This is the official copy of CL Financial’s Annual Return from the Companies Registry, as at 17th February 2009 – it bears the official stamps and is signed by CLF’s then Corporate Secretary, Gita Sakal.
The company had a paid-up capital of $7.5M, with that number of $1.00 shares in issue.
The 325 shareholders are listed alphabetically, as at 7th September 2008, with details of their occupations and addresses also supplied. Of course, that list shows, at #289, the then Minister of Finance – Karen Nunez-Tesheira – as Karen Tesheira, Attorney-at-Law – holding some 10,410 shares.
Another thing that is striking is that Lawrence Duprey would appear to have only three blocks of shares in his ownership –
#47 – CL Duprey Investment Trust – holding 1,634,335 shares, but we are unable to find the details on that company.
#78 – DALCO Capital Management Company Limited of #37 Frederick Street, POS – holding 1,947,833 shares. I am assuming that DALCO is a play on his initials – Lawrence Andre Duprey LAD, reversed.
I am taking that to mean that Lawrence Duprey had under his direct control a maximum of 3,701,313 shares – i.e. 49.35% of the group’s entire shareholding…slightly less than half.
I am leaving it to the better-informed readers to help fill in the gaps in this story.
As to Andre Monteil, the recently-retired Group Finance Director, his 337,269 shares were transferred from Stone Street Capital Limited to First Street Capital Limited on 31st March 2008, the date he retired from the CLF group. Both companies’ registered address is the same – 33b Perseverance Road, Haleland Park, Maraval.
If you think this title is for the latest brand of household cleaner, you would be wrong. I drew that title from the famous statement by deceased US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, in reference to corruption and fraudulent dealings: ‘sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.‘
Of course, this is all about the impending Colman Commission of Enquiry into the failure of CL Financial and other companies (including CMMB) and the Hindu Credit Union.
We are attempting to understand our situation in this financial fiasco – how was the entire collapse caused? Who is responsible? What can we do to avoid a repetition?
Our House needs a serious cleaning and we need a new commitment to serious retrospection if we are to succeed in understanding this scandalous situation.
To set the stage, there are four principalities being represented in this Enquiry –
CL Financial Chiefs – The people who had Direction and Control of the entire failed group – that would include the shareholders.
The Regulators – The Supervisor of Insurance, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Central Bank.
The Auditors – PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young – the former being auditors for the CL Financial group and the latter acting for the Central Bank.
The aggrieved Policy-Holders and Depositors – Several groups have been formed to seek the return of all the monies owed to these investors.
My first point about this Colman Commission is how welcome it is, as a tangible sign of a change in how our country is being run. No, I did not vote for either group in the last election, but it seems to me that neither of the last two regimes (Manning or Panday) would have initiated a public enquiry into this financial fiasco.
As much as I approve the decision to have this public enquiry, the purpose of this article is to warn against some of the forces now being assembled to erode the enquiry’s effectiveness. Even though, in this respect, political times have changed, we need to remain vigilant if the Colman Commission is to be effective.
To be sure, the four principalities I listed comprise very powerful players for whom this enquiry is a literal nightmare, since they will be obliged to explain some of their biggest decisions and actions, which they would never have had to explain to anyone outside of their own circle.
If the Enquiry takes place as intended, we are going to be afforded an unprecedented insight into the workings, dealings, arrangements and situations in our leadership class – all of it at a depth and range never before recorded. Matters that had been only the subject of picong, ole talk and so-called urban legends will all now become part of the official record. Yes, our Republic will be coming of age.
Our country is a Republic, which to me means that no class of citizen ought to enjoy rights which are superior. But there has been a pattern of behaviour in this fiasco which has been very disturbing because it violates those Republican expectations. Of course, I am referring to the fact that a three-tier system seems to have been in operation during the entire meltdown.
The lowest tier comprises those many persons who are now fretting over their investments with this failed group. Those people have to decide between continued protest action, legal action or just plain pleading to get some relief. A significant number of them would have placed undue reliance on the CLF products and would be suffering extra stress because they put too many, or all, of their eggs in one basket.
