Transparency International tells Central Bank full disclosure on Clico needed

Port-of-Spain: The Trinidad and Tobago arm of Transparency International (TI) has called on the Central Bank to make full disclosure of all confidential documents to a commission of inquiry investigating the cause of the collapse of CL Financial, Clico and the Hindu Credit Union.

Transparency International says it views with concern recent reports that the Central Bank is denying the commisison of inquiry access to forensic reports.

"We believes it is essential that there is full transparency and disclosure regarding all of the decisions by all of the parties involved that led to this state of affairs", TI said in a media statement issued today.

TI says that since the commission is also to look into the effectiveness of regulatory agencies including the Central Bank, any withholding of information by the Central Bank can lead to perceptions that it is covering up to protect itself.

TI says that it understand the confidentiality of some documents but it belives that the greater good outweighs this and has suggested "it may be possible that both parties could meet to agree what should be redacted from the forensic report before presentation to the Commission".

The corruption watchdog says that the Central Bank should always be seen to be setting the best example of social responsibility for government agencies and private corporations to follow, adding that the interest of the public and the restoration of the public confidence can only be served by full cooperation between the Central Cank and the Commission in this matter.