PROMAN Holding (Barbados) Ltd has been given until January 9 to provide information sought by CL Financial (CLF) relating to the sale of Clico Energy to the energy company, ahead of an appeal of a judge’s reversal of the sale later that month.

On Monday, CLF and the conglomerate’s insurance arm, Clico complained that the court’s order on October 19 was not being complied with.

Senior Counsel Deborah Peake said her client, CLF, was concerned by communication it had received which suggested certain disclosures could be in breach of the Companies Act.

She said CLF had to file the application for compliance with the court’s orders, as some information has been provided, but no date was given for the provision of the remainder.

Hearing of Proman’s substantive appeal comes up on January 27, with a second date reserved if necessary.

Proman’s attorney, Simon Salzedo, KC, said his client’s concern was the confidentiality of information. He said CLF had asked for “a great deal of information” and its response was to share what ity could – some 4,000 pages.

“We are working on it.”

However, he said the default position was that directors were not entitled to pass information on to third parties, and while those directors appointed by the CLF receiver can, Proman was simply asking to be able to identify those documents which contained commercially sensitive information and not pass them on. This, he said, can then be resolved by the court.

“But we are not resisting (the order).

"They want us to provide all the information in seven days. We cannot agree that all information be provided. Some may not be in my client’s control and we cannot give a final date,” he said in submissions. “We have been responding in good faith. There is no need for a draconian order.”

Proman was also accused of “deliberately attempting to slow CLF and Clico down and hide information. The accusation was made by Clico’s attorney, Fyard Hosein, SC, to which Salzedo took strong objection.

“I ask the court to disregard that. We have accepted the orders of the court and we have complied, providing information as practically possible…What will cause problems is a blanket demand,” Salzedo said.

In the end, the Appeal Court ordered the disclosure of information.

In October, Justices of Appeal Alice Yorke-Soo Hon, Gregory Smith and Vasheist Kokaram granted an interim stay of Justice Devindra Rampersad’s reversal of the CLF sale of Clico Energy to Proman.

The sale took place three days after the government bailed out the cash-strapped financial giant in early 2009.

The judges also granted an interim stay until the hearing of Proman’s appeal. It was granted with conditions.

A primary condition was that Proman pay into court US$83 million by October 31, and appoints directors nominated by CLF and Clico.

In delivering the decision, the judges said they were concerned about the risks to CLF and Clico's being able to enforce the High Court’s