WILLEMSTAD--The Court in the United States of America (USA) confirmed this week that ENNIA Caribe Leven’s (ECL’s) money in the account at US bank Merrill Lynch should be returned to the current directors as soon as possible, lawyers of the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten (CBCS) stated.
Also, with respect to the funds of ENNIA Caribe Investments (ECI), the Court made it clear that these should be managed by the ECI directors. Both entities are currently covered by the emergency regulation, with the Central Bank acting as director.
Lesley-Ann Brodie on behalf of CBCS/ENNIA and Abdallah Andraous on behalf of Parman International owned by Hushang Ansary submitted statements prior to the Court hearing and were heard under oath during a live cross-examination.
“Andraous confirmed that the funds in ECI’s account belong to ECI and the funds in ECL’s account to ECL. This was sufficient for the Court to order that these funds must also be returned to the directors of these entities,” according to the CBCS/ENNIA lawyers.
During the hearing in summary proceedings, filed by ENNIA’s shareholder Parman against CBCS, which had filed the application for the emergency regulation, it became clear that despite the recognition of the emergency regulation for ENNIA in the United States, CBCS on behalf of ENNIA still has no access to the insurer’s funds at Merrill Lynch, due to Parman’s lack of cooperation. Access to these funds is deemed important for the restructuring of ENNIA.
To protect possible interests of ECI’s creditors, parties must agree that a small part of the funds will be kept separately in ECI’s account. In a so-called draft order, which is a proposal for a court decision, parties must explain how this could be guaranteed. The draft orders are to be submitted on Monday, January 28.
