Central Bank must be accountable

Do we remember in June of 2011 when it was revealed that the Central Bank refused to disclose reports from the forensic auditing of Bob Lindquist and the KPMG body into the Clico fiasco? It was the Government of PM Bissessar through the Attorney General who intervened in the mess at CLICO. At that time the Governor of the Central Bank adopted a sort of obstructionist attitude towards the Commission of Inquiry.

The Governor is a great academic, an experienced and respected economist and must have known that the role of the Central Bank is an important consideration for the Commission of Enquiry as the CLICO Empire did not collapse overnight. The Governor was ultimately responsible for monitoring and supervising CLICO and fiduciary responsibility rests with him as the oversight body.

The following questions still loom with a dark and dismal cloud:
(1) Were there no warning signs that Clico was technically insolvent? Why was an Insurance company allowed to transact business and operate like a regular bank, when it had no license to do so?
(2) Who authorised Clico to sell the Executive Flexible Annuity Products(which were in substance and effect a mere fixed deposit)? Did the Governor not find it suspicious that Clico was able to offer such ridiculously superior interest rates as compared to the rest of our financial institutions ?
(3) The Central Bank must be accountable and should not be allowed to hide behind technicalities. The Governor of the Central Bank, Mr Ewart Williams did not pay Mr Bob Linquist out of his pockets to conduct any investigation.

Taxpayers who are policyholders like myself and thousands of others paid for this. The old people have a golden saying: “If you do nothing, you have nothing to fear.” Try watching the televised versions of the Commission of Inquiry going on now with the defunct Hindu Credit Union. I wish anyone taking over the reins the best as I would have done like Elizabeth Montgomery from "Bewitched" or Barbara Eden from “I dream of Genie” and disappeared in seconds.

Liesel Montrichard
Via e-mail