CMC: Prime Minister of Antigua & Barbuda Gaston Browne says he is not satisfied with the response from his Trinidad & Tobago counterpart regarding the non-payment of compensation arising from the collapse of CLICO and British American Insurance Company in 2009, and would look to the courts to resolve the matter.
Browne, who is chairman of the subcommittee on insurance for the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union, ECCU, had said last month that a decision had been made by the union to have the Caribbean Court of Justice, CCJ, adjudicate the matter.
The currency union groups the islands of Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Montserrat, St Kitts-Nevis, St Lucia, and St Vincent & the Grenadines.
Prime Minister Browne said he had written to Prime Minister Keith Rowley after an ECCU meeting had agreed unanimously to take the Trinidad government to court, after three failed attempts to get them to pay the outstanding funds.
Speaking on his radio programme last weekend in Antigua, Browne told listeners “his (Rowley’s) response is one that I think he has co-mingled a number of issues. Even some gratuitous payments that were made by the late Patrick Manning he has tried to include in a possible settlement”.
Manning was prime minister of Trinidad during the collapse of CLICO and its parent CL Financial.
“So I am about to respond to him to let him know that he is mistaken and that the issues he has raised in his letter, they certainly have no bearing to the case that we are pursuing,” Browne said, without disclosing the full content of Rowley’s correspondence.
The ECCU said Trinidad had made a commitment to pay US$100 million to the member countries, but only US$40 million was disbursed following the collapse of CL Financial, the owners of both CLICO and British American Insurance.
In October last year, a group of British American and CLICO policyholders in the Eastern Caribbean filed a lawsuit at the CCJ against the Trinidad & Tobago government over the issue. Browne said that the ECCU decision to follow suit had been in the works for several years.
“The case I am pursuing is a settlement that was agreed to, even before I became prime minister, of US$100 million. The government of Trinidad and Tobago paid US$40 million of it; US$60 million is still outstanding,” said Browne.
“We are saying we would like to have it paid, we would like to negotiate a reasonable payment that doesn’t create any strain on the treasury of the government of Trinidad and Tobago. So if bonds are to be given, then they will pay the interest over a period of time.”
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“Rowley has co-mingled a number of issues. Even some gratuitous payments that were made by the late Patrick Manning he has tried to include in a possible settlement”.
Sounds like Gaston Browne has gotten a taste of his own medicine. Similar to when he tried to offer LIAT workers a bunch of things other than cash, as part of his settlement. He should release the letter from Rowley and not come to us with bits and pieces.
Scowl wid we, and ah skin teet’ wide certain types. hmmm!
Serve he right!
Malcolm X was absolutely correct when he spoke about those who reach, or eat at the top table of life, and then forget that they came into prominence by their own citizens who put them in office!!!
CALL THE ELECTION NOW …
Press on PM. King Lyadd Lovell Limpy Joe would a down cower ….like he did with the sale of Scotiabank and getting hoodwinked by the Butch!!!!
SHERFIELD BOWEN SHOT TESSA BARTHLEY – please ask someone to read, interpret and comment on the article for you.
You continued to make the most ignoramus of comments.
What type of person would continue to comment on a man’s genital and stripper pole? Certainly not a man or woman?
S’HIM, I suppose!
Good thing is the VISIONARY GASTON BROWNE advocating and the whimpy jellyfish King Lyadd Lovell Limpy Joe aka MR. IMF ROMANTIC RHYTHMS WADADLI POWER CAN’T ABST HOTEL RIPOFF ABIB COLLAPSER BANKING-SECTOR COLLAPSER ANTI-UWI FIVE ISLANDS CAMPUS BAICO COLLAPSER ETC
Lovell soon drive off into the sunset in the Wilmoth Daniel STRIPPER POLE BUS 🚌
Good thing is the VISIONARY GASTON BROWNE advocating and NOT the whimpy jellyfish King Lyadd Lovell Limpy Joe aka MR. IMF ROMANTIC RHYTHMS WADADLI POWER CAN’T ABST HOTEL RIPOFF ABIB COLLAPSER BANKING-SECTOR COLLAPSER ANTI-UWI FIVE ISLANDS CAMPUS BAICO COLLAPSER ETC
Lovell soon drive off into the sunset in the Wilmoth Daniel STRIPPER POLE BUS 🚌
TESSA BARTHLEY – SHOT in her NECK by UPP candidate – GO below Gaston Bwoy. Lovell and Bowen nah go day wey dey. Nastiness.
Yes I seem to remember that there was a bunch of naysayers about taking the United States to the United Nations courts on the gaming matter. Antigua Barbuda won that case too. Even recently the Gaston Browne administration refused to participate in the sale of the International Banks local branches to the Trinidad Bank. It is against that background that PM Browne administration should be supported because the Administration is seeking to obtain more monies for the Antiguans & Barbudans who had investments with CLICO and British American and have not received any monies because these companies went belly up. The time has come for all of us to critically look at these matters and avoid the mud slinging as much as possible.
@sharon lycorish
Our PM’s ultimatum to the WTO in 2016 has gone nowhere. The issue has not made the news since 2018. It was just another election gimmick. As usual, it is a way for Gaston to get some quick political mileage and move on. This CLICO case interference is just another election gimmick. A way for Gaston to look like he “pulling rank”
Twin-island nation threatens to suspend $21 million worth of IP protections for U.S. goods and services
https://www.casino.org/news/antigua-gives-us-end-year-ultimatum-online-gambling-dispute/
TESSA BARTHLEY – SHOT in her NECK by UPP candidate – GO below Gaston Bwoy. Lovell and Bowen nah go day wey dey. Nastiness.
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