The Attorney General of Guyana, Anil Nandlall, SC and CLICO Life and General Insurance Company (South America) Ltd. have commenced legal proceedings to claim over US$34 million from T&T-based CLICO Investment Bank (CIB) Limited, now in compulsory liquidation.
The claim, filed in the High Court of Guyana, seeks several declarations and orders pertaining to a judgment obtained in 2019. The claimants are pursuing a declaration that a judgment obtained by the Claimant Company on February 1, 2019, in Demerara High Court against CL Financial Ltd. is enforceable against CIB, a subsidiary of the company.
They seek an order to substitute CIB as the defendant in place of CL Financial and to execute the money judgment against CIB’s assets located within Guyana.
According to the court document, CL Financial carried out its operations in Guyana and other parts of the Commonwealth Caribbean through its group of companies.
The claimants highlight that the Clico Group had been experiencing financial difficulties since 2007 and that CIB borrowed money it could not repay, acting on unlawful instructions, inter alia.
The particulars of the claim detail the deliberate transfer of over US$34 million by CL Financial to Clico Bahamas Ltd. between 2008 to 2009 in breach of fiduciary and equitable duties to the claimant company, CLICO Life and General Insurance Company.
The claimants allege that the sum was lost by the collapse of Clico Group and went to an entity that it was irrecoverable against (Clico Bahamas).
Among the declarations sought is that CIB holds assets on constructive trust for the claimants or is liable to account for all assets acquired or derived from the claimants. The claimants assert their right to trace and recover these assets and seek orders for delivery up and restitution of said assets or their traceable substitutes.
Also, the claimants seek a declaration that CIB was the beneficiary of the transaction which put assets beyond the reach of CLICO Life and General Insurance and its policyholders, with intentions to prejudice the interest and claims of third parties against the claimant.
Moreover, CIB is accused of acting dishonestly, concealing the whereabouts and use of the funds, and intentionally causing loss to the claimants and policyholders in Guyana.
The defendant and CL Financial Ltd. are said to have acted together to transfer the funds unlawfully. The claimants allege that the instructions for the transfer were given by CIB’s directors and benefited CIB and its group of companies. These actions were deemed unlawful, illegal, and contrary to public policy by Justice Gino Persaud.
The claimants accuse the defendants of breaching various statutes, including the Companies Act and Financial Institutions Act. The claimants assert that the defendant’s conduct contributed to the financial ruin of CL Financial Ltd. and the claimant by incurring liabilities, offering unsecured loans, and being exploited by CL Financial and Lawrence Duprey, the company’s head.
The claimants further allege that the corporate structure of CIB and the group was designed to conceal the true financial position from regulators and Guyana government, effecting inter-company transactions to portray a false reality and utilizing third-party funds fraudulently.
