CLF shareholders: Government disrespected us

Shareholders of CL Financial Ltd have vowed to take their grievances to court to halt the liquidation of the company's assets in a final bid to remain afloat, according to a release from the company on Sunday.

The release described the state of the company's assets and accused successive governments of being disrespectful to the company, by selling assets for little or no cash.

"The Government and Central Bank of TT have been selling off assets of the group at prices well below market value and in some cases giving them away for zero cash exchange.

"At a time when the Government of TT is suffering from terrible cash flow problems. Unable to pay rent, or VAT they have for some strange reason been unwilling to have this debt repaid. A matter that the shareholders can prove can be paid within a week or less of returning to our control."

The release also said that despite the dismissal of previous pre-action protocol letters, they were prepared to take the matter to court and challenge the action of the liquidator.

"We have a team of attorneys including two Queen's Counsel in London and other attorneys and advisers in Washington and in New York which include a liquidation expert and an insolvency attorney who have been working on this issue for months and in the coming days further action will be taken.

"We also have forensic auditors who will examine every transaction undertaken by the government in the last 11 years. We will also take action to stop the further disposition of all assets."

According to the release, the company is willing to have some government directors remain on the board to ensure a smooth transition and the repayment of debt.

On Saturday, a pre-action protocol letter calling for the cease of liquidation of CL Financial Ltd was sent from the company's attorney Nalini Jagnarine to Finance Minister Colm Imbert and Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi.

Contacted for comment Al-Rawi denied receiving the letter.

Earlier on Sunday, Imbert responded to CL Financial from his Twitter account where he accused the company of trying to bully the government into sacrificing public interest.