Winston Cox believes CLICO mess might be Supervisor of Insurance fault

BARBADOS, Bridgetown -- Former Governor of the Central Bank, Winston Cox, believes the Supervisor of Insurance was duty-bound to protect interests of policyholders and investors in the company.

Cox, who stepped down in June 2010 as the Caribbean's executive director of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Washington, was nominated by the Barbados Government for the post of the presidency of the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) in 2010. Mr. Winston Cox has also served as Governor of the Barbados Central Bank from September 1997 to April 1999.

The comments follow criminal charges which were filed in the magistrates' court against former executive chairman of CLICO Holdings (Barbados) Limited, Leroy Parris, and current president Terrence Thornhill.

The two were accused of contravening an order by the Supervisor of Insurance in August 2009, which prohibited the company's subsidiary CLICO International Life Insurance (CIL) from selling new business.

Charges came after a forensic audit into the company following several months of police investigation that led the Commissioner of Police Darwin Dottin referring the matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions Charles Leacock. (nationnews)

Charges under Section 185 of the Insurance Act, Cap 130, states that anyone found guilty is liable to a fine of $1 000 or a year's imprisonment "and where the offence is a continuing offence, by a further fine of $250 for every day which the offence continues".

On Wednesday, April 13, 2011 the Supreme Court of Barbados - the "High Court" - appointed Deloitte Consulting Ltd. represented by Oliver Jordan and Patrick Toppin, as Judicial Manager of CLICO International Life Insurance Ltd., pursuant to Section 57 of the Insurance Act. (broadstreetnews)

In a Tim Slinger report on 22 February 2012, nationnews revealed that the Late Prime Minister David Thompson's law firm received a whopping $3.3 million in legal and retainer fees from CLICO International Life Insurance Limited (CIL), but the fees were actually destined for former CLICO executive chairman Leroy Parris.

This was apparently brought to light by a Deloitte Canada-led forensic audit into the operations of the insurance company and its financial relationship to the parent company - CLICO Holdings Barbados Limited (CHBL).

The forensic auditors according to nationnews showed that CLICO International Life Insurance provided millions in financial support to investments and loans, pay top executives, finance a private jet, finance construction at the University of the West Indies Cave Hill Campus, bankroll sugar estates and purchased land.