Trinidad & Tobago Ministry of Finance high-powered legal fight to keep public in the dark about CL Financial!

Afra Raymond

Guilty Government Fighting Afra Raymond’s Freedom of Information request all the way

Please note that the JCC President, Afra Raymond, will be interviewed by David Walker of 104.7fm on Thursday 15th August, 2013 between 11:00am-12noon on the issue of “State Enterprises & Issues Arising Within”

Be sure to tune in!

We received the following from our old friend Afra Raymond. You should read the original at Afra’s own website.

Ministry of Finance Dance

This is the 12th July affidavit filed by the Ministry of Finance in reply to my claim under the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) filed against them in this matter.

This is a most interesting document for several reasons –

Former Trinidad Government Ministers run from Colman Commission appearances: Cowards? Crooks? Realistically cautious?

by Afra Raymond

CL Financial bailout – Colman’s endgame

We are entering the endgame of the Colman Commission, so we need to maintain full vigilance.  We must bear witness in a sober manner.

The PNM element

Former PNM Ministers Danny Montano, Conrad Enill and Mariano Browne were recently named by Commission Chairman Sir Anthony Colman as having declined to testify.

“It is noticeable that there has been a remarkable lack of cooperation from others, who were responsible for political decision-taking — to mention a few names: Mr. Enill, Mr. Browne and Mr. Montano in particular — have not offered to come and give evidence,” Sir Anthony said at Winsure Building, Richmond Street, Port-of-Spain.

“It is surprising perhaps that those who were the political representatives of the people of Trinidad and Tobago have not been able to provide assistance to the Commission in circumstances where it might have been expected of them,” he added.

“Colman chides 3 ex-ministers.” Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. October 23 2012.

Colman then named three former Cabinet ministers who had been previously named in testimony at the enquiry in relation to the HCU.

“To mention but a few names Mr (Conrad) Enill, Mr (Mariano) Browne and Mr (Danny) Montano in particular have not co-operated to come and give evidence,” Colman said.

“Colman praises Nunez-Tesheira for co-operating.” Trinidad Express Newspapers. October 22, 2012

That refusal to appear before a Commission of Enquiry amounts to a kind of contempt of court, since it is wilful disrespect for a lawful enquiry.  These are PNM Seniors, whose testimonies would have been invaluable in unraveling this series of financial collapses.

Here is why those missing testimonies are so important –

CL Financial bailout, Section 34 scandal: The plot to pervert Parliament

Blind Man’s Bluff

by Afra Raymond

“Blind man’s buff  [or Blind man’s bluff] is played in a spacious area, such as outdoors or in a large room, in which one player, designated as “It”, is blindfolded and gropes around attempting to touch the other players without being able to see them, while the other players scatter and try to avoid the person who is “it”, hiding in plain sight and sometimes teasing them to make them change direction.”

… from Wikipedia

In this round, we, The Public, are ‘it’…you see?

The entire ‘section 34 fiasco’ is churning in my mind, so I am calling it the Plot to Pervert Parliament.

The way in which the Trinidad and Tobago, its significant institutions and its legislature have been misled for the benefit of political financiers has given me pause.  The entire episode is truly revolting, even for those of us who have little faith in our political rulers.

Having listened to the PM’s address on this S.34 fiasco there are now more questions than answers.  The silence by the PM and other leading MPs on these documented facts during the Parliamentary debate on the repeal seems to amount to a calculated decision to withhold information.

The main questions for the PM are along two limbs – firstly, how does the AG’s absence overseas for a few days exonerate him?  We need to stay with this line, given that it is the principal one advanced by the PM after her research into the issue.

Secondly, there is the burning question of what is Volney’s true role in all this?  Did the PM ask him why he misled his Cabinet colleagues and the Parliament?  If so, what did Volney say?  If the PM did not ask Volney for his reasons, one has to be deeply skeptical about the idea that this single Minister outwitted the entire Cabinet.

The fact that this episode centred on the actual 50th Jubilee weekend was a powerful wake-up call to us all.  History is rich in irony.

Sidebar – Was S.34 the first time?

