(Trinidad Express) Gita Sakal, who called it a day on April 30 after 15 years as CL Financial’s general counsel and corporate secretary is claiming termination benefits in excess of US$5 million from the cash-starved conglomerate, now controlled in large part by the Government.
The Sunday Express understands that Sakal, who received a monthly salary of US$45,000 and a fixed annual bonus of US$2 million handed in her resignation letter on April 21, which advised that Thursday would be her last working day at 41-43 St Vincent Street, Port of Spain.
Sources say the separation was less than amicable. Group Executive Chairman, Lawrence Duprey, in a rare departure from standing practice is reported to have asked Sakal to hand over all of the company-owned assets in her possession, including a black BMW car, laptop and cellphone.
It is not immediately clear what led to the strained relations between the two but insiders say that she made some waves after demanding that the company meet its contractual obligations and pay out the US$2 million bonus owed to her for last year.
Sakal’s demand was made at a time when CLICO, CL’s cash cow, was under increasingly difficult pressure to meet policy-holders demands for their money and short weeks before Duprey went knocking on the doors of the Central Bank for a State bail-out, according to company sources.
When the Sunday Express first spoke to Sakal earlier this year about the US$2 million bonus, her response was: “That’s news to me.” Citing attorney-employer confidentiality, she said: “I hardly get involved in financial matters.” She said then that “confidentiality is a big issue and I would really like to keep that so”.
Did she get a US$2 million bonus? According to her: “I don’t know…I wish…I could be riding out in the sunset now.” Was a US$2 million bonus paid out in early January? “I am not going to answer that,” she said then.
On Wednesday, Sakal said she was not authorised to speak to the press. Asked to comment on reports about her demands for termination benefits, she said: “I have a contract and I have always been paid in accordance with the terms of my contract. It’s not a demand. It’s not like I want something that I am not entitled to.”
Asked if she thought it was morally correct given the company’s dire finances and billion dollar taxpayer bailout, Sakal responded: “Do you think it is morally correct for the Government to have a lien on our hard-earned monies invested in the company?” She said the Central Bank has put a freeze on all of the assets— deposits, annuities etc of senior executives and all family parties related to them.
“So they have a lien on all our monies and we cannot get it until Section 44 is dissolved so do you think that is correct? It’s not like we stole the money…so it’s one against the other.”
And while she has not answered questions related to her compensation package, documents seen by this reporter indicate that whatever the circumstances, CL Financial has a legal obligation to pay Sakal a fixed annual bonus of US$2 million a year.
