Finance Minister Claims Immunity in CLICO Case

Dean Barrow

On Tuesday, we reported that a group of former holders of premium annuities with the defunct Colonial Life Insurance Company (CLICO) took an appeal of previous judicial decisions to the Caribbean Court of Justice. When the company folded in 2009, the fifty-four holders of what are known as Executive Flexible Premium Annuity policies were not paid compensation, sustaining a loss of four million dollars. They argue that Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Dean Barrow and Supervisor of Insurance Alma Gomez ought to have ensured that CLICO could cover the annuity policies by access to statutory reserves. The Court of Appeal found that the Insurance Act provides immunity from such lawsuits, and the P.M. says he hopes the C.C.J. upholds that.

Prime Minister Dean Barrow

“I know that it’s been litigated in Belize, and that in fact the Court of Appeal gave a judgment which I read and which I thought was absolutely solid. So I would hope and I in fact believe that that decision of the Court of Appeal will be upheld by the C.C.J.”

The five-member panel of the C.C.J. has reserved its judgment. The government is represented by Crown Counsel Stevanni Duncan while Senior Counsel Andrew Marshalleck appears for the former policyholders.