The middle tier is the lucky and/or well-connected people who were able to get back their money after the group collapsed. When the Prime Minister announced this Enquiry on 1st October 2010, she promised to release details of who received the monies disbursed in that period – i.e. after 30th January 2009. That list of names and who received what sums would be an absolutely explosive one.
Of course, the top tier and the absolute insiders would be those who had early warning of the oncoming collapse and took steps to preserve their wealth. That group would have to include the top CL Financial chiefs who left in the 12 months before the collapse – Monteil, Fifi and Mayers. Major depositors and investors would also have been part of this privileged group. The Governor of the Central Bank and the last Minister of Finance also withdrew monies just before the collapse.
Maybe I am entirely wrong and there was complete surprise when the CL Financial group collapsed. But if that is the case, one is really contemplating a slack system of management systems and an entire swath of our ruling elite who are not ‘fit and proper’. The question of who knew what and when, will be a main point of dispute, because either way you slice it, the picture is unappealing.
You can be sure that the people in the top layer will do anything in their power to protect themselves from the stern scrutiny of those in the lowest group, not to mention the public, who are paying for all this.
I wrote a previous column in this series, entitled ‘Taking in front‘ and on this occasion, in light of what is at stake, I, too, am taking in front. Having suffered a defeat in that the Colman Commission has now been established, the members of the Code of Silence can be expected to try halting, delaying or just diluting the Commission.
We have already had former Hindu Credit Union (HCU) chief, Harry Harnarine, defeated in the High Court in an attempt to stop the Colman Commission. I was not surprised to read reports that Harnarine is planning to appeal that decision. We can expect other strong challenges as this historic process unfolds.
If the members of the Code of Silence are unable to derail the Commission itself, we should not be surprised if they try to cloak the proceedings in some kind of blanket to prevent too much information escaping.
Readers, please note that the process of asking the Court to prevent publication of a particular piece of evidence is a very swift one, with the ruling expected in the very same sitting. That is because if those proceedings are too drawn-out, it can be actually self-defeating, since the matter which they are seeking to have concealed can be published and discussed while a decision is awaited.
That is the reason we need to beat this drum now. We cannot wait for the filing of injunctions and then seek to publish. By then, it would be too late.
The new algebra is simple and inescapable –
Expenditure of Public Money – Transparency = CORRUPTION
The preface of that Report contains an instructive paragraph, at page xii –
“…This report is not the sole repository of what the panel found. A website — www.fcic.gov — will host a wealth of information beyond what could be presented here. It will contain a stockpile of materials — including documents and emails, video of the Commission’s public hearings, testimony, and supporting research — that can be studied for years to come. Much of what is footnoted in this report can be found on the website. In addition, more materials that cannot be released yet for various reasons will eventually be made public through the National Archives and Records Administration…”
The US legislature is determined that the inner lessons and testimony on this important crisis are available to all interested parties for the years ahead. That represents a solid commitment to a learning society, which will at least attempt to draw lessons from the bitterest of experiences. In my opinion, that commitment is worthy of emulation.
Has our society reached the stage of maturation to commit to an entirely transparent process of retrospection? That is the question which will be tested in the weeks and months to follow.
The entire proceedings of the Colman Commission must be held in public. The proceedings must be on TV and available on the internet. The Colman Commission needs a strong internet presence, with its own website.
This is the time to reflect on the changes we have witnessed in the last year and the several challenges arising from those. This column will attempt to combine the ‘Property Matters’ concerns with the ongoing examination of the CL Financial fiasco.
The Uff Report
Professor John Uff
For me, the largest single event this year was the completion of the work of the Uff Commission of Enquiry into the Public Sector Construction Industry, with particular reference to UDeCOTT and the HDC. The controversial Commission of Enquiry was at the centre of widespread public concerns as to the level of corruption in the State construction sector. To his credit, the Enquiry Chairman, Professor John Uff QC, PhD, insisted that the proceedings be televised and the results of each day’s hearings were also posted to its website.
