(Trinidad Express) Gita Sakal, former corporate secretary of failed conglomerate CL Financial and the woman who will best be remembered as the high flying executive who kept a US$5 million cheque tucked away in a desk drawer for close to two months, has been called back to the witness stand in the ongoing CL Financial Commission of Enquiry.
Sakal is expected to take the witness stand in September for a second round of cross examination related to her role in the disputed sale of CLICO Energy Ltd stock to Proman Ltd within days of a multi-billion dollar taxpayer bailout and a memorandum of understanding agreement signed between CL Financial and the Central Bank which prohibited the sale of any group asset without state approval.
Sakal, who took a beating in the courtroom late last year on the role she played in the demise of the conglomerate’s fortunes, will face further cross-examination on a slew of email exchanges between herself and other CL Financial and Proman executives including Rampersad Motilal, Joseph Cassidy, Claus Cronberger, Daniel Eggenberger, Karen-Ann Gardier, Mala Robertson, Michael Beck and Markus Gresch.
Sources familiar with the situation told the Sunday Express that Sakal will be asked to answer further questions related to the exchange of email correspondence between herself and other executives leading up to the contentious February 3, 2009 sale of CLF’s 51 per cent interest in CLICO Energy Co Ltd to Proman AG.
The sale of the CL Financial asset to Proman had provoked a firestorm of criticism, court-action and a government-issued demand for a reversal of the transaction which, according to state regulators, was in breach of the January 30, 2009 MOU. In fact, on the very day that the MOU was signed, Sakal wrote to Cassidy to brief him on the frontline role given to former financial director, Andre Monteil in bailout negotiations with the then PNM Government.
In an email sent to Cassidy at 5.35 p.m. on January 30, 2009, Sakal noted that: “The chairman (Lawrence Duprey) has appointed Monteil’s company to negotiate on behalf of CLF without CLF board approval. Rampersad and others are mad because Monteil is getting rid on (of) energy and Republic (Bank). It is evident that the chairman has put the company’s future into the hands of Monteil. The GORTT has already announced that they will now have MHTL (Methanol Holdings Trinidad Ltd) shares. We will have a buy back option but that is impossible.”
The email continued: “Note that I have not been part of negotiations of the MOU because Monteil’s view was that I supported the energy investments which ‘bust down’ the company. It is highly likely if at our board meeting tomorrow the chairman continue with his pie in the sky talk and insist that Monteil continue to represent us, I will resign. I will only stay on for a while to discuss the strategies we talked about with Claus.
It is likely that Geoffrey Leid, who is Mr Duprey personal adviser, a director of CLICO etc will succeed me. That same CLICO whose pension and salary bill Rampersad had to assist with this month and whose management will be changed next week. Claus and I will work and if it’s the last thing I do is to ensure that GOTT does not get control.”
Sakal will also be grilled on the February 2, 2009 email she sent to all of the directors of the financially distressed insurance giant CLICO. The Sakal correspondence said that: “Effectively immediately, CL Financial Board hereby instructs you to as follows:
1. To cease from entering into any new inter-company transactions with CLF
2. To place a freeze of salaries, bonuses and other benefits to directors and other senior officers
3. Not to dispose of or enter into any agreement for the disposal of ANY assets without firstly providing a schedule or details of the proposed disposal to CLF and GORTH for approval
4. Not to declare or pay out any dividends or other distribution or offer or convert any share options without providing details first to CLF and GORTH for approval.”
Sakal, meanwhile, has withdrawn a defamation lawsuit filed against the Express newspaper and head of its Investigative Desk Camini Marajh.
Sakal sued for libel following publication of two Marajh-reported exclusives in the Sunday Express which detailed her rich pay deal from the cash-starved conglomerate four months after majority shareholder and former executive chairman, Lawrence Duprey went knocking on the Central Bank’s door for a government bailout.
Sakal’s attorney, Alvin Ramroop filed a notice of discontinuance against the Express newspaper and Marajh early this month.
The lawsuit related to two articles published in May 2009 – “Gita’s Big Bonus”, published on May 3, 2009 and “Sakal’s $31 million shocker”, published on May 24, 2009.
The notice of discontinuance was made prior to the start of case management conference and comes three months after Sakal testified at the CL Financial Commission of Enquiry, where she admitted in open court to everything she complained about and claimed constituted a grave libel against her.
The former top executive admitted in testimony to drawing up her own contract, to signing the disputed US$5 million cheque made to herself and to keeping the US$5 million cheque in a desk drawer for a near two months before paying it back to CL Financial after a legal threat from Duprey’s attorneys to call in the police. The US$5 million formed part of the disputed proceeds of the sale of CLICO Energy to Proman AG. Sakal will have to pay legal costs in the failed libel action against the Express newspaper.
And as reported exclusively last year by the Sunday Express, Sakal has since filed a claim against CL Financial for contractual benefits owed to her totalling US$7,743,650.12.
