The $100 million spent on Sir Anthony Colman Commission of Enquiry (CoE) into the failure of Clico and the Hindu Credit Union (HCU) could have been better used to pay policyholders, former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj said yesterday.
Speaking during CNC3’s Morning Brew, Maharaj, who openly opposed the CoE from its inception because he felt it would prejudice ongoing criminal investigations, said T&T did not need an enquiry to realise that regulatory control of the insurance industry by the Central Bank was “fundamentally deficient.”
Saying the enquiry was a big waste of taxpayers’ money, Maharaj called on Government to come clean and state its intentions regarding Clico’s assets.
“I think the Government should not use its power and position of trust to confiscate the property of the owners. Instead, the Government should start negotiations with the majority shareholders. It is reported in the papers that Government is trying to sell assets and have sold some assets at gross undervalue,” Maharaj said.
Saying the CoE was nothing more than a lawyers’ paradise, with a breakdown of the costs showing $80 million was spent on attorneys’ fees alone, Maharaj said, “I don’t see anything useful coming out of the enquiry for T&T. It was well known at the time that the company had operated for a long time without the required statutory funds requirement. It was known at the time that Clico policyholders were put at risk and it was at that time known that there were already investigations done in respect to all possible wrongdoing, so nothing beneficial for T&T could have come out of this.”
He added that any attempt to file criminal action against the perpetrators could be compromised because of the CoE.
“Notwithstanding whatever recommendations were made, it would appear that this was a complete waste of resources in T&T,” he contended.
Maharaj also said the CoE Act was very outdated and needs to be amended. He also predicted that similar injustices will occur unless the financial regulatory laws are fixed, adding he also believed the CoE was done to appease public emotion.
Asked whether Government should entertain negotiations with former chairman of CL Financial Lawrence Duprey, who has an interest in regaining control of Clico, Maharaj said yes.
Chairman of the Clico Policyholders group Peter Permell meanwhile said it was too premature to say if the report was useful, but called for it to be made public.
“It must be made public because the Clico matter has been engaging the public attention for seven years,” Permell said.