Barbados' taxpayers asked to help foot $372 million CLICO bill

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados -- $372 million is being requested by JUDICIAL MANAGER DELOITTE CONSULTING to resolve the pressures due to the collapse of CLICO International Life Barbados.

The consulting firm which was given the responsibility to be CLICO's judicial manager after the government of Barbados applied on March 17, 2011, to the High Court in a bid to have CLICO International Life Insurance placed under judicial management.

Deloitte has now brought to the fore its recommendations which has asking the governments of Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Eastern Caribbean to foot the bill. Theses recommendations take into account the 30 000 investors and policyholders of the failed company.

Under the proposal, Executive Flexible Premium Annuity (EFPA) investors would receive a maximum of $25 000 in cash while the remainder of their investment, as well as that of traditional CIL policyholders, would be handled by a new entity. (nationnews)

According to the Guardian newspaper of Trinidad and Tobago. the judicial manager has asked that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to allocate $660 million (EC$300 million) as part of a proposal to resolve the status of holders of (EFPAs) in Barbados and the islands of the Eastern Caribbean.

The judicial manager proposes that a bond be floated whose proceeds would be used to acquire qualifying assets. The majority of these assets appear to be real estate or real estate-backed.

Trinidad and Tobago Finance Minister Winston Dookeran, said that the previous administration had allocated US$50 million to resolve the issues of Eastern Caribbean citizens who had purchased non-T&T EFPAs.

He said that at the recent heads of government meeting in Suriname, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar had committed a further US$75 million to enhance the bailout on the condition that Eastern Caribbean countries provide similar support.