The CLICO Saga About To Take A New Twist

The CLICO mess thickens

The following has been delivered from a usual reliable BU source. BU has taken the decision to publish in the interest of pursuing transparency  and truth in what can be labelled The CLICO Mess.

It has become public knowledge that the Judicial Management team has compiled its Report on the CLICO matter. However, BU has been alerted that this Report might not see the light of day because of a very fundamental legal obstacle. It has become known to Mr Parris’ legal advisers that one of the Managers charged with the production of the said said Report pursuant to the work it has been doing is MR PATRICK TOPPIN .

This is a very significant fact. Mr Toppin was a former employee of CLICO  until he was DISMISSED  by the Company then under the management of Mr Parris . It has also become known that there was a subsequent legal battle between the two. The informed view now being expressed is that against this background, Mr Toppin should have recused himself from acting as an official in ANYTHING to do with CLICO far more to act as a member of a judicial management team which could possibly pass judgment on the company . We have been advised that at the heart of the matter is the requirement for any such body like the Judicial Management team to observe the RULES OF NATURAL JUSTICE ; the particular rule being the RULE AGAINST BIAS .

Will Leroy Parris Get The Opportunity To Wear Stripes?

Leroy Parris

Has any serious discussion been given to the news that the office of the Supervisor of Insurance has had to manage a backlog of cases going back to the year 2000? Given the role of that office juxtaposed with the financial stability Barbadians love to boast about it is God’s mercy Barbados has not suffered any major insurance catastrophe -that is until now. We cannot ignore the fact the inefficiency of the office spans a time when both political parties held the reins of government. BU is aware the Office of Supervisor of Insurance has never been held in high regard by principals in the insurance industry, bear in mind this is the office charged under the Laws of Barbados to regulate the insurance industry in Barbados.

Against the foregoing it is not surprising the former Chairman of Clico Holdings Leroy Parris would not have felt pressure to comply with a mandate from the supervisor of insurance which ordered Clico Life Insurance to stop selling the controversial Executive Flexible Premium Annuities. The matter was the subject of a police investigation and the file has been handed over to the Director of Public Prosecutors (DPP) for his consideration whether to press charges in the matter. Barbadians and others will await the DPP’s decision with interest. On the face of it it seems an open and shut case, Clico life under the direction of Leroy Parris deliberately violated an order from the insurance regulator. He afterwards demonstrated unfathomable ignorance by admitting it publicly.

BU has been sympathetic to how the government attempted to manage Clico at the start of the crisis. Many turned it into a political matter and the visible relationship between late Prime Minister David Thompson and Leroy Parry did not make the issue any easier to manage. A couple years later the final piece of the puzzle remains to be fixed, the disposal of Clico life insurance as a going concern.