CLICO Holdings (Barbados) Limited has potential liabilities in many countries. It also has a poor record of filing required financial statements with the corporate registry. Will private investors buy CLICO without adequate disclosure?

CLICO Litigation Is Delaying Payment to Policy Holders

Kaieteur News Online, 2009/09/13: “CLICO destroyed my life!” - Investor

Ramesh Persaud is a policy holder with the embattled Colonial Life Insurance Company Limited (CLICO) and like many others, his life has almost come to a standstill as a result of the limbo the company finds itself in.

Persaud has invested in an annuity policy offered by the insurance company - one that offers a return every year and with all his hard earned savings tied up in CLICO, he is at a loss as to when he will ever get to move on with his life.

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As it is, there is the likelihood that litigation after litigation will delay the process of the insurance company honouring its liabilities, and many could leave this earth before that becomes a reality.

CLICO Guyana Heavily Invested in CLICO Bahamas

Quote from Statement on CLICO Bahamas Ltd. - Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham (03/02/2009):

I should note here that I received several telephone calls from the President of Guyana following the announcement regarding the liquidation order. He expressed that some 53% of GLICO’s (Guyana) assets were tied up in the CLICO Bahamas operations.

Even though CLICO Guyana is an independent subsidiary of the CL Financial (CLF) Group, it is trying to recover from the Bahamas. Guyana has already gone after CLF. Guyana is also demanding a big share of the Bahamas liquidation, according to the Freeport News, 9/9/2009:

NASSAU — The liquidator for CLICO Bahamas Limited walked out of the Supreme Court yesterday empowered to secure a major asset necessary to ensure payouts to creditors of the failed insurance firm.
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Professing that he was in “an oblivious state of ignorance,” attorney John Wilson, who represents CLICO Guyana, told the court that he had not been served documents in relation to the winding up request. Furthermore, Wilson said, he has yet to receive any response from the liquidator relative to the status of the claim filed by CLICO Guyana, which he said is potentially the largest claimant in the liquidation of CLICO Bahamas.

Barbados Company owns Bahamas CLICO

According to Bahamas Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham:

The parent company of CLICO is CLICO Holdings (Barbados) Limited, a company incorporated in Barbados. CLICO Holdings (Barbados) Limited is itself owned by CL Financial Limited, the ultimate parent company of CLICO. CL Financial Limited is headquartered in the Republic of Trinidad & Tobago with an audited asset base in excess of US$11 billion as at December 31, 2007.

Is Barbados PM David Thompson Now Trying to Sell CLICO to Private Investors?

David Thompson was once CLICO Holdings (Barbados) Limited’s lawyer. This was a company that reportedly went to court because it did not want (or was not able) to provide some annual audited financial statements! See: Did Thompson’s DLP Have Audited Financials for the Companies that they Bailed Out?

This Caribbean360.com article (9/18/2009) states that the IMF wants Barbados to sell CLICO pronto:

The Oversight Committee appointed by Barbados’ Prime Minister David Thompson earlier this year to oversee the sale and functioning of CLICO entities has received offers for two of those regulated assets.

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The announcement came on the heels of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) urging this week that “quick and decisive action should be taken to resolve the problems of CLICO Barbados and prevent large losses to the public finances”.

Last time we checked the Barbados Corporate Registry (CAIPO), the CLICO Holdings (Barbados) Limited’s file was incomplete. (CLICO may need time as its 1993 figures were filed in 2006!) I wonder if the same financial data that was withheld from the Barbadian public, will be withheld from the “private investors”? What about those liabilities in other countries? I think that, unless insiders are involved, investing in CLICO will require a great deal of faith and blind trust. If insiders are involved, will a fair price be negotiated?

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This article contains the opinions of Keltruth Corp. If you have a different opinion or dispute anything in it, please comment below. You may also email me at: [email protected]