A Barbadian company and its chairman who have been named as parties to the commission want to know the allegations they are facing before tendering any documentary evidence.
Jonathan Walker, the attorney for Proman’s Holdings (Barbados) Ltd and its chairman, Joseph Cassidy, yesterday called on the Commission of Enquiry into the collapse of CL Financial and the Hindu Credit Union to state what are the accusations being levelled against his clients before documentation is provided.
“Our clients, Proman and Mr Cassidy, stand in a much different position to every other party that is before you in this enquiry, with the obvious exception of the policyholders, who are direct stakeholders in this. All of the other parties owe arguably either a direct or indirect duty to the policyholders. They are either officers of the company, auditors of the com- pany, the company itself or regulators. We fall within none of those categories,” Walker said.
Walker said the only connection Proman’s Holdings had with the enquiry is that it was joint shareholders with former CL Financial chairman Lawrence Duprey in a company.
“It is simply just unfair that we must be compelled to put all of our cards down on the table face up while the commission sits back with its cards held closely to its chest. That simply cannot be a fair way of proceeding in the context of not only your opening statements, but in the context of constitutional guarantees afforded for due process,” Walker said.
Colman again called for HCU policyholders to come forward and make their voices heard in the commission of enquiry.
“The CLICO policyholders happily, as they were last time, are ably and effectively represented before this enquiry but sadly, the HCU policyholders do not seem to have any representation at all as things stand before the enquiry. This is of considerable concern to me as the commissioner, and it seems to me that it is highly unsatisfactory that hundreds, if not thousands, of people involved in the HCU collapse should have no voice at all other than through counsel to the enquiry in the investigative process which it is my duty to carry out,” Colman said.
The first evidence hearing for the commission of enquiry is scheduled to last from June 27 to July 8, and those directly affected, including policyhoders and depositors of the two failed institutions, are among the first to testify. The second phase of hearings are scheduled for September 19 to September 27 and the third is scheduled for November 7 to November 18.
