PORT-OF-SPAIN – Finance Minister Winston Dookeran on Sunday stood firm over his payment initiative to the CLICO Policyholders Group, despite massive protests from the almost 250 000 members of the beleaguered insurance company.
Dookeran, who bore the brunt of unified displeasure from policyholders at a group meeting at Centre Point Mall in Chaguanas on Sunday, last evening said the group’s reaction was simply “making a mountain out of a molehill”.
The group refused to accept Dookeran’s payment plan offering them an initial payment through a government IOU of TT$75 000 (BDS$25 000) to those investors whose principal balance exceeded that amount and an amortised balance payment at zero interest over the next 20 years.
In a telephone interview, however, Dookeran defended his budget allowances to the cash-strapped C.L. Financial, saying government had found a viable solution to a financial problem that affected the citizens and he was maintaining his position.
“I believe the government had a fundamental right to deal with this matter and it has done so within the context of the laws of the country,” Dookeran said. (Trinidad Express)