I am now recalling that the CLF bailout and shareholders agreement were never debated, they were both declared as fait accompli. What is more, as I wrote in this space recently, the Ministry of Finance is claiming that the contents of the presentation to Members of Parliament on the new bailout laws is secret. The S.34 fiasco involved an alleged stealing of $1Bn in Public Money and we are all now seeing the extent to which these white-collar criminals and their servants will go to cover their tracks. It is truly revolting.

So, the question is ‘‘Given what we now know and the fact that the CLF bailout involves many billions of dollars in Public Money, is it reasonable to assume in good faith that our Parliamentarians and Public Officials will be responsible and honest in their dealings?” I will be returning to this, it is turning in my mind.

For my part, there is no way we are lightly ‘moving on’ from this tragic place…this is the occasion to resolve a lot of this nonsense and put us on the road to a much improved system of governance. It is going to be a hard campaign, but we must have a realistic appreciation of our situation if we are to have any chance at prevailing.

Prime Minister Stuart won’t talk about this Clico issue…

Leroy Parris and good friend Finance Minister Chris Sinckler share champagne

The DLP protect Leroy Parris because they have to… or else!

Had former Prime Minister David Thompson lived to lead the Democratic Labour Party into the coming election, it would have been a very messy fight indeed… because Thompson was Clico’s lawyer when so much wrongdoing happened, and he knew about many contentious activities.

“It gets worse, much worse. Former PM David Thompson was in the thick of it in August 2007, prior to being elected. Thompson’s law firm took 4% of the purchase of CLICO’s new business jet for ‘legal fees’. We told you so, folks. We told you.”

… from BFP’s Former PM David Thompson law firm money-laundered millions from CLICO to Parris: How much came back to Thompson & DLP?

Voters remember that it was David Thompson who during the 2007-2008 election campaign voiced the DLP’s promise to bring integrity to government, and transparency in the government’s dealings in every area. He promised new laws and government rules to stop the abuses. It was David Thompson who held up a campaign cheque for $75,000 that Owen Arthur illegally deposited into his own personal bank account. Arthur stole that money from the BLP election coffers and Thompson proved it to Bajans and the world. (No one asked where Thompson got the cheque – it was, of course, stolen from banking records by a DLP supporter!)

So Thompson and the DLP were elected to provide integrity legislation, freedom of information, conflict of interest rules and to generally clean up what had become a government and civil service rotten to the core with corruption, injustice and nepotism.

PM Thompson Says His Use Of CLICO’s Business Jet Is None Of Your Business

Clico perks were cheap for the DLP, expensive for policyholders

Unfortunately though, it was also David Thompson who (once elected) spent days on end enjoying perks from his friends at CL Financial, including free business jet use.

Winston Dookeran, former Trinidad Minister of Finance: CLICO funded CL Financial’s disasterous expansion.

David Thompson was CLICO’s lawyer

Leroy Parris and David Thompson: partners in raping Bajan policy holders

Former Minister of Finance, Winston Dookeran, has often shied away from controversy in his long political career. But in an explosive affidavit in response to a lawsuit against the Government’s handling of the Clico affair, brought by his former Cabinet colleague, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, Dookeran makes some astonishing revelations, including:

• It may take a further $21 billion to resolve the Clico issue;
• Why Clico’s assets could not have been sold in 2009 and 2010

From Dookeran’s affidavit…

CL Financial – CLICO fraud: Dr. Terrence Farrell wilfully blind?

Protecting Sacred Cows…

Our old friend Afra Raymond takes issue with the former Deputy Governor, Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago, Dr. Terrence Farrell and Farrell’s statements in support of the bank’s outgoing governor, Ewart S. Williams.

Considering that Ewart Williams knew in 2004 that CL Financial Group was having serious trouble and was in violation of the law – and that Williams and the Trinidad Central Bank did nothing until the house of cards collapsed, Dr. Farrell’s praise is indeed misplaced and almost comical except for the great human tragedy that the Central Bank’s failures contributed to.

Always an excellent read at AfraRaymond.com:

“The entire scenario reeks of corruption in the highest offices in the Republic and on the largest possible scale.  We are witness to an epic swindle being carried out on our Treasury and in broad daylight.”

from Afra Raymond’s new article The Sacred Cow

Trinidad Express to publish Afra Raymond… after T&T Guardian shamefully caved to political pressure.

