Jun 2014 Financial News

First Citizens special meeting on June 17

Jun 05, 2014

FORMER Attorney General Anthony Smart is expected to be confirmed as chairman of the First Citizens Group on June 17, when the group holds a special general meeting at Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s, at 10 am. In a notice issued yesterday by the group, First Citizens corporate secretary Sharon L Christopher indicated that this meeting will be held on June 17 in the lobby of Queen’s Hall at 10 am.

The objective of the meeting is “to elect directors of the company.” At First Citizens’ first annual general meeting as a public company at the National Academy for the Performing Arts (NAPA) in Port-of-Spain on May 12, Corporation Sole, represented by permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Vishnu Dhanpaul, voted against the re-election of and refused to support directors Nyree Alfonso, Rishi Baddaloo, Shobee Jacelon and Marlene Juman. Alfonso was First Citizens chairman at the time. Juman is the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of the Attorney General.

Following that meeting, it was decided that First Citizens would hold a special general meeting within 30 days to fill the vacancies on the board. On May 27, Finance and Economy Minister Larry Howai said Cabinet has approved six nominees to fill the vacancies on the board of director of the First Citizens Group.

Those nominees were Smart, Witco managing director Jean Pierre Du Coudray, Joel Pemberton, Michelle Durham-Kissoon, Courtenay Williams and Hazar Hosein. The names of the First Citizens board nominees were made public in a statement issued by the Finance and Economy Ministry on May 24. In that statement, Howai indicated that Smart would also be nominated to be chairman, replacing Alfonso.

Minority shareholder rights advocate Peter Permell had urged Howai to rethink his choice of nominees for the First Citizens board. Permell raised no objection to the nomination of Smart as the new chairman.

Howai said while Du Coudray is a member of the TT Chamber of Industry and Commerce, he is not the Chamber’s nominee for the board. He said he expected the Chamber to nominate someone in due course.

The need for new directors came about when former First Citizens group chief risk officer, Philip Rahaman purchased 659,588 bank shares costing $14 million during its Initial Public Offering (IPO) and sold 634,588 of those shares four months later on January 14, 2014 at a $12 million profit. Attorney General Anand Ramlogan has referred the matter to the Police Service, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) for investigation.


Source:
Newsday
Thursday June 5, 2014

http://www.newsday.co.tt/business/0,195782.html