Where have all the soldiers gone? Where have the David Thompson cavalry disappeared to?
Since the report of CLICO International’s judicial manager here in Barbados that $3.3 million was funnelled through the company’s lawyer firm of Thompson & Associates back to then CLICO chairman Leroy Parris, nary a word to clear away the mist and with it the doubts.
It has been suggested the $3.3 million for fees or retainers came from “four different legal matters”, but that payment was “actually to the benefit of Mr Leroy Parris”.
The forensic auditors, painstakingly examining the CLICO’s assets and liabilities, hope to interview Mr Parris and/or company directors and executives for answers to this transaction and others.
Among them, the $50.7 million “for which no breakdown has been provided to determine they were traceable to assets that may be recovered”. The auditors hope that through interviews they might better grasp this meandering money trail.
So, who will speak up? Not likely Mr Parris, unless he must – through a twisting of the arm by the mighty law.
But dare we not expect some statement of clarification, explanation from Mr Thompson’s former legal firm itself? From his former peers?
It is no surprise the political Opposition immediately jumped on the issue, even though they were the ones in charge when the CLICO mess was developing.
But will Prime Minister Freundel Stuart break his silence on the issue – or Mara Thompson?
Is this too much to ask, when the public face the unsettling suggestion by the forensic auditors Deloitte Canada that a valuation of CIL’s assets does not give much hope to policyholders looking to recover their full investments? Is it too much to expect when CIL is “chronically short” of the necessary assets to cover its policyholder liabilities?
We make no especial effort to cast any aspersions on the professional integrity of Mr Thompson, nor on the wisdom of his legal advice to CLICO. It is just that the forensic auditors have raised a red flag that as equally elevates our curiosity – and it will not be the kind that killed the cat.
At least, it ought not to.
House Speaker Michael Carrington, addressing members of his Democratic Labour Party St Michael West constituency branch on Sunday, alluded to the strong “emotionalism attached to the issue”; to “people, without knowing the facts, talking about this person should be locked up, and this thing and that thing want doing”.
The MP made an entreaty to the public that they “stop speculating and spreading rumours about the CLICO crisis”.
People only speculate when there is no full disclosure.
It cannot be denied that as fresh information comes to light through the CLICO judicial manager, fresher queries raise their shaking heads. There are, when you think of it, proverbially more questions than answers.
It is hardly enough to just let the chips fall where they may, as the Speaker has suggested.