The two cases in which the Guyana Power and Light Incorporated (GPL) sought to have Buddy’s International owner Omprakash Shivraj pay some $58 million owed for the supply of electricity were adjourned to May 6 for a final report on settlement.
Letters containing details of the settlement were exchanged by attorney for the plaintiff Timothy Jonas and defence attorney Robin Hunte yesterday when they appeared before Justice Rishi Persaud in the Commercial Court. Hunte is expected to provide further particulars about his client’s intended payment scheme.
When approached yesterday both Jonas and Hunte explained that the matter was “in course of settlement”. Justice Persaud said that May 6, 2009 is the “final date for report on settlement” and should the parties fail to settle the matters will go to trial.
Reacting to an April 8 Stabroek News article, which reported that both suits had been dismissed GPL had stated in a press release the same day that the order to dismiss the claims had been recalled. The company further stressed they were “making every effort to ensure that all monies owed to it are paid in full.”
It is still not clear exactly how both cases advanced to the stage of dismissal; but it had been confirmed by Justice Persaud that the matters would continue yesterday. There has still been no disclosure by the court of the order being recalled.
The cases were heard in part by Justice James Bovell-Drakes and Justice Persaud, with the latter dismissing both suits on March 18, 2009 for want of prosecution.
In a press statement, GPL had said that on February18, 2009 when the case was called in the Commercial Court Shivraj’s attorney “confirmed to the court that [the defendant] had agreed, in principle, to settle GPL’s claim.” It said the case was then adjourned to March 18, 2009 “for terms of settlement to be prepared by the parties and [submitted] to the court.”
According to GPL, “the matter did not appear on the commercial list” on March 18, 2009 but the Buddy’s defence attorney, who presented himself before the court, allegedly failed to inform the court that GPL had already delivered draft terms of settlement.
Further, GPL said that the defence attorney failed to indicate that he had not formally responded to the terms of settlement, “and the court therefore dismissed the claim.” Hunte declined to comment on this when approached by Stabroek News.
The court was informed of GPL’s position sometime later and “recalled its order,” the utility company press statement had said, adding that the action is therefore still extant and has been fixed to continue before Justice Persaud.
Stabroek News viewed documentation for both claims where the last action recorded was the dismissal of both suits last month. Records of Action No.444/08-CD (where GPL claimed just over $50 million) and Action No.445/08-CD (where GPL claimed just over $8 million) show that on March 18, the defence attorney had appeared in the Commercial Court before Justice Persaud and the matters were dismissed for want of prosecution.
In one 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 the suit in April 2008, GPL said, 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 $8,893,290 for electricity supplied.