The Uff Report made history in this country, since it is the first time that a government has published the Report of a Commission of Enquiry. That is no small accomplishment and despite the fact that these massive wrongdoings took place under the last PNM administration, the act of publication has to be welcomed.
But there are still challenges, because, for whatever reason, the Uff Commission’s website, www.constructionenquiry.gov.tt has now been shut down, which is a real pity, since it contains the important testimony of many witnesses on the issues in this area. That website needs to be re-opened and I am calling on the Attorney General, under whose Ministry the Enquiry was operated, to ensure that takes place. It is no large expense to have these important documents made available to the public. In light of their educative content, I would suggest that the actual documents be housed at UWI, as they have a direct bearing on the deliberations of the Engineering and Social Sciences Faculties.
Of course we had the sight of a fleeing Calder Hart and a defeated Patrick Manning, his PNM cohorts drinking bitter tea for his fever, all attributable in my view to the groundbreaking Uff Commission.
Looking forward, we have the fact that the 91 recommendations of the Uff Report were adopted by the Peoples Partnership in the run-up to the 24th May General Election. We have now been promised that those are to be implemented by Minister of Justice, Herbert Volney. We await Volney’s early report as to the implementation.
In that connection and taking from the PNM example, I am, once again, calling for the publication of the report of the Commission of Enquiry into the Piarco Airport project. The Bernard Report must be published now.
CL Financial bailout The other huge event of the year was the budget speech on 8th September 2010, in which Finance Minister, Winston Dookeran, disclosed publicly that he was revising the terms of the CL Financial bailout. That bailout was a hugely suspect act, the largest financial commitment ever undertaken in this country, without proper due diligence or even any proper ventilation in the Parliament. Our Republic had never been so financially violated and in broad daylight. It was encouraging to see the Finance Minister take the point to its logical conclusion and of course that brought about the large-scale organisation of various aggrieved groups to put their point.
That series of organisations, committed to the doubtful mantra of the guaranteed investment – whatever that is – took on a series of bizarre and increasingly combative stances. The signature theme being that ‘We are not responsible for our decision’. We were being treated to a spectacle worthy of any of the ‘Ole Mas’ presentations of yore, in which successful investors – on average at least $700,000 was invested by each of these ‘protestors’ – having benefited from the operation of the capitalist system were seeking 100% redemption from the State.
The entry of the Prime Minister into this debate on 1st October was in my view a turning-point in our development. For the first time in my memory a politician, who had the majority, to achieve the significant changes which had been tabled, stepped back from that act of sheer power to attempt an act of persuasion. It was a signal lesson in the reality of possibility in our lifetime. Even if one is amongst the Clico Policyholders’ Group (CPG) and feeling aggrieved, the calm audacity of the Prime Minister’s decision must be respected.
Most importantly, we now have a one-man Commission of Enquiry established with the eminent UK jurist, Sir John Colman QC sworn in. That Commission is to examine the causes of the CL Financial and Hindu Credit Union collapses. The Colman Commission is expected to start sittings in January 2011 and the Attorney General has directed that its report be delivered in 6 months’ time.
The Manning Factor
Patrick Manning
The most comical event of the year is the bold-faced attempt by the former Prime Minister, Patrick Manning, to shift attention away from the PP’s revelations as to the illegal spying activities of various State agencies. Manning, the original PM, attempted to show-up the Prime Minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, with a series of allegations on the status of a house being built with private funds on private lands for a private purpose. The Prime Minister effectively dismissed Manning’s concocted concerns with the telling observation that all the refutations she quoted were available from the public record, if the accuser had ever been interested in examining that open source.
Having stirred to life and found his voice, it is important to note the several matters on which Manning maintains a stony silence –
Calder Hart – Where is Calder Hart? The nation was told solemnly by Manning that he knewCalder Hart’s whereabouts and further, that Hart was not a fugitive. We are now told that Calder Hart cannot be located and Manning needs to speak on this. Is it true that Hart gave Manning his location? Has Hart changed locations? Or is it that Manning has not shared that information with the correct authorities?
