The Clico Policyholders Group (CPG) will have to wait longer to receive monies owned to them as another meeting is scheduled with Finance Minister Larry Howai next Tuesday. However, there may be some “unintended consequences” if the monies are not paid within a timely period, the group’s chairman Peter Permell said yesterday.
He met with Howai for some two hours yesterday at the Ministry of Finance building, Port-of-Spain. Saying the meeting was productive, Permell added: “Based on the fact that the Central Bank Governor and the Minister of Finance has confirmed that Clico is fully solvent and the Clico statutory fund is fully funded, it means that those policyholders are now due a difference between what was paid to them in 2012 and what is contractually due to them as we speak.”
Permell said the group made “robust representation” and at times during the meeting there were “one or two grey areas” which were sorted out. On when there would be closure for the matter, Permell said policyholders would ideally want it settled before the general election. “It is not in my hands but certainly I am doing my part to make sure that takes place. To the Government’s credit, they have already acknowledged that there is money that is still owned to the policyholders.
“What we have to do is work out exactly what the ‘what is’ and the mechanism by which it is going to be paid. “Those are technical issues which have to be sorted out but they are not insurmountable and we feel confident that after our meeting next Tuesday we will be able to report something more concrete. It is a step in the right direction,” he added.
He said some policyholders would have supported the People’s Partnership in 2010 and thought when former finance minister Winston Dookeran was in office the matter would have been resolved to the satisfaction of all policyholders. “Obviously that did not happen and we still have this Clico matter lingering... after six years this matter is still haunting us. What that is telling us in no uncertain terms is if that matter is not resolved and not handled properly they are going to let their right index finger do the talking.
“They are not in business of burning tyres. They operate in a different fashion,” Permell added. On whether the number of the policyholders would be significant enough to affect the outcome of the September 7 general election one way or the other Permell said some 15,000 policyholders had accepted the Government’s offer in 2012.
“And if you multiply that by their family members you are talking about a huge number of eligible voters over the age of 18. In this election you have a number of marginal seats and a couple hundred votes can make a huge difference,” Permell said. In March, Central Bank Governor Jwala Rambarran had announced the repayment of $7 billion to Government by Clico, in addition to the payout of $950 million to Clico policyholders.