Attorney General Anand Ramlogan says former Clico executive chairman Lawrence Duprey should be the one to apologise to all of T&T. He was responding after Duprey called on Ramlogan to apologise in an exclusive Guardian Media Limited (GML) report in the T&T Guardian yesterday. Ramlogan’s lawyer Donna Prowell said in a letter to Duprey’s attorney on May 3 that there were rumours about his visiting T&T on a yacht with friends within recent times. Duprey denied that in the T&T Guardian report.
The AG hit back yesterday, saying in a news release: “It is ironic that such an appeal should come from the chief protagonist and central figure in the Clico commission of enquiry in circumstances where he chose to absent himself and not take advantage of the opportunity to give his side of the story and clear his name. “Duprey’s financial empire crashed in the most distressing and humiliating manner amidst a quagmire of allegations of insider trading, mismanagement and improper financial dealings.” He said while it was heartening that Duprey has “managed to find work as an international consultant to ‘restructure societies,’ it is the Government and people of this country to whom the unenviable task of restructuring T&T has now fallen.”
“It is a pity,” he said, “that Mr Duprey did not see it fit to return and assist in the necessary efforts caused by the Clico fiasco. This, after all, is the country in which he amassed his fortune and created the wealth that financed his billion-dollar empire.” Ramlogan said the collapse of Clico “left in its wake a trail of despair, depression, destruction and financial ruin. Words cannot express the frustration and anguish experienced by citizens who lost their retirement savings and were forced to live on the limited charity of friends and relatives.” He said the policyholders and depositors had been demanding answers and explanations from Duprey to no avail.
The AG said the commission of enquiry was appointed by the President to provide a legal avenue for both sides to tell their story. “To date, no one from the Clico empire, including Mr Duprey, has apologised to the thousands of grieving citizens whose hard-earned savings have been compromised,” Ramlogan said. “Perhaps I will consider apologising to Mr Duprey for querying his whereabouts after he apologises to the thousands of loyal Clico customers and taxpayers who must now finance the expensive bailout.” Ramlogan said efforts to stabilise and resuscitate Clico had thus far cost taxpayers over $25 billion.
Ramlogan said Duprey, in explaining his prolonged absence from this country, “has only created more doubt and confusion.” Duprey was further insulting citizens of T&T, he said, by his “dismissal” of the request by the Clico Policyholders’ group for him to return the Chaconia Gold Medal awarded to him in 1999. In the T&T Guardian report Duprey responded to that matter by saying: “If they want it, take it... I don’t need it.”