Write a cheque for $18 billion if you want CL Financial returned to you.
That is Finance Minister Larry Howai's response to former CL Financial chairman Lawrence Duprey's demand that he regain control of the collapsed insurance giant.
In an interview over the weekend, Duprey said when he approached the Government for assistance in 2009 he did not ask for a bailout but for liquidity support.
He said he plans to take legal action if he does not get his way and is demanding that his shares in the collapsed company be returned to him.
Howai, in emailed responses to questions from the T&T Guardian, said if Duprey wants the company he should pay all the debt up front.
"Mr Duprey is of course free to produce a cheque to the Government for $18 billion and we would happily hand over the company to him," he said.
Howai said Government has not had discussions with Duprey about returning the company to him and emphasised that Government intends to recover all the monies owed to it for stabilising the company."
The minister also said Government was justified in intervening in CL Financial to "save the company and protect the stability of the economy." He said there is still a lot to do to ensure money owed to the Government is collected.
Also reacting to Duprey's call for the company to be returned to him was Peter Permell of the Clico Policyholders Group (CPG), who dismissed it as a "joke."
"Mr Duprey can't be serious, this has to be a joke. Moreover, the CPG views the timing of Mr Duprey's audacious demand as being not only premature but a trial balloon of mass distraction," Permell said.
"The last time we checked, Clico was 49 per cent owned by the Government and still under the control of the Central Bank pursuant to Section 44D of the Central Bank Act. In fact, as far as we are aware ,no notice pursuant to Section 44G of the Act to terminate such control has as yet been gazetted."
Permell described Duprey's demand as an attempt pull attention away from the matter of money owed to policyholders.
"While the intent is clearly to provoke and subsequently gauge stakeholder and/or public sentiment, we are persuaded that it will only serve to distract from the real issue for us at this time and that is to ensure that the over 15,000 assenting policyholders are paid the contractual terms and conditions of their policies, consistent with the 2009 memorandum of understanding and CLF shareholders agreement, now that both the Governor of the Central Bank and the Minister of Finance have confirmed that Clico is solvent and the statutory fund is fully funded," he said.
Permell said if the situation is mishandled it could have untended political consequences.
"The bottom line for us is that Mr Duprey's timing could not be worse coming on the heels of the over $53 million controversial payout to former directors and the fact that there remains several loose ends that still have to be tied up at Clico," he said.
Permell called for a public statement in support of the third party policyholders who are still awaiting their money.