When the history of the CL Financial / CLICO fraud is written, one courageous journalist will stand out: Afra Raymond.

There is no one else in Trinidad or Barbados who has damned the torpedoes and charged straight ahead with the entire truth. No one.

Afra Raymond is a T&T journalist whose effective investigation and analysis on the CL Financial scandal has continually exposed the unethical and illegal actions of many of the main players in the financial debacle. His work has aided the small investors who were abused and deceived. Afra alerted the taxpayers who were being set up to be raped again by politicians more interested in cover-ups than in asset protection and recovery. He is feared and despised by the wrong-doers because he is capable of so clearly and simply describing what the crooks did.

If your last name is Parris or Duprey, you undoubtedly consider Afra Raymond to be a dangerous man.

Afra has paid the price for his defense of the ordinary people, the people who trusted the financial elites like Leroy Parris and Lawrence Duprey. At the end of 2011, the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian who then published Afra’s work decided that they would secretly send his articles to politicians to preview and vet his writing prior to publishing! This was a breach of basic media ethics.

Upon hearing that the editor was secretly sending his unpublished articles to selected politicians and big-ups – Afra, in very civilized terms, told the T&T Guardian to stick it where the sun doan shine. He resigned as any journalist of integrity would.

Here we are six months later and the Trinidad Express has hired Afra to write a column. Good for the Express: the paper clearly stands head and shoulders above the Guardian.

What does the CL Financial and CLICO scandal boil down to for Afra? In a phrase: “Privatized profits. Socialized losses.”

That is what Duprey, Parris and the rest of the CLICO – CL Financial clan are still doing to you and to me.

Can’t wait for Afra’s first column at the Trinidad Express. It might or might not be on CL Financial – we haven’t been informed. But whatever the subject, we’re looking forward to once again seeing Afra Raymond in the traditional news media.

Further reading and listening

Check out AfraRaymond.com where you’ll find some media interviews of Afra from June and May just passed. You’ll get angry as Afra Raymond chats in ‘The Barbershop‘ with John Wayne Benoit on i95.5FM about the CL Financial bailout and Public Procurement issues and other topics on June 30, 2012. Then go to May 4th on Early Morning with Hema Ramkissoon where Afra discusses ‘Government fails to deliver?’; a question on the minds of the construction industry.

Well worth your time!

Afra Raymond resigns from Trinidad & Tobago Guardian: Paper wants politicians to preview articles

Afra Raymond targeted by CL Financial big-ups?

Barbados Free Press understands from an internal source that journalist Afra Raymond has resigned from writing for the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian after learning that the paper sends unpublished articles to politicians: apparently seeking to have the politicians pre-approve or vet opinion pieces before publication.

Afra Raymond is a T&T journalist whose effective work on the CL Financial scandal has continually exposed the unethical and illegal actions of many of the main players in the financial debacle. Much of Afra Raymond’s work is jointly published here at Barbados Free Press, at the Guardian, and at Mr. Raymond’s own website.

We have sent Mr. Raymond an email asking for confirmation and to clarify what we are hearing.

If it is true that the Trinidad & Tobago Guardian is sending unpublished articles to politicians for pre-approval, this would seriously undermine the credibility of the Guardian news organization. It would be a serious affront to journalistic integrity and independence.

We’ll update this story as we learn more.

Robert

CL Financial – CLICO payouts: Afra Raymond asks on television “Who got payouts first?”

“One rule for one set of people, another rule for another set of people”

Our friend Afra Raymond as interviewed by Fazeer Mohammed on Morning Edition television, March 24, 2011.

No word yet on whether the Colman Commission will grant standing to Afra. If Afra does get standing, he’ll be able to ask questions – and then, look out!

Click on the photo to watch. There’s lots more on the subject at Afra Raymond.com

Prime Minister Freundel Stuart to Barbados: I don’t care about conflicts of interest, Leroy Parris is my long time friend.

Lesson #492 why the DLP won’t pass Integrity Legislation and political financing rules. Ever.

Barbados PM protecting one of the DLP’s prime financial backers.

