Provisional liquidators find CLICO parent company has no money to pay creditors
(Trinidad Express) As creditors of CL Financial (CLF) queue up, the Government will have to wait in line to collect a little over $15 billion which it is owed from the conglomerate.
But joining the queue of creditors isn’t enough to get sums owed. As it stands, CLF just does not have the money to pay. CLF, which was once the largest conglomerate in T&T, has $90 million in its account as of July 31.
That’s in comparison to the sum owed to its creditors of $4.594 billion.
And that is exclusive of Government debt which stands at $15,609,033,654.
This was contained in a preliminary report signed by Marcus Wide, for and on behalf of the Joint Provisional Liquidators (JPLs) for CLF—international accounting firm Grant Thornton.
The JPLs were appointed to CLF on July 25 with the power, amongst others, to secure the assets and undertakings of CLF and to investigate the affairs of CLF.
The preliminary report, with respect to securing the assets and preliminary investigation into CLF, was submitted to the courts last Wednesday.
The report was compiled after the JPLs made a preliminary inspection of books and records, reviewed minutes of board meetings, reviewed recent minutes of the Audit Committee and reviewed the organisational chart identifying CLF’s holdings and subsidiary companies.
“Since our appointment as JPLs, we have become aware of significant debts on which current demands for payments have been made,” the report noted.
The JPLs report of CLF’s financial status dovetails with the affidavit submitted by Colin Soo Ping Chow, director of Ernst & Young Services Ltd, in support of the State’s case that the conglomerate is insolvent and should be wound up to pay taxpayers. Soo Ping Chow noted that CLF’s liabilities exceed its assets by $3.4 billion according to his examination of CLF’s 2017 management records.
CLF’s most valuable asset, its other insurance company— Colonial Life Insurance Company (CLICO)—remains under Central Bank management.
1. A demand from Angostura Holdings Ltd for $984,559,444.73.
The JPLs noted that the sum appears in Angostura’s audited accounts and is shown as impaired in full.
It appears on CLF’s records as a debt due to a related party.
“Therefore, our initial view is that this is likely a valid demand and represents a current liability,” the report said.
2. Claims by the Deposit Insurance Corporation (DIC), as liquidator of CLICO Investment Bank (CIB) for $2,748,280,918.57 inclusive of a judgment of $1,187,000,000. San Juan, was found on Thursday after failing to return home the night before. Her co-workers told relatives she left work around 7.30 pm Wednesday.