FORMER workers of Caroni (1975) Ltd, who pumped their Voluntary Separation of Employment Package (VSEP) payments into an investment package brokered by the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) and the Unit Trust Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (UTC), are calling for an investigation on the eve of maturity of their investments.

The former workers said they were promised 100 per cent interest in six years when Caroni 1975 Ltd closed its doors in 2003, and expected to collect double their deposits at the end, but they are now being told this will not happen.

The investment was made on behalf of the workers by the ADB and their money was invested in the UTC.

’Instead of letters informing us of the maturity of our investment, the Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) is claiming that due to economic downturn, we have nothing to collect,’ said one worker who invested $200,000.

Another former worker said he invested $300,000 that was supposed to yield some $48,000 each year.

’There must be some kind of mistake. Government must not be allowed to snatch away what was given to us when the company closed,’ he said.

He said more than 5,000 former workers were also still waiting on deeds for the two-acre agricultural plots and residential plots promised to those who did not own their own homes were still pending. He said no one understood the contents of a letter from the Agricultural Development Bank.

The former workers, who invested in a ’sweetener’ package at the ADB in conjunction with the Unit Trust Corporation (UTC), have since approached the All Trinidad General Workers Trade Union to clarify investment benefits.

Former workers told the union that the sweetener investment offered by ADB/UTC had reached maturity and they wanted their money.

However, the letter, signed by ADB chief executive officer, Jacqueline Rawlins, said in part that while the international financial crisis impacted the growth of the funds, which were invested in the Individual Retirement Unit Account (IRUA), investments did not grow enough.

President of ATGWTU, Rudranath Indarsingh, called for an urgent meeting to discuss the matter.

But Rawlins told the Express that 3,200 former workers took part in the investment scheme, and their investments totalled more than $327 million.

The six-year UTC investment had a potential to grow, but this did not happen, she said. Rawlins said the workers would instead get the amount they invested.

In his letter to Noel Garcia, chairman of the ADB, Indarsingh asked for an explanation.

Caroni closed its doors in 2003, sending home over 8,000 workers.