Like Finance Minister Sinckler, our accidental Prime Minister Freundel Stuart just doesn’t get it or doesn’t care about Integrity Legislation, Conflicts of Interest and the optics of senior Ministers of Government cavorting with someone who at the very least is at the center of a scandal involving billions of dollars missing, and who should be under serious investigation.

But it’s okay because Leroy Parris is “a long-time friend and a one-time client” – not to mention a major financial supporter of the Democratic Labour Party. Oh… Stuart didn’t mention that financial support to the DLP, did he?

Prime Minister Stuart says it doesn’t help the CLICO situation to try to exploit a photograph of Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler talking to Parris (photo above) at the just run Gold Cup horse racing event. Stuart doesn’t mention that the photo was taken at a private little gathering where ordinary folks weren’t invited. He tries to make it like they just bumped into each other on the street.

So according to Prime Minister Stuart, victims and taxpayers should just shut up about CLICO conflicts of interest and if they don’t, the PM will blame the victims when they receive pennies or nothing on their “investments”.

That’s quite a different response than taken by the Government of Trinidad & Tobago, that set up a Commission of Enquiry to look into the CL Financial – CLICO debacle: including the examination of how relationships, conflicts of interest and election financing concerns contributed to the collapse.

What is it that causes Mr. Stuart to tell ordinary Barbadians that the relationship between government and Leroy Parris is none of their business?

Is it “honour amongst thieves” and all that? Or is it that Leroy Parris and CLICO funded the DLP election campaign that saw David Thompson made Prime Minister? Is it a combination of factors all working together that causes Mr. Stuart to tell ordinary Barbadians that the relationship between government and Leroy Parris is none of their business?

Ladies and gentlemen of the Democratic Labour Party: please excuse us for bothering you. Please continue to enjoy your champagne, lobster pate and your close relationship with the people who stole our future. Sorry for mentioning it. Truly.

Here’s the latest slap in the face of ordinary Bajans from our Prime Minister, Freundel Stuart. Please read it at The Nation, but as usual we’ll reprint it here because they change history every so often at that newspaper…

Colman Commission into CL Financial scandal: Sunlight or whitewash?

“When the Prime Minister announced this Enquiry on 1^st October 2010, she promised to release details of who received the monies disbursed after the CL Financial Group collapsed.  That list of names and who received what sums would be an absolutely explosive one.”

“You can be sure that the people in the top layer will do anything in their power to protect themselves from the stern scrutiny…”

CL Financial bailout – Sunlight Disinfectant

by Afra Raymond

If you think this title is for the latest brand of household cleaner, you would be wrong.  I drew that title from the famous statement by deceased US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, in reference to corruption and fraudulent dealings –

‘Sunlight is the best disinfectant‘

see The Sunlight Foundation

Of course, this is all about the impending Colman Commission of Enquiry into the failure of CL Financial and other companies (including CMMB) and the Hindu Credit Union.

We are attempting to understand our situation in this financial fiasco – how was the entire collapse caused?  Who is responsible?  What can we do to avoid a repetition?

Our House needs a serious cleaning and we need a new commitment to serious retrospection if we are to succeed in understanding this scandalous situation.

To set the stage, there are four principalities being represented in this Enquiry –

• CL Financial Chiefs – The people who had Direction and Control of the entire failed group – that would include the shareholders.
• The Regulators – The Supervisor of Insurance, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Central Bank.
• The Auditors – PriceWaterhouseCoopers and Ernst & Young – the former being auditors for the CL Financial group and the latter acting for the Central Bank.
• The aggrieved Policy-Holders and Depositors – Several groups have been formed to seek the return of all the monies owed to these investors.

How PricewaterhouseCoopers grossly misled investors in CMMB – Caribbean Money Market Brokers

“The presentation of these financials (by PricewaterhouseCoopers) may be technically permissible but they are grossly misleading…

These accounts suggest, to the untrained financial eye, that the company is profitable and it is not.”

Excerpt from a reader’s analysis of PwC at Afra Raymond.com

PwC PricewaterhouseCoopers should be ashamed

Two days ago we directed our readers to a new Afra Raymond article about the CL Financial Scandal The CMMB story.

