NASSAU, The Bahamas (CMC):

Authorities in the Bahamas are said to be mulling over documents provided by Guyana in support of its claim to assets in CLICO Bahamas, which is currently facing liquidation.

Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said he made the request to President Bharrat Jagdeo during the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Heads of Government Summit in Belize City last week.

"I told President Jagdeo that he would have to make available to me all information that they had to substantiate their claim, and that would have been delivered by my office to the Registrar of Insurance and the Liquidator," Ingraham told reporters on Monday.

He expects to receive word from the officials on the legitimacy of the claim that 53 per cent of CLICO Guyana's assets are tied up in CLICO Bahamas.

Financial problems

Ingraham, in an earlier statement to parliament, had indicated that there appeared to be no record available on the matter, but he did acknowledge that Guyana's claim represents "a very serious potential impairment for the Guyana operations of CLICO".

The financial problems with CLICO's Caribbean operations have been made public following a bailout package announced by the Trinidad and Tobago government for its parent company, CL Financial, at the end of January. Since then, CLICO Bahamas was forced into liquidation on February 24, while CLICO Guyana was put under judicial management.

CLICO Guyana is said to have US$34 million invested in CLICO Bahamas, with officials suggesting that the amount may not be recoverable. Meanwhile, insurance sector regulators in the Caribbean met in Trinidad last week to discuss the CLICO matter and have been mandated to prepare a report for heads of government.

ÒWe are proposing to have a meeting in Barbados to discuss CLICHƒ and several other things, perhaps by the end of this month,Ó Prime Minister Ingraham said.

ÒWe have determined that it is a Caribbean-wide problem; that no individual country would seek to go on its own without consultation with the Group and that we may therefore be in a position to make some determinations based upon the reports which we receive from the regulators of insurance.Ó