(Trinidad Express) Andre Monteil, former group financial director of CL Financial, unsuccessfully attempted to withdraw “millions of dollars” from CLICO Investment Bank (CIB) weeks before a billion-dollar bailout of CL Financial was brokered, former finance minister Karen Nunez-Tesheira stated on Friday.
The funds formed a multi-million-dollar investment Monteil had in CIB.
Monteil was also a former chairman of CIB. He resigned both positions on March 31, 2008. When CL Financial approached the State for financial assistance, Monteil’s company Stone Street Capital was contracted to broker the deal.
On January 30, 2009, a Memorandum of Under-standing was signed with the former People’s National Movement (PNM) government for a billion- dollar bail out of CL Financial.
“It was drawn to my attention that while we were going through the negotiations that Mr Monteil had significant…had millions of dollars in CIB and attempted prior to January to withdraw the money and had not succeeded in so doing. I was informed that it was because CIB had a liquidity problem and it was a substantial sum of money,” Nunez-Tesheira said.
“If Mr Monteil was treated as a third party then when the government stood to rescue third party depositors, then by way of taxpayer dollars, he would have retrieved his money,” she said.
Monteil threatened to sue the Central Bank because he was not being treated as a third party, Nunez-Tesheira said.
“He was not the only one, I had gotten an e-mail from someone who was a very senior member of CLICO who had EFPAs (Executive Flexible Premium Annuities) that was downright slanderous and libellous,” she said.
Nunez-Tesheira made the statements while being cross-examined by Queen’s Counsel Peter Carter, lead counsel of the enquiry.
Nunez-Tesheira faced off with Queen’s Counsel Andrew Mitchell, attorney for former executive chairman of CL Financial Lawrence Duprey, in a heated cross-examination.
Mitchell originally gave an estimated timeframe of one hour for his cross-examination of Nunez-Tesheira but it lasted over two and a half hours.
During the cross-examination, Nunez-Tesheira said the government did not just want to help CLICO but make sure to avoid a “moral hazard”.
Nunez-Tesheira said CL Financial officials were not being forthright in their presentation of the conglomerate’s financial position.
“I did not think they were being forthcoming with us and I believed there were assets they were hiding; and I believed they were not putting the full picture on the table; and I believed they were trying to push the Government knowing fully well that the clock was ticking behind us, knowing that this was going to break very soon…they were using the pressure they had the government in to kind of make us intervene,” she said.
“We were playing poker,” Nunez-Tesheira said.
Carter asked Nunez-Tesheira if the CL Financial executives held a “commercial gun” to the heads of State officials.
Mitchell said the State intended to benefit from the bailout of CL Financial which was evidenced by Caribbean Money Market Broker (CMMB) being sold to State owned commercial bank First Citizens for $1 and making a TT$60 million profit in one year.
Nunez-Tesheira said the discussions with CL Financial executives were “non adversarial” in order to ensure the bailout was completed with a little fall- out as possible.
Nunez-Tesheira and Mitchell engaged in several instances of cross-talk over issues such as the sale of CLICO Energy.
CL Financial officials did not notify the Government about CLICO Energy being an asset for the conglomerate, Nunez-Tesheira said.
Duprey eventually sent Nunez-Tesheira a letter in February 4, 2009 outlining possible avenues for CL Financial to recover from its financial difficulties.
Nunez-Tesheira did not respond to the letter.
Nunez-Tesheira: CL Finan-cial executives were persons that the Government formed the view were being less than transparent in their dealings.
Mitchell: Well I suggest “‘less than transparent” is something I can apply to your evidence in failing to deal with the letter sent by Duprey on the fourth of February and your failure to respond to it.
Nunez-Tesheira chuckled.
MITCHELL: Please laugh.
NUNEZ-TESHEIRA: I have to.
MITCHELL: Please do, I actually suggest to you this is quite serious.
There were several other tussles between the two.
“Thank you very much,” is how Mitchell ended his cross-examination.
When Carter began his cross-examination of Nunez-Tesheira, he said: “I will be adopting a different style.”
