CLICO President, Parris to appear in Court

Fri, Feb 24. 2012

Criminal charges have been filed in the magistrates’ court against former executive chairman of CLICO Holdings (Barbados) Limited, Leroy Parris, and current president Terrence Thornhill.{{more}}

Official police sources have told the MIDWEEK NATION that the two executives are to be served with summonses to appear in court.

They are 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.

The two have been charged under Section 185 of the Insurance Act, Cap 130, which 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”.

The latest development in the ongoing CLICO saga coincided with the release this week of the results of a forensic audit into the operations of CIL. It also follows several months of police investigation that led the Barbados Commissioner of Police Darwin Dottin to refer the matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions Charles Leacock.

Over the past week, the file was returned to the police, triggering the process by which charges were laid.

Back in June 2010, the then Deputy Supervisor of Insurance Vernese Brathwaite had filed a complaint urging the police to probe the sale of 800-odd life policies by CIL despite a prohibition order from her department.

A Government-appointed Oversight Committee, headed by former permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance William Layne, had publicly criticized the actions of CIL and called on the Supervisor of Insurance to seek legal redress while raising alarm that the insurance company’s behaviour was in violation of the supervisor’s order.

The committee, which was established under the leadership of late prime minister David Thompson, also complained about the lack of cooperation it had experienced during the period mandated to conduct its investigation.

Parris, prior to his retirement last year, had publicly announced that CIL had sold the 800-odd policies despite the warning from the Supervisor of Insurance.