Dear Editor,
Public sector organizations, businesses and individuals have collectively invested what I suspect must be billions of dollars with CLICO (Guyana) in their various schemes. I suspect that a lot of this was invested abroad and is under the control of CL Financial. The need for portfolio diversification has been of great concern to me for years. My concerns grew as the bottom fell out of energy and real estate markets which represent together with alcoholic beverages, the main areas of interest for CL Financial. Fearing the worst, I called the Commissioner of Insurance sometime around October last year to raise these concerns and I was directed to speak with the Legal Officer who assured me that they were addressing this matter. I felt and suggested that CLICO (Guyana) should have been asked to repatriate these funds immediately. I ended my conversation with the Legal Officer by requesting that she advise the Commissioner about my concerns.
This is a grave matter for Guyana and the utterances of the CEO of CLICO (Guyana) have not been reassuring to me. Consequently, I would like either the CEO or the Commissioner to answer the following questions:
1) What is the total amount deposited by local organizations and individuals with CLICO (Guyana) under the FPA and EFPA schemes?
2) What percentage of the amounts deposited was invested overseas?
3) Was the Insurance Act (or other Acts applicable to local financial institutions) violated based on the amounts invested overseas?
Additionally, a brief outline of how these funds have been invested should be provided. For example, were the funds invested in real estate, energy, etc? The Minister of Finance should demand a computation of the current market value of these funds as there may have been significant impairment. It would be unusual to ask CLICO (Guyana) to make public all of its investment practices but these are not normal times. The guarantees offered to CLICO (Trinidad) by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago will, most likely, not be extended to Guyanese policyholders.
Yours faithfully,
Terrence Campbell
Editor’s note: Copies of this letter are being sent to the CEO of CLICO (Guyana), Geeta Singh-Knight and the Commissioner of Insurance, Maria van Beek for any comment they may wish to make.
