Special investigation
by Camini Marajh
(Trinidad Express) Gita Sakal, the ex-corporate secretary of fallen insurance and energy giant CL Financial, is back.
Sakal, who raised some eyebrows with an unauthorised US$5 million payout to herself last March, was quietly returned to the post of corporate secretary at Methanol Holdings (Trinidad) Ltd (MHTL) at a meeting of the Dr Euric Bobb-chaired board of directors at Mt Irvine Hotel in Tobago two Fridays ago-January 22.
And, in a shocking turn of events, it appears the Government-appointed caretaker management failed to inform Central Bank Gover-nor Ewart Williams of the Sakal appointment, which is likely to challenge Govern-ment’s credibility in the TT$1.5 billion and counting taxpayer bailout.
Governor Williams played a key role in shaping Government’s response last January and mapping out a bailout plan to help the stricken CL Financial conglomerate stay afloat. He is the State’s point man, tasked with cleaning up the balance sheet and restoring financial health to the Lawrence Duprey-managed conglomerate, which includes the country’s largest insurance company, CLICO. It was the governor who named the caretaker management teams to the holding company and other distressed assets in the CL Financial Group.
Asked to comment on Sakal’s return to Methanol Holdings, which is 57 per cent owned by the CL Financial Group, Governor Williams, on Wednesday, expressed surprise and suggested that perhaps the Sunday Express information was faulty. ’That would surprise me a lot,’ he said, adding, ’I would doubt that very, very much.’ He promised to check into the report and get back to us but up to Saturday, he remained unavailable for comment.
Dr Bobb, a prominent and widely respected economist and a former governor of the Central Bank, confirmed the Gita Sakal comeback to the CL Financial group. ’There was an interregnum, and she has been reconciled as corporate secretary,’ he told the Sunday Express last week, noting, however, she would not continue as legal adviser to MHTL. He said she would perform limited duties of corporate secretary.
Asked if he considered the appointment a wise move, Bobb said: ’Well those are questions. I don’t even know all the questions. For the time being, until those questions are settled or answered, I think we live in a society where people have the benefit of the doubt pending the determination of any accusation.’
