental conservation and sustainability. Would love to meet and discuss construction industry and ensuring environmental conservation in Trinidad and Tobago.
I would be grateful if you check out my blog at environsolutions.wordpress.com at give me some feedback on its contents.
It is just interesting Mr Raymond that guys such as you for some reason get the feeling that your thoughts are to be forced upon the entire country since you believe we cannot see through the inconsistencies that lie deep within. You supported a weak legislation citing the fact that there were imperfections and now make a 180 degree turn on your support. You are just as flip floppish as the Chambers of Commerces. When it benefits you self serving interests, the vocabulary used to dance around the issue of right or wrong steps in. When it does not benefit your self serving interests you can see clearly between right and wrong. Dr. Eric Williams knew what he was saying for real. It’s not the bandits that fail the society, it is the professional class like YOU!!! Bunch of failures.
Hello Henra, whoever you really are, I was wondering which legislation you are referring-to?
I recently viewed your video TED on corruption. I think a growing number of people re beginning to realise the scale of the problem and the institutional nature of it. Where I think they fail is that they believe elections are not rigged and that the almost total infiltration of conflicts of interest, even to the detail of fake peoples champions who lead pointless rallies but never introduce and support the required legislation.
I was hoping you would give some thought as to if the foundational step towards dismantling this embedded corruption process required one simple piece of education for the voting citizenry.
That they require their candidates sign a recall guarantee and disregard any ‘peoples champions’ that do not subscribe.
An example of a public led recall system can be found here SMART-voter,org
Hi all very refreshing to actually be on a public Information space such as this✅
I am always a believer there are Brilliant Minds in our sweet island, more so why aren’t There more “Afras’” around speaking out and also coming together to form a body that can take this paradise and develop it to become all that we know it can?🤔
Albeit an uphill battle, but one we can climb 🧗♂️ together to overcome the Nepotism, Tribalism, Smartmanism, Corruption, And the fight against those illiterate sycophants. I will, and am certainly ready to put my money where my mouth is, to help in this transformation process for the future of our country and the generations to come!💯💯
Sure you are aware but inn case not, The Representation of the People (Amendment) (No.2) Bill, 2020 was introduced on 14 October 2020. The TTCIC asked its members (I am one) for comment.