Two cases in which the Guyana Power and Light Company (GPL) sought orders for Buddy’s International Hotel owner Omprakash Shivraj to pay $58 million owed to the Guyana Power and Light Company (GPL) for the supply of power have been dismissed for want of prosecution.
The cases were heard in part by Justice James Bovell-Drakes and by the present Commercial Court Justice Rishi Persaud, who dismissed both suits on March 18, 2009 for want of prosecution. GPL, the plaintiff in both cases, had been claiming debts owed to them for electricity supplied to Buddy’s Inter-national Hotel, which was owned by Shivraj at the time the writs were filed.
In its statement of claim, GPL said Buddy’s owed 50,131,881, being the balance of an amount due and owing for electricity supplied up to January 2008, in addition to interest and associated court costs. At the time of the filing of its suit, April 2008, GPL said that it had been supplying Buddy’s International with electricity from the start of its operations in February 2007, for which it received a single payment of $3,459, 547 despite repeated demands for outstanding debt. As a result, GPL billed Shivraj for $39, 417, 217, which represented the total energy and demand charges due to GPL up to January 2008 and $10, 714, 664 constituting a non refundable capital contribution. Shivraj, however, did not pay the bill.
A separate court action filed in May, 2008 claimed $8.8M for electricity supplied.
Attorneys-at-law Neil Bollers and R. Hunte represented GPL and Shivraj, respectively. When contacted yesterday for comment on the dismissal of the cases, GPL Public Relations Officer Ms. Adams told Stabroek News that she was not in a position to comment and directed the newspaper to the company’s Corporate Secretary. However, an employee within the Corporate Secretary’s department stated that they could not say anything on the matter.
The company’s Managing Director Bharrat Dindyal was unavailable for comment as well as Stabroek News was informed that he is on leave and would be available some time next week.
A national “loss reduction” campaign was recently launched by the power company in an effort to eliminate the large number of illegal connections and to disconnect those customers who were not paying their bills.
