(Trinidad Express) State carrier Caribbean Airlines (CAL) had US$149 million or more than TT$900 million deposited in several banks and financial institutions at the beginning of 2010.
Now, only two years later, the airline which replaced its failed predecessor BWIA in January 2007, is reporting an unaudited loss of US$52.8 million (TT$339.5 million) for 2011.
Former CAL chairman Arthur Lok Jack recalled on Wednesday that when he and his board of directors resigned in June 2010 (following the May 24 general elections and change of government), the airline was in a healthy cash position and was without debt.
Now the airline’s accounts are bleeding red, with its subsidiary Air Jamaica airline also saddled with a loss for 2011 of US$38.1 million (TT$245.2 million).
The airline’s financial position was detailed by Finance Minister Winston Dookeran in the House of Representatives in Port of Spain on May 4.
Last year former CAL chairman George Nicholas declared a TT$200 million profit at the airline.
It was later suggested by Transport Minister Devant Maharaj that this figure was arrived at after looking at unaudited cash flows at the airline.
On May 5, Maharaj told reporters at an event at the Vehicle Management Corporation at Beetham that his People’s Partnership Government met a significant amount of debts in a number of State agencies (including CAL) incurred by the former PNM administration.
On Wednesday, a visibly upset Lok Jack told the Express in an exclusive interview at his Associated Brands Industries Ltd offices in Barataria that he, and the other former board members, needed to clarify the financial state of CAL when they gave up their directors positions in June 2010.
He said the previous board- which included energy executive Robert Riley, Neal & Massy executive Gervase Warner, industrial relations expert Shafeek Sultan-Khan and finance expert William Lucie-Smith (who resigned before 2010) had refrained from previously speaking about CAL’s performance but believed it was necessary to correct certain statements now.
