Former Attorney General Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj says Government is bringing legislation to Parliament to prevent Clico policyholders from initiating legal action against the Central Bank. This is the latest development in the ongoing controversy over measures by the Government to resolve the $12-billion Clico bailout issue. The bill requires a three-fifths majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate to become law. The People's Partnership Government has the required majority in the House but it requires the support of four Independent Senators to be passed. The Clico initiative has not found favour with thousands of policyholders who have threatened legal action against the Government in the matter.
Attorney General Anand Ramlogan said the Government was ready to deal with any threat of legal action on the Clico issue. He said the Government would table a bill in Parliament this week "to give legal authority and proper framework to effect this solution." But Maharaj in a three-page statement, issued to the T&T Guardian yesterday, said the move was intended to "safeguard the Government and the Central Bank and to prejudice the (Clico) policyholders." Maharaj stressed: "The bill threatens the rule of law in T&T." Maharaj said the Central Bank exercised "emergency powers over Clico last year and it is therefore supposed to be in control of Clico." He said the bill sought to have the billion-dollar financial assistance given to the Central Bank and Clico by the former PNM Government repaid to the new Government. He said the legislation proposed that be done before all other policyholders were dealt with.
"It also seeks to empower the Government to approve the financial assistance already given and any present or future financial assistance that was or will be given," he added. He added that once the resolution was published "no creditor of Clico (policyholders) can get any remedy against Clico without prior written consent of the Central Bank. Maharaj reiterated: "The jurisdiction of the courts will be taken away once this bill becomes law." The former AG stressed: "If this bill becomes law, the Attorney General can take over any existing claim brought by any policyholder and discontinue it or withdraw it, or settle it on terms he thinks fit. "If a policyholder now has a claim against Clico for monies properly owing to him, the Attorney General will be able to take over that claim, replace your lawyers with his and withdraw the claim, (with) no questions asked," Maharaj stressed.