He, however, said that he does not believe that this will happen because “the government is very fearful and it knows upfront what the revelations will be.”
When contacted yesterday, Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall said that he was not aware that any investigation had been done following Jagdeo’s statement. Asked about the government’s position now and whether one will be done in light of Trinidad’s move, he responded that “Cabinet will have to consider that and make a decision.”
The Trinidad Express newspaper reported last week that a criminal investigation against former CLICO executives had begun. The report said that the investigation is being conducted by a special team of police officers, comprising members of the Anti-Corruption Investigations Bureau and the Fraud Squad. The criminal probe, which began two weeks ago, was announced by Trinidad’s Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Roger Gaspard.
The Express learnt that the probe has been undertaken based on the contents of a voluminous report submitted by the Central Bank to the Office of the DPP.
The report had said that Trinidad’s Central Bank, using its regulatory powers under Section 44 D of the Central Bank Act, hired Canadian forensic investigator Robert Lindquist to assist in unravelling the web of transactions between directors of CL Financial group of companies which led to the collapse of the multibillion dollar company.
The parliamentary opposition parties here have long called for an independent probe into the collapse of Clico (Guyana), saying that there are still many unanswered questions about what precipitated the collapse of the company.
In September 2010, then President Jagdeo at a meeting with policyholders promised to initiate investigations into the affairs of both Clico and Globe Trust prior to their collapse. He had pledged that appropriate action would be taken against culpable persons should irregularities be found. “I am prepared… at some point in time to investigate what took place in both institutions so if there are culpable people, we should take action against them. I am prepared to do that,” Jagdeo had said. Following the meeting, Jagdeo had told Stabroek News that he would be setting up a team for the investigation. “We can move forward with this. So I’m going to set up a team to look at both,” he had said. He had added that this team would most likely comprise local personnel.
Prior to that, Jagdeo had been reluctant to conduct an investigation into the company, saying that it would serve no purpose.
He had said repeatedly at press conferences that there was no evidence of criminality in Clico (Guyana) but rather a case of bad investment. He said too that an audit of the company proved that this was indeed the case.
At the time, the AFC had pledged to use the Economic Services Sectoral Committee within Parlia-ment to have an inquiry into the financial debacle.
When contacted yesterday, Ramjattan was skeptical that government would conduct an investigation.
It is necessary but will not be done because of the revelations that will come out, he said. He asserted that laws were breached in relation to the amount of funds that could be moved overseas and said that this could not have been done without the knowledge and approval of the Ministry of Finance and Bank of Guyana.
Ramjattan also said there were likely kickbacks for government officials to allow the US$34 million – which represented a large percentage of Clico (Guyana’s) funds and which was above the percentage allowed to be invested overseas- to flow out of Guyana.
“It’s going to be disastrous for the government,” Ramjattan said adding that the government ought to be held to Jagdeo’s promise. (Gaulbert Sutherland)
