(Trinidad Express) – Lawrence Duprey was paid $90 million a year from the deposits of policyholders in collapsed insurance company CLICO, attorney Neal Bisnath said on Wednesday.
Duprey, the former executive chairman of CL Financial, was paid a monthly income of $5 million by subsidiary CLICO.
In addition his yearly income, Duprey was also paid multi-million-dollar consultancy fees throughout the year, Bisnath, CLICO’s attorney, said. This totalled $90 million a year, he added.
The payments to Duprey were made to his consultancy firm Dalco Capital Management.
The funds paid to Duprey were withdrawn from the “cash cow” of the CL Financial conglomerate, CLICO, Bisnath said.
“Basically CLF billed CLICO on a monthly basis for consultancy services which CLICO then paid to CLF and that was then paid to Dalco $5 million a month, which was Mr Duprey’s pay from CLICO,” Bisnath said.
Bisnath made the statements as he cross-examined Michael Carballo, the former group financial director of CL Financial, during the commission of enquiry into the collapse of CL Financial and the Hindu Credit Union (HCU) at the Winsure Building, Richmond Street, Port of Spain.
Bisnath said CLICO’s cash stream was also used to fund investments made by CL Financial.
“Is it true to say that from what we have seen CLICO was really used as a cash cow in the group?” Bisnath asked Carballo.
