Tempers flared in Parliament yesterday, when Opposition MP Gerald Yetming accused Government of conspiring with Jamaican billionaire Michael Lee Chin, chairman and majority owner of the AIC group, to control 20 per cent of First Citizens Bank...
Tempers flared in Parliament yesterday, when Opposition MP Gerald Yetming accused Government of conspiring with Jamaican billionaire Michael Lee Chin, chairman and majority owner of the AIC group, to control 20 per cent of First Citizens Bank.
Yetming?s accusation drew the ire of Trade and Industry Minister Ken Valley.
During debate on the Insurance (Amendment) Act 2003, Yetming, a former Finance Minister, said there was a plan for Government to take control of the Unit Trust Corporation which coincided with Lee Chin?s AIC controlling a significant portion of FCB assets.
Yetming said: ?They want to have total and absolute control of the Unit Trust Corporation?a plan is already hatched to sell 20 per cent of FCB to Lee Chin or the AIC Group.?
Yetming?s assertion caused Ken Valley to rise from his chair and ask for clarity.
Valley warned Yetming to be clear in what he is saying. He denied Yetming?s claims about any proposed merger with the UTC and FCB or plans to sell FCB assets, but also advised the country to welcome change.
?The State has no interests in Unit Trust, but the State could fire the chairman?? Valley asked rhetorically.
?Competition is good for the market. It might be a little shake up, but more people will be employed.?
Prime Minister Patrick Manning last year had said a UTC/FCB merger had been proposed and it was later disclosed that FCB chairman Ken Gordon had put forward the idea. The proposal drew strong public criticism.
Yetming said he sees a ?creeping dictatorship? within the Government. He drew reference to the dismissal of UTC?s executive manager of marketing and information technology Renrick Nickie and chairman Hubert Alleyne as part of the ruling party?s plan to control $11 billion of Unit Trust?s assets.
AIC last week acquired Total Finance Ltd and has wooed top executives from the RBTT group as it plans to build up a merchant banking interest in T&T.
Siparia MP Kamla Persad-Bissessar steered clear of the discussion and focused on what she saw as shortcomings in the Insurance (Amendment) Act.
She said in its current form, the Act gave ?no protection to a policy-holder when a company fails.?
She said the more than 140 clauses in the Act still did not cover important issues such as the issuing of brokerage contracts and late payments by insurance companies to claimants.