Today one of Afra’s audience left a devastating analysis of the activities of PwC PricewaterhouseCoopers in deliberately misleading investors into CMMB – Caribbean Money Market Brokers. Even though we just covered Afra’s new article, this latest comment says it all and deserves our attention.

People used to trust PwC. What fools we all were.

Without misleading, unethical auditors like PwC – willing to lie, deceive and be well paid for it – Duprey, Parris and David Thompson as their lawyer couldn’t have gotten away with what they did for so long.

Afra’s stories about the rot and fraud at CL Financial, Clico and the other scam companies have been going wild on the hit-meter because so many of us are victims, and will be victimized more as our tax dollars bail out the big guys and put the burden on the little people. The battle cry of crooks like Duprey and Parris: “Privatize profits, socialize losses.”

Here is what Afra’s reader observed about PricewaterhouseCoopers….

CL Financial, CLICO bailout: The rot is deep, the corrupt keep their Code of Silence

“There was no agreement.  None at all.  For a loan exceeding one billion dollars…

Just imagine the Chairman who presided over the meeting of Clico Investment Bank’s Board which approved that loan… attempting to explain just what they were doing dispensing with depositors’ funds in that loose fashion.  I can scarcely wait.”

by Afra Raymond

Testing the Code of Silence

The Code of Silence has formed the subject of several columns in this series.

I am referring to the unwritten agreement amongst the leadership group in our society to maintain silence in matters of white-collar crime.  The guiding principle of the Code being that the members of that group must never be exposed to the same scrutiny and penalties as the common criminal.

That Code of Silence is poisonous to the progressive development of our society.  Unless we can bury the notion that white-collar crime pays, our society is doomed to lurch from crisis to crisis.  White-collar crime will never be truly challenged until the Code of Silence is tested to destruction.  I welcome anything which would dismantle the Code of Silence.  Literally anything.

The Commission of Enquiry into the various financial collapses which have beset us – Clico, British-American, Clico Investment Bank, Caribbean Money Market Brokers, the CL Financial group and the Hindu Credit Union – was announced by the Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister in her 1^st October address to Parliament.

CL Financial bailout: “Amazing scenes were witnessed”

“A glaring example of the kind of wanton wrongdoing at the heart of this mess…  Clico Investment Bank fails to file its Corporation Tax returns for three years, yet keep their banking licence and arrange for the taxpayer to bail them out when it all goes sour.”

Where are the two-years past due audited accounts for CL Financial?

by Afra Raymond

The new situation is charged with peril and one is reminded of Naipaul’s father, the intrepid journalist from ‘A House for Mr. Biswas’ whose favourite tagline was ‘…amazing scenes were witnessed…’.

Trinidad & Tobago Finance Minister, Winston Dookeran, addressed Parliament on the Finance Bill (No. 2) 2010 on Wednesday 24^th November.  It was a lengthy and detailed statement, which put things into a necessary perspective.  For me, it was important that Dookeran gave priority to the claims of the contractors and of course, the last item being the claims being made by the various groups representing Clico policyholders.

The Finance Minister held his position as set out in the 2011 budget, which was no surprise when one considers his statement that the various submissions received from the policyholders’ groups did not withstand scrutiny.  I only had two significant concerns in terms of outstanding items which require proper attention.

When did CL Financial and CLICO actually collapse? Answer: Long before it was announced…

“Virtually $5.9Bn of CLICO Investment Bank assets seem to have vanished in a mere 13 months – a weekly rate of ‘withdrawal’ close to $105M”

In his latest article, our friend Afra Raymond makes a simple observation that other news media seems to have missed or deliberately ignored.

CL Financial bailout

The House on the Corner Part II: More insights into CLICO Investment Bank

by Afra Raymond

“The most pressing issue in the financial system is the CLICO fiasco…

…This fiasco was caused by reckless corporate governance and the glaring failure of our financial regulatory institutions…

…This crisis was caused by an absence of risk management, excessive borrowing internally and externally to fund high risk speculative investments, and wrong financial reporting…”

Finance Minister Winston Dookeran, speaking on the CL Financial bailout, during his inaugural Budget Speech on 8^th September 2010

The examination of CLICO Investment Bank (CIB) continues, based on the affidavits in the Central Bank’s winding-up action.

