In­dar­jit Seu­raj

Ten pol­i­cy­hold­ers seek­ing to re­cov­er their in­vest­ments in Colo­nial Life In­sur­ance Co Ltd (Cli­co) yes­ter­day filed a pe­ti­tion to wind up the trou­bled fi­nan­cial in­sti­tu­tion. The law­suit fol­lows calls from all ten in­vestors to Cli­co man­age­ment, as well as Cen­tral Bank of T&T (CBTT), to have their in­vest­ments re­paid to them. Ten Ex­ec­u­tive Flex­i­ble Pre­mi­um An­nu­ity (EF­PA) pol­i­cy­hold­ers-Per­cy Far­rell, Ma­ri­na In­als­ingh, Pro­fes­sor Gor­don Rohlehr, David Day­al, Michael Alexan­der, Bri­an Gib­bons, Hamish Her­rera, San­dra Mc Shine, Eu­gene Mc­Shine and Nor­ris Gomez-filed the pe­ti­tion af­ter each un­suc­cess­ful­ly wrote to Cli­co and CBTT ask­ing for re­pay­ment of their in­vest­ments.

Gomez, a for­mer Cli­co agent and the founder of the Cli­co Pol­i­cy­hold­ers Group, was al­so named as one of the ap­pli­cants seek­ing to wind up Cli­co and re­cov­er his in­vest­ment. Un­der the wind­ing up rules in Sec­tion 76 of the In­sur­ance Act, Chap­ter 84:01, a group of ten in­vestors can file a pe­ti­tion for the wind­ing up of a fi­nan­cial in­sti­tu­tion if the com­pa­ny is deemed bank­rupt and they can­not re­cov­er their in­vest­ments. Yes­ter­day, a sum­mons for leave to bring the wind­ing up pe­ti­tion was filed at the Reg­istry of the Port-of-Spain High Court. The ap­pli­ca­tion for leave was al­so served on lawyers for Cli­co and CBTT just be­fore 4 pm. The law of­fices of Dr Claude Den­bow, SC, act­ed on be­half of the ap­pli­cants.

Un­der Sec­tion 76(2) of the Act, the ap­pli­cants would have to prove a "pri­ma fa­cie" case to ob­tain leave of the court to go through with the pe­ti­tion. The ac­tion comes just days af­ter five of the ap­pli­cants filed a court ac­tion in re­sponse to the pro­posed pay­out plan an­nounced by the Fi­nance Min­is­ter in his bud­get speech on Sep­tem­ber 8, last year. It al­so rep­re­sents yet an­oth­er set of le­gal wran­gling now placed be­fore the High Court, in­volv­ing pol­i­cy­hold­ers and de­pos­i­tors of Cli­co and Cli­co In­vest­ment Bank (CIB)-sub­sidiaries of the CL Fi­nan­cial Group. On April 15, 2010, In­spec­tor of Fi­nan­cial In­sti­tu­tions Carl Hi­ralal, al­so named as in­ter­im man­ag­er of CIB, filed a pe­ti­tion to wind up CIB. A hear­ing date will be set to deal with the pre­lim­i­nary is­sue of leave for the wind­ing up of Cli­co.

What the Act states

Sec­tion 76 (1) of the In­sur­ance Act states: "The court may or­der a wind­ing up of a com­pa­ny in ac­cor­dance with the Com­pa­nies Act...

(a) on the pe­ti­tion of ten or more pol­i­cy­hold­ers own­ing poli­cies of an ag­gre­gate sum of as­sured of not less than one hun­dred thou­sand dol­lars."

Sec­tion 76(2): A pe­ti­tion shall not be pre­sent­ed ex­cept by leave of the court , and such leave shall not be grant­ed un­less-

(a) a pri­ma fa­cie case has been es­tab­lished to the sat­is­fac­tion of the Court.