Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 18/Jan 02:33

Figuera: More oversight neededto prevent repeat of Clico collapse

CRIMINOLOGIST Daurius Figuera has called for stricter oversight of the structures governing insurance companies in TT. He was responding on January 17 to the findings of the Sir Anthony Colman Commission of Enquiry into the collapse of Clico and its parent company, CL Financial. Attorney General John Jeremie laid the voluminous report in the House of Representatives, Red House, Port of Spain, on January 16. It came 17 years after former Central Bank governor Ewart Williams revealed that the then Patrick Manning-led PNM administration would intervene to bail out the CL Financial Group, which was experiencing problems with liquidity. Jeremie, who delivered a statement on the long-awaited report, announced that the Government was no longer pursuing civil litigation in the matter but noted the criminal investigation was ongoing and within the purview of the Director of Public Prosecutions. He described the investigation into the collapse of the conglomerate as a “joke,” saying billions of dollars were spent over the past decade. Jeremie further described it as the largest case of fraud and financial tragedy in TT and the wider Caribbean. On January 17, Figuera questioned the decision to pursue civil litigation in the first place. He told Newsday, “We spent so much taxpayers’ money to take Clico out of the debacle and then we spent so much money on the Commission of Enquiry. “And I am now seeing where the Commission of Enquiry was talking about criminal charges. So when I read it (media reports), I wanted to know, ‘Why then civil litigation?’ “Because the lesson I got from the whole affair is that TT’s supervisory structure for Colonial Life failed miserably.” Figuera said if due diligence had been done on Colonial Life, its executive chairman, Lawrence Duprey, would have been “brought to book” long before the collapse occurred. “We have a structure in place to supervise insurance companies where we have oversight, and it makes no sense to keep putting out reports from that office pointing to questionable actions going on, and we never intervened to stop the rot from setting in and collapsing the Duprey empire.” He argued the Duprey empire was built upon Colonial Life. “In so doing, if we had carried out our due oversight responsibilities under law, we could have avoided the entire debacle... and the bill that the taxpayers got left with would have been avoided. That is the lesson to me that I got.” Figuera said a failure to act on the oversight laws aided and abetted an outcome that is much more severe to the country, “because it would have been better to have all those plants at Pt Lisas that were part of the Duprey empire still being owned by Duprey.” He said it also would have been better for TT to have Colonial Life, British American and other companies within the group still functional. “So, my position in this whole affair, you can point fingers at Duprey but who is pointing fingers at the failure of the oversight structure. “Nobody is talking about the fact that we failed to do our due diligence to protect Colonial Life and the people of TT. And all of the taxpayers’ money that went in to rescue it.” As such, the criminologist wondered if there was political interference in the functioning of the oversight body. He also wondered if the legislation governing insurance companies and other financial entities would be revisited to ensure that such a collapse never happens again. “When you fail to learn from your mistakes, you are condemned to repeat them.” On the ongoing criminal investigation, Figuera said people commiting white collar crime have continued to escape conviction. “That is a major issue that has to be raised in public because you are hot and sweaty behind what you call bad boys (referring to those held during the state of emergency). “But when you have criminality among a certain upper echelon elite in the society, you continue to walk away with impunity.” He continued, “Is it law for one and no law for a next kind because we certainly eh see no big shot up in the remand yard. “That is the major shame of the Duprey empire's collapse because Colonial Life was under a structure of due diligence. “So oversight has to be strengthened and enforced. You have to go in and do your work, raise issues and get warrants. This is the big, big question that must be answered.” The post Figuera: More oversight neededto prevent repeat of Clico collapse appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.