(AFP) Posted Saturday September 11, 2010 - 12:21pm
The Guyana branch of pan-Caribbean Colonial Life Insurance
Company (CLICO) was declared bankrupt Saturday, with the Central Bank
hoping to recover millions of dollars tied up in Florida's crisis-ridden
real-estate sector.
Governor of the Bank of Guyana, Lawrence
Williams, said a legal battle was ongoing against the liquidator of
CLICO (Bahamas) to recoup 34 million dollars that CLICO's Guyana-branch
invested in Florida real estate.
"We're really hoping that that effort would have to bear some fruit," he told AFP.
The
High Court ruled that the investment by Guyana's CLICO was illegal
because it exceed the 15 percent limit on long-term overseas investment.
The
ripple-effect from the collapse of mortgage institutions in the United
States saw the collapse of the Trinidad and Tobago-headquartered
insurance company, and several of its branches across the Caribbean, due
to investments mainly made in Florida.
Williams said the court's
ruling would pave the way for the Bank of Guyana to appoint a liquidator
who would conduct investigations and craft an action plan to regain its
assets.
