Crying for closure on Clico/HCU matters
Please permit me to write about a matter which has caused great emotional stress to my family over the last four years. It took me several days to write this letter and even as I write it I cannot help but be brought to tears.
My father was an EPA policyholder with Clico. He lost his entire retirement saving after being convinced by a Clico agent based on the idea of high returns. We are, however, grateful to the government for dealing with the issue in a way that balanced their responsibilities to both policyholders and taxpayers.
Even today, I have always been worried that my taxpayer dollars were used to bail out policyholder’s investments even though one of those people was my father. My father was a man to accept responsibility for his mistakes. And that he did which led to him paying the ultimate price with his life as he was unable to afford urgent medical treatment, which he needed.
My family, therefore, paid much attention to the Commission of Enquiry into CL Financial as a method of closure, hoping that the men that indirectly killed our father would be exposed. However, it will be an everlasting pain that the major players in CL Financial never took the witness stand as they claimed privilege against self-incrimination based on the public statements of the DPP and applications to halt the proceedings of the commission.
I call on the DPP to explain why he sought to halt the Colman Inquiry on the basis of negative pre-trial publicity but at the same time could not even indicate to the inquiry if charges can be laid and in what time frame. What was the purpose of such an application to the inquiry, if the police investigation only recently started.
Given the complex nature of the matter, the DPP should be aware that such an investigation can take years to complete not to mention the time spent deliberating on whether or not to lay criminal charges. Mr Gaspard, my family and I need to know why we were prevented from gaining closure on this matter.
Sandra Singh,
Barataria