The disclosure in the last Sunday Express that Italian alcohol company Gruppo Campari paid a "success fee (of US$2.5 million) for advisory services provided during the tender offer for Lascelles deMercado," the then CL Financial-owned Jamaican conglomerate, makes it imperative that the Government report in full detail on the State's stewardship of the group founded by Lawrence Duprey, as soon as possible.
It is not my intention to opine on the probity of this payment, but it does seem strange given the fact that there was never an issue about whether Campari would get to 90 per cent, given the offer that was made to both CL Financial and the minority shareholders and the fact that CL Financial owned 87 per cent of Lascelles deMercado.
It is a totally unacceptable state of affairs that in terms of accounting to Parliament, T&T is in its seventh year, on its third government and fourth finance minister, in dealing with this matter.
It is disgraceful that none of the previous finance ministers who have had stewardship over this matter–Karen Tesheira, Winston Dookeran or Larry Howai–was able during their periods in office to provide a comprehensive and transparent parliamentary accounting for the billions of taxpayers' dollars that have been spent on the CL Financial group since January 2009.
This task, which will be lengthy and will involve a great deal of research, now falls to the current Finance Minister Colm Imbert, who has an obligation to disclose the "true facts" of the following to Parliament:
�2 A breakdown of all of the money spent by the State and any state-owned enterprises on the bailout of CL Financial since the signing of the memorandum of understanding on January 30, 2009;
�2 All the income earned by CL Financial and its subsidiaries, including Clico, since the signing of the memorandum of understanding on January 30, 2009;
�2 A breakdown of all the monies generated by the group from the sale of assets and the interest earned on the funds that are being held in escrow accounts;
�2 A breakdown of all the monies that have been disbursed by the group and its subsidiaries; the names of the recipients and the reasons for the disbursals. Included in this list should be a full disclosure of the recipients of monies as a result of the Government's arrangements to ensure that investors in the executive flexible premium annuities were repaid;
�2 The names of all of the firms–accounting, legal and other–and individuals that have provided advice to the Government in the sale of CL Financial assets and in the management of the group of companies, as well as the amounts that have been paid;
The Government should also provide full details of the valuations, paid for by the State of Angostura Holdings Ltd, CL World Brands, Home Construction, the insurance portfolio of Clico and Oman-based Methanol Holdings (International) Ltd.
The Government should also give an update on Minister Imbert's request to the Central Bank that it complete the transfer of the shares in Angostura, CL World Brands and Home Construction Ltd.
There should be more information on the minister's proposal, outlined in his mid-term review, that the Government intended to acquire the lands owned by Angostura and Home Construction "for public purposes such as housing, tourism and infrastructure development."
It should not be too much for the minister of disclose where these lands are located, how much the properties have been valued at and what are the specific public purposes to which the Government intends to put these lands.
There should also be information on what is to become of the mall properties owned by Home Construction, which include Long Circular Mall and Trincity Mall, as well as the plan for One Woodbrook Place, the billion-dollar property on the edge of Woodbrook, that is owned by HCL.
In addition, I feel that the Government has an obligation to provide an update on the financial health of CL Financial and its subsidiaries, especially the insurance company Clico and the investment bank, Clico Investment Bank.
The current People's National Movement administration, as well, has a responsibility to ensure that full accountability and transparency be brought to bear on the statutory fund of Clico, which I am told has been in positive territory since the payment in October 2014 of US$1.175 billion by the minority shareholders of Methanol Holdings (Trinidad) Ltd to Clico for the 56.53 per cent stake in the Point Lisas-based methanol company.
The Minister of Finance, as well, has a responsibility to ensure that the national community is updated with regard to Clico Investment Bank, which was ordered to be wound up by an order of the High Court on October 17, 2011 with the Deposit Insurance Corporation being appointed as the liquidator. CIB is important in its own right, but it is particularly important because it owns 29,388,545 Republic Bank shares between itself and a St Lucia offshore company called First Company Ltd. CIB owns over 18 per cent of Republic Bank, which was worth $3.2 billion at the close of yesterday's trading.
As a minority shareholder of Angostura Holdings Ltd, I am also personally interested in what is to become of the $984 million receivable that CL Financial owes to the Laventille-based rum and bitters company. As far as I could discern, the previous administration's intention was to leave this receivable unsatisfied and for the minority shareholders of Angostura to fend for themselves. I do not believe that such an approach is ethical and it may not be legal. There certainly should be some clarity on this issue at the annual general meeting of Angostura or before.
As a general principle, I retain the position that the Government, on behalf of the taxpayers of T&T, should be pari passu (on the same or equal footing) as all other policyholders of Clico, especially as the State is standing in the shoes of many policyholders.
Disclosure: The author of this piece is a shareholder of Angostura, which is part of the settlement of CL Financial and Clico.