CLICO policy holders will never see a dollar for this ‘fire sale’ of assets
submitted by Parris Pauper
The Barbados Government is moving to ‘compulsorily acquire’ the Sam Lord’s Castle ruins and lands. As Minister of Housing and Lands Michael Lashley stated, Sam Lord’s is being acquired “for housing purposes, tourism development and beach access.”
Sam Lord’s Castle has been owned by CLICO for almost ten years (memory fails – if someone has the exact date CLICO purchased Sam Lord’s, speak up please) and is an incredibly valuable piece of property if developed. The hold-up to development approval was always the historic Sam Lord’s Castle building, but just as Barbados Free Press predicted in April 2009 – a fire took care of that little impediment.
If anything, the burning of Sam Lord’s Castle raised the end value of the land because the historic building was totally destroyed and ceased to be a major political obstacle in new development. Only the facia remains and this could be incorporated into any new structure if it doesn’t totally fall down first.
With the collapse of CLICO, the DLP government moved to grab the asset. They didn’t move to protect the public interest in the historic building before the CLICO collapse because Leroy Parris, David Thompson and the DLP were tight as thieves and the idea was to allow Parris to let the building fall to ruin, then maximize the profit from the lands.
And there was also that one little sticking point about the DLP never acting responsibly at the time to protect the interests of Bajans: Prime Minister Thompson and Leroy Parris were godfather to each other’s children. Thompson was also CLICO’s lawyer for over a decade when the company failed to file financial statements and broke the law, and CLICO Parris et al were major financial contributors to the DLP.
CLICO was a very messy conflict of interest indeed for Thompson and the DLP.
Fortunately for the DLP though, David Thompson is now conveniently dead and revered instead of being subject to what would have been a tsunami of Opposition attacks over the CLICO cover-up and conflicts of interest.
Now the DLP government is going to take Sam Lord’s and sell it to make some good profits. Or… perhaps sell it to friends at a low price so the friends can make the profits and kickback some contributions to the DLP. That’s how things work around here, you know.
Here is the one truth in my article that you should remember above all else if you are a CLICO policy holder or other victim…
The Barbados Government will never pay CLICO for Sam Lord’s Castle. No matter whether the asset is fairly valued or under-valued, not one dollar of government money will be transferred to the assets of CLICO where the money could benefit the victims.
Instead there will be some finagling with the books and some credit or swap against CLICO’s real or contrived debt to the government coffers.
The pillaging of the good CLICO assets continues to the ultimate detriment of the poor suckers who believed that the Barbados Superintendent of Insurance and the Barbados Government were looking after policyholders’ interests.
Parris and his gang were able to do what they did only because they had the cooperation and friendship of Caribbean governments. Indeed, it could truly be said that in the case of Barbados, CLICO, Parris and Thompson owned the DLP government.
Policyholders: kiss your assets goodbye.
Further Reading
BFP, October 21, 2010: Sam Lord’s Castle burns to the ground thanks to Barbados DLP, BLP, CLICO, Leroy Parris
BFP, April 11, 2009: How CLICO Ruined A Barbados Heritage Site: Sam Lord’s Castle
Barbados Free Press 
same old things over and over again
vote them out ,,
Well maybe at least the taxpayers get something for the 10 million dollar cheque that was written by David Thompson’s government shortly after the discovery of the huge shortfall in cash assets of the insurance company.
And still no one in jail………………………
Nor will there ever be!
You like you cyan’ hear dis be The Free-est Black Nayshun In De World?
What you think that means?
You din’t go to school?
Bajans its time REVOLT. I’m beginning to think that you enjoy being SCREWED. Wake up and smell the roses as they are not very rosy. If action is not immediate then the country is headed for oblivion.
That’s why the fire happened. So the Gov can devalue the property, get it cheap & sell it high!!! And they call Nigeria corrupt.
Food for thought:
Hotel rooms and patty shops
Heart to Heart
Betty Ann Blaine
Whether we recognise it or not, the budget debate now under way in Parliament reflects the deep socioeconomic and class divides that exist in the society, even when it is being presented within a very tight fiscal framework.
In my over 30 years of working with the poorest populations in Jamaica, I have never seen their plight as acute as it is now, including the frightening state of child poverty. The diet of the masses of Jamaican children is so poor it is unspeakable – cup soup, bag juice, cheese trix during the week, and chicken back, chicken and turkey neck on a Sunday. Some are not even that lucky.
And it is not just the dietary deficiencies. It’s also the portions. The children have to be content with whatever small amounts are cooked, and alternate as many are doing now with “dry food” every other day. The idea of the family buying a whole bread or a full bottle of oil, not to mention a whole chicken, is alien to many of our children and youth. A group of young men from an inner-city community simply put it this way, “Miss, we get used to hungry. A suh ghetto life run.”
Having made some significant strides in education over the decades, it is disheartening to see us return, as we have now, to the days when parents have to choose which one of the children to send to school on any given day for lack of bus fare and lunch money, and the hike on patties will only exacerbate the problem. In days gone by, it was the “brightest” child that got the break. It appears as if we are back there again.
Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/columns/Hotel-rooms-and-patty-shops#ixzz1wvxB8CEG
Are we this bad in Barbados at present?
Barbadians do not know the meaning of poverty, if they did they would not spend money on such frivolous things, such as partying, cell phones for their youngest children, and bran made clothes. I worked in a government institution and the youngest child coming to see a doctor or health care worker with all this gold jewellery on the parents & children, and then tell you they con’t have a roof over their heads, and want money to buy food. The other islands where I am from, we don’t have this welfare system that support idleness and laziness. The politicians of this country buy votes by contributing to this indifference to work.
“Just my independent opinion”
What difference does it made whether or not Barbadians understands the value of a dollar? By the laws of God and Nature we all are free to decide what we think is best in our lives. Once we are acting within the prescribed mandate of acceptable moral standards, and the scope of civil government, who cares what one does with one’s money. You and I are in no position to impose our free will on anyone for that matter. Who has the right to determine what is real or ideal when it comes to living our lives within the framework material acquisition? Now,because culture dictates to us that it is better to own a home rather that waste our money on frivolous clothing. We somehow use this narrow way of thinking as a measuring -stick, and the standard criteria of value, or success. Now realistically speaking, I know that a home is suppose to be our symbol of success into day’s world, but a home was originally designed to protect us from the blind forces of nature, wasn’t it?
ah teef name D get vote out anna teef name B get vote in…how we life improve by dat, tell muh nuh?
But if the property was insured, would they not have already collected on the insurance money on the building? Just asking, probably naively so, but just asking.
@Lady anon:Maybe the Judicial Manager can answer your query.
lady Avon .
May be insured by CLICO and burned by CLICO , and their friends collect
@189 You probably hit the nail right, bang on the head!!!