Accusing the Government of murdering innocent citizens by refusing to pay the Clico United Policyholders Group the monies owed to them, former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj said their continued refusal has tainted the government’s word which is “of no use.” Addressing more than 100 policyholders at Gaston Court, Chaguanas, yesterday, Maharaj revealed that he had filed an appeal before the Privy Council.
The appeal, which was filed last Friday, claimed the Court of Appeal erred in several areas including:
•Allowing the Government to withdraw its concession that the group of policyholders had legitimate expectations based on promises made by the previous government.
• That the promises made by the last administration were not clear.
• That the Government was justified in breaching the legitimate expectations of the policyholders.
• That there was sufficient overriding public interest to justify government departing from any legitimate expectation.
•Their ignorance of the judge’s finding of fact and their failure to explain why it did this.
Maharaj said when the former People’s National Movement administration recognised that Clico and CL Financial were experiencing financial difficulties, the finance minister, at the time, made an open statement in the Parliament promising policyholders not to remove their monies and investments as they would guarantee its return.
Maharaj said based on the announcement and because they believed the Government guarantee could be relied upon, “These policyholders have kept their money in Clico. They are not asking for money to be paid to them, that does not belong to them.”
Referring to Sections 37 and 80 and of the Insurance Act, Maharaj said there is a statutory fund which compels the government of the day to ensure that an insurance company has sufficient assets or money in that fund so that the policyholder would not suffer in the event that the company goes into liquidation. While there was an apparent lack of monitoring by the previous government, Maharaj said, “The holder would get the full sum due under the policy, that is the law.”
Claiming the Peoples Partnership Government reneged on this guarantee within months of assuming office, Maharaj said the 350 policyholders were never consulted about their investments before they were offered an enhanced package in 2011.
Declaring it was a “scandal in the legal profession” when the Government retained a Queen’s Counsel to challenge the High Court’s decision which was in favor of the policyholders, Maharaj recounted the facts which led to the Court of Appeal overruling Justice Joan Charles’s judgment and ruling in favour of the Government which is contending that there is no money to pay the policyholders.
Maharaj, who claims that Clico has approximately $17 billion in cash, has challenged Finance Minister Larry Howai to provide a detailed account of the company’s assets, its current value and potential market value during the time when the reduced offer was made in 2011 and now.
Questioning why the money had not been placed in the Statutory Fund and used to pay policyholders as total liabilities would amount to approximately $1.7 billion, Maharaj said the Prime Minister needed to take responsibility for the situation. Confident of winning the appeal before the Privy Council, Maharaj said the Government was also attempting to stymie these efforts as they were objecting to an early hearing which could take place as early as March.
Instead, he said the hearing could now be scheduled for later on in July. He said: “I am 500 per cent confident that you will be successful before the Privy Council. I am telling you today that your judgment in the Court of Appeal was wrong and you will win in the Privy Council,” Maharaj repeated.
He said the delay in settling this matter had led to people dying as they were unable to afford proper healthcare and medication, children being “murdered” as their families were left penniless and others having their education cut short as they had to be taken out of school. “What is the sense you putting on a santa claus hat and coat and going all over the country and you killing children? You actually murdered them by your policy,” Maharaj said.