CLICO official denies paying herself US$5m

(Trinidad Express) Gita Sakal former corporate secretary of CL Financial, said she was personally affected by the collapse of the conglomerate because she owned two Executive Flexible Premium Annuity (EFPA) policies from CLICO.

Sakal made the statement yesterday as she took the witness stand at the Commission of Enquiry into the collapse of CL Financial and the Hindu Credit Union (HCU) for the first time.

“Being deemed a related party by the Central Bank, I am not entitled to benefit from the government’s bailout,” Sakal said.

Sakal was led into evidence by her attorney Justin Phelps yesterday at the enquiry being held at the Winsure Building, Richmond Street in Port of Spain.

Sakal was appointed at CL Financial’s corporate secretary in 2002 and resigned on April 30, 2009.

In the last evidence hearing, Michael Carballo, former group financial director of CL Financial, named Sakal in several questionable transactions.

Sakal yesterday challenged some of the claims made by Carballo.

“I was never at any time a participator in the business or financial decision-making process at CL Financial,” Sakal said.

Carballo accused Sakal of paying herself a US$5 million cheque from the accounts of CL Financial without proper approval.

“The bank mandate at all times required two signatories to execute any type of banking transaction,” she said.

Sakal said CL Financial always depended on CLICO and a mortgage debenture was created to note the outstanding balances owed.

The mortgage debenture started in 1992 with a balance of TT$62 million but the outstanding balance was increased to over TT$2 billion.

Sakal said in her mind the statutory fund of CLICO was “perfect”.

Sakal said during her seven- year stint as corporate secretary of CL Financial directors always assumed a “role of acceptance” during board meetings.

“No one was interested, getting financial information was difficult. It was like pulling teeth trying to get subsidiaries to report,” she said.

Sakal is expected to continue her testimony today after Sir Anthony Colman the lone commissioner to the Commission of Enquiry delivers a progress report.