The task of cleaning up the “mess” at CLICO must await the appointment of a judicial manager by the court.
That’s the word from Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler, who says he intends to make a ministerial statement about the matter shortly.
According to Sinckler, the Freundel Stuart administration would remain stymied when it comes to what it can say and do about CLICO until there is court action.
But once that happens, Government will seek to ease people’s fears about the CLICO debacle and explain what’s being done to protect hundreds of millions of dollars in investments in Barbados, he reported.
During a visit to New York, Sinckler told the DAILY NATION that having decided to place CLICO under judicial management, Cabinet must await the appointment of a manager before he, as minister, can outline Government’s plans. That appointment is to be made in a few weeks.
“I will be issuing a ministerial statement very shortly, so long as the court officially appoints a judicial manager, on what is the process going forward in a couple of weeks’ time,” said Sinckler.
He said reports that people were withdrawing money from CLICO were “absolutely not true”.
“There is no wild set of circumstances going on as far as CLICO is concerned,” he commented.
“They have not been allowed by the Supervisor of Insurance to write new business and that continues to be in force.
“They are trying to service what they already have and preparing themselves to deal with the judicial manager when that person is officially appointed by the court.
The minister pointed out that when the judicial management assumes control of CLICO’s assets and its operations, limits would be placed on Government’s ability to intervene.