Report: Family members got discounts

Fri, Mar 20, 2015

Land discounts as high as $26,000 were granted to family members and some CLICO affiliates for properties at Crystal Court development at St James.

Described as a condo development, the 60-acre CLICO-owned lot comprised 44 units and is a gated community.{{more}}

“Of the 44 units in the development, we identified 11 purchases by related parties or advisors to CIL (CLICO International Life) or CHBL (CLICO Holdings Barbados Ltd). We note that certain of these related parties did not appear to pay full market value for their units…,” it said.

It added: “Certain related parties paid up to $26,000 less than third parties making similar purchases of units at Crystal Court, including Mr Parris (or his companies), a company related to Mr Thompson (former Prime Minister), Mr (Terrence) Thornhill and others.”

Price reductions were also common for properties at Crystal Heights and the judicial manager’s investigations indicated that in one particular case, a senior CHBL employee was granted a $25,000 reduction for the purchase of a lot.

“For example, we reviewed a letter for one senior CHBL employee that included a handwritten notation that Mr Parris “ok $3 reduction”. This reduction in the price per square foot resulted in the employee paying approximately $25,000 less for the purchase of a lot in the Crystal Heights development. The individual in question confirmed that this was authorized by Mr Parris.”

The judicial manager, however, noted there was no record of approvals of the price reductions in CLICO board’s minutes.

The reports also mentioned that a number of properties at Lemon Arbor and Lem Green developments were purchased by Parris’ relatives. (Midweek Nation)