BASSETERRE (24th August, 2009): Minister Cedric Liburd has lashed out against attempts by the People’s Action Movement to blame Prime Minister, Dr. Denzil Douglas for the unfortunate circumstances of British American Insurance Company Limited.
 
 “Dr. Douglas is not the General Manger of British American here in St. Kitts,” said Minister Liburd. “Why would PAM and Eugene seek to blame the Prime Minister?”
 
Recently the High Court directed that the business carried on by British American in St. Kitts be placed under judicial management, and the Court appointed Ms. Lisa Taylor of the firm KPMG as Judicial Manager.
 
Due to financial problems affecting CL Financial, the parent company for British American, Hamilton has admitted that policyholders and investors in St. Kitts and Nevis stand to lose in excess of $135 million.
 
However, Lindsay Grant, Leader of the PAM party has called on the Prime Minister to intervene to bail out British American.
 
On the other hand, Liburd has stated that the Prime Minister is indeed working to determine the true position of the company.
 
“Indeed, Prime Minister Douglas himself has publicly called upon Mr. Hamilton to be forthright and honest with policyholders rather than hiding behind the Douglas led administration which so far has been working with regional institutions and governments to find a solution to this crisis,” Liburd said. “From all accounts, the Prime Minister never promised 8% interest on investments made at British American. Dr. Douglas never received hundreds of thousands of dollars in commissions on the sales of these policies; neither did he attend the million-dollar roundtable as a result of riding on the backs of the same policyholders.
 
“Therefore there is no greater obligation on the Prime Minister to account for the monies invested and policies insured than Eugene Hamilton of British American fame.”
 
Minister Liburd said he has more than 21 years in the insurance field, and thus is fully aware that the onus is on Hamilton to secure the interests of all of his policyholders and investors.
 
“I do believe that Mr. Hamilton would have also received training that would allow him to provide such quality service to policyholders and investors,” Liburd said. “He then should know that a signed policy is good faith between the policyholder and the company and as the Branch Manager he is expected to demonstrate a level of accountability.”