Firstly, as an overview, I consider the various versions of the accounts and their implications –

• CIB’s 2007 audit – Was performed by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) as at 31^st December 2007, with the Balance Sheet showing Total Assets of $12.587Bn and Total Liabilities of $11.699Bn.  Please note that those accounts were unqualified – PwC gave a ‘clean’ audit to CIB at the end of 2007.
• CIB’s Management Accounts – As at 31^st January 2009, showed Total Assets of $12.264Bn and Total Liabilities of $10.692Bn.  Those figures are broadly in line with the audit figures 13 months earlier, at the end of 2007.
• Ernst & Young’s Statement of Affairs – As at 31^st January 2009, that showed Total Assets of $6.387Bn and Total Liabilities of $11.080Bn.  Virtually $5.9Bn of assets seem to have vanished in a mere 13 months – a weekly rate of ‘withdrawal’ close to $105M – leading inevitably to the estimated insolvency of $4.693Bn.

CL Financial – CLICO: Afra Raymond demands secret Duprey letter under Freedom of Information

Where is the missing 76.8 BILLION dollars?

Head on over to Afra Raymond’s blog for some interesting developments in the CL Financial and CLICO fraud.

First up, Afra posted a very interesting video of him talking with Jessie May Ventour and Fazir Mohammed about what the new T&T Government is doing with the ongoing CL Financial bailout. (link here)

Second, Afra is still looking for CL Financial’s missing 76.8 BILLION dollars (aren’t we all!) and he wants a first-hand look at a letter written by Lawrence Duprey. Those in power are doing all they can to prevent Afra from obtaining the document…

Testing the Terms of the CL Financial bailout

by Afra Raymond

On Sunday, June 6, 2010 the Express’ Investigative Desk published yet another series of exclusive reports from Camini Marajh and those are once again, raising more questions than answers.

HCL’s billion-dollar Deal

The only deal they were interested in…

‘Nurse pushes fees for directors’ …at cash-strapped HCL

The $b FCB deal

The reports revolved around some of the recent dealings of Home Construction Limited and their financing via First Citizens’ bank.  The Home Construction group of companies is an important part of the CL Financial empire – that CL Financial empire is being bailed out by the State.

The key issues arising from the reported information would seem to be –

Sir Allen Stanford says “Just call me Al”

Caribbean Knighthoods: Easy come, easy go!

Until we came across the story at Trivester.com, somehow we missed reports in the oldstream news media that the Antigua & Barbuda government finally yanked Sir Allen Stanford’s bought-and-paid-for Knighthood. You know how it works: Stanford gave money to the politicians and they gave him the “Sir” title until their association with Stanford became a little too hot to handle.

Sir Allen, er, “Al” is in a spot of trouble over running his banks and businesses like a big Ponzi scheme – which was all fine and good for a little while but like any Ponzi scheme had to collapse eventually. But what parties he had while it was in the growth cycle!

Much like the executives involved in the CL Financial – CLICO ponzi schemes where 76 billion dollars or thereabouts disappeared overnight. What parties they had, what jets, cars, women and mansions! Oh well – not so bad for Leroy Parris who was awarded a golden Caribbean Broadcasting parachute by his old buddy and lawyer, Prime Minister David Thompson.

Anyway, back to SIR Allen, um, “Al”…

“Al” will be going on a little vacation for a few years. Hopefully before his banks collapsed “Al” remembered to pay off all the drug dealers he was money-laundering for because the cocaine cartels lack a sense of humour in certain matters. Nope, I wouldn’t want to be “Sir Al” in any jail in the world if I lost drug money.

So ends the party for SIR Allen – a guy who purchased his title just a surely as he bought suits and ties. Of course, for Al to make the purchase, there had to be a seller – and there are no shortages of Knighthood sellers ’bout hey.

Oh yes, how we little Caribbean islands love to hand out Knighthoods like candy to friends and political supporters – half the time while ignoring or disparaging the British Monarchy upon whose credibility the whole thing rests.

Visit our friends over at Trivester.com for all the details about “Al” and his little problem: Sir Allen Stanford’s Knighthood Revoked

We’ve also added Trivester.com to our sidebar links and we’d appreciate some feedback on this from our readers. Thanks!