Gov't legislator wants those involved in CLICO collapse jailed

A government legislator, describing as "an elaborate Ponzi scheme" the operations and collapse of the regional insurance giant, CLICO, said he is hoping that legal action would be taken against persons implicated in the matter.

Professor Patrick Watson told a post-budget analysis that it was not advisable that the recently elected People's Partnership government in Trinidad and Tobago ignore the pains of small depositors of CLICO and insisted that those guilty should not escape punishment.

""I have no doubt in my mind and if I had my own way, there are a few people I could think of that would be in jail now," he said.

"I am not saying that lightly, that is my opinion I am saying here. I think some people should go to jail for what has happened. It was a very elaborate Ponzi scheme that was inflicted on an unsuspecting population," he told business leaders and other stakeholders, adding that the United States authorities had jailed Bernie Madoff for a similar Ponzi scheme

Last week, Finance Minister Winston Dookeran said that the government would be implementing new measures to deal with the financial problems at CLICO, adding that the collapse of the Trinidad and Tobago-based CL Financial Group that also includes CLICO had been "handled badly" by the authorities from the start.