'I HAVE A FILE ON CLICO'

Jeremie, who last week returned to the office of Attorney General, revealed this in a confidential letter addressed to High Court Judge Justice Humphrey Stollmeyer.

The letter, dated July 28, 2006, was sent to Stollmeyer who at the time was investigating a suspect land deal involving Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls and a CL Financial subsidiary. Clico was at that time a key plank of the CL Financial group.

“I am close to passing a file to the Director of Public Prosecutions which I believe contains evidence of criminal activity on the part of Clico,” Jeremie wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Sunday Newsday. Jeremie noted that the “file” related to a then top-ranking Clico official “and others”.

The letter was sent in response to two letters from Stollmeyer, dated July 6, 2006 and July 19, 2006, and was sent by Jeremie under the express condition that it remain confidential.

“I provide this statement to you, Judge, in the confidence that it will not be disclosed to the public,” Jeremie wrote.

It is unknown what action — if any — Jeremie later took on the file or what were the details of the “criminal activity” it allegedly revealed.

The Stollmeyer Report into the land transaction was not released to the public, although it was referred to during the Mustill Inquiry proceedings which investigated allegations against former Chief Justice Satnarine Sharma.

However, reports this week indicated that forensic investigator Bob Lindquist has uncovered a dummy company associated with CL Financial and Clico.

The company is said to be linked to two former senior officials of CL Financial. Lindquist has been called in by Government to assist in untangling the maze of dealings in the CL Financial group in the wake of a State bailout of the conglomerate.

Sources said Lindquist has uncovered a paper trail showing the exchange of funds between the various companies of the group.

This paper trail suddenly came to an end after detailing the transfer of funds.

The phantom payments were reportedly made under the guise of “consultancy fees” and cannot now be traced.

Sources would not reveal the names of the two men involved but would only say that they were high-ranking and had been influential in the company.

Lindquist’s discovery is said by some to be just one of several such ventures. In the 2006 letter to Stollmeyer, Jeremie revealed interviewing several key CL Financial figures in relation to the Mc Nicolls land transaction.

Jeremie told Stollmeyer in the letter that the role of his office included dealing with corruption.

“My portfolio responsibility includes anti-corruption,” he wrote. Jeremie served as Attorney General for one more year until November 2007. He was then appointed High Commissioner to London in 2008.

In new developments this week, Jeremie has returned to the Attorney General’s office replacing Attorney General Bridgid Annisette-George who has resigned. In Parliament on Wednesday, Prime Minister Patrick Manning announced Annisette-George’s resignation over what he termed a conflict of interest and praised her for acting in this way.

A day later, at the post-Cabinet press briefing, Manning declined to elaborate on the exact nature of the conflict of interest, saying, “some of these matters may end up in court. I don’t want to name individuals. There is no point in doing that.”