(Trinidad Express) Planning Minister Dr Bhoendradatt Tewarie was part of a three-member audit team mandated to ensure good governance at CL Financial and must accept some responsibility for the conglomerate’s collapse.
So said Justin Phelps, attorney for former corporate secretary of CL Financial Gita Sakal, as he conducted cross-examination of Tewarie at the Commission of Enquiry into the collapse of CL Financial and the Hindu Credit Union yesterday.
During his testimony on Monday, Tewarie said as a non-executive member of the CL Financial board of directors he had no real input into the conglomerate’s operations.
Phelps yesterday said Tewarie was part of an audit team created by the CL Financial board mandated to implement good corporate governance at the conglomerate.
Former CL Financial board members Peter Salvary and John Martin were also part of the audit committee.
Phelps said the audit committee was granted “autonomy and delegated power” to ensure shortcomings in CL Financial were properly addressed.
The audit committee was mandated to ensure “accountability and the flow of information” at CL Financial and its subsidiaries, Phelps said.
“The audit committee never functioned,” Phelps said.
Tewarie said the “culture” at CL Financial made it difficult for the audit committee to be functional.
Phelps said it was “utterly misleading” that Tewarie did not mention his inclusion in the audit committee.
Phelps also suggested that Tewarie was trying to engage in a “public relations” ploy to mislead citizens about the difficulties at CL Financial.
Tewarie said former executive chairman of CL Financial Lawrence Duprey was “absolutely horrified” by the US$295 million purchase of 6,000 acres of land in Osceola County in Florida, referred to as the Green Island transaction.
Duprey fired a British American executive because of his disgust at the transaction, Tewarie said.
Tewarie said the CLICO Investment Bank (CIB) was “one of the most badly run companies in the (CL Financial) group”.