Election rationale – What, if any, was his rationale for calling the general election at mid-term? I am not sure that anyone knows the answer to this one, but it is surely of continuing interest.
Guanapo Church – What is the truth behind the ill-fated Guanapo Church? It is not my habit to wax scriptural, but that was a ‘house built on sand’ if ever we saw one. The reason for the State Grant of this land and the rapid grant of full planning permission – a record of only one month between the date of application and the grant – remains unexplained. As for the architect’s plans for this huge church in the grounds of the PM’s residence, the mind boggles. Where is Pastor Pena? We need to insist that Manning tells us more about this miraculous church.
Cleaver Heights – Another area is the wild allegation Manning made, at the close of the 2008 budget debate, as to a ‘missing’ $10M at an HDC project at Cleaver Heights in Arima. Or was it $20M? After inserting that case into the ongoing Uff Commission and having the embarrassment of having the allegation evaporate under cross-examination, Manning needs to tell us just how he came to learn of this allegedly missing money.
CL Financial bailout – Manning’s conduct in this matter has been the crowning-point of his administration, in my view. The then Minister of Finance, Karen Nunez-Teshiera, was accused of using ‘inside information’ to make early withdrawals of her own funds from the CL Financial Group and to compound the mischief, being a shareholder of the CL Financial group in the sum of over $10M. Manning’s steadfast defense of his beleaguered Minister of Finance was a display of loyalty which is seldom seen in higher political circles. We need to know if the Minister told her colleagues that she was indeed a shareholder of the troubled group. Did she or did she not recuse herself from the Cabinet’s deliberations? My reading of the events, as told by the very Minister, is that she did not.
For Manning to fail to come clean on these questions, he would run the risk of damaging his hard-won reputation for upstanding values and leadership.
White Collar Crime The obvious connection between these various events is the fact that White Collar Crime – which is sometimes, mistakenly, called victim-less crime – is afflicting our country in a big way.
The year ahead holds significant challenges as we try to go forward in this morass, to escape the conspiracy which I have titled The Code of Silence.
The only way political rulers can carry on as they do, wasting the country’s money for the benefit of their friends and family, is because they are sure of each other’s silence. The people in the private sector who were responsible for the financial collapse are no different. The financial collapse is not, as some have falsely claimed, in any way connected with the Wall Street crisis. That is only a handy coincidence. If our regulators and politicians were doing their jobs we would not be in this position.
Please remember that the alarm bells on CL Financial were sounded by Trevor Sudama, since the 1999 budget debate. More to the point, many of the people who still inhabit the Parliament were there at the time. Again, I give this administration credit for appointing a Commission of Enquiry into this sordid affair.
Also, please remember that both UDeCOTT and the HDC failed to file accounts for years, in breach of the law and State guidelines. That failure was not remarked upon by members of the then Opposition. More to the point, we have now had a change in administration, with no word on the UDeCOTT accounts. I do acknowledge that certain HDC accounts have now been published and that is to be the subject of upcoming commentary.
The Code of Silence must be broken if we are to progress.
Afra Raymond sits with hosts, Fazeer Mohammed and Felipe Nogueira on the Morning Edition television show to discuss the code of silence surrounding the CLICO bailout. Video courtesy TV6
CL Financial Annual Returns 17 February 2009
If you think this title is for the latest brand of household cleaner, you would be wrong. I drew that title from the famous statement by deceased US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, 
The other huge event of the year was the budget speech on 8th September 2010, in which Finance Minister, Winston Dookeran, disclosed publicly that he was revising the terms of the CL Financial bailout. That bailout was a hugely suspect act, the largest financial commitment ever undertaken in this country, without proper due diligence or even any proper ventilation in the Parliament. Our Republic had never been so financially violated and in broad daylight. It was encouraging to see the Finance Minister take the point to its logical conclusion and of course that brought about the large-scale organisation of various aggrieved groups to put their point.
The obvious connection between these various events is the fact that White Collar Crime – which is sometimes, mistakenly, called victim-less crime – is afflicting our country in a big way.
AfraRaymond.net 