In the ongoing saga for control over the Guyana Public Service Co-operative Credit Union Ltd (GPSCCUL), a judge yesterday ordered that a Special General Meeting (SGM) now be held by March 10th.
Based on an application by Trevor Benn, Patrick Mentore and Rajdai Jagarnauth, Justice Navindra Singh yesterday also ordered that $17m be set aside for the purpose of staging the SGM.
The recourse by Benn, Mentore and Jagarnauth to the court came after the SGM which had earlier been ordered by Justice Singh for February 5th was not held in the manner that had been prescribed by the judge.
As a result, Benn, Mentore and Jagarnauth through their lawyer Roysdale Force SC approached the court for an order for the staging of the elections. After hearing both sides, Justice Singh ordered that the date for the holding of the SGM as handed down on December 15th and entered on December 21st be extended and that the SGM be held on or before March 10th. The meeting is to be chaired by Mentore in his capacity as Vice Chairman of the Committee of Management of the GPSCCUL.
The court also ordered that a budget in the sum of $17m be approved for the purposes of the AGM. The court also ordered the 14th respondent Adeola Griffith, the Chief Executive Officer of the GPSCCUL to within 24 hours of the service of the order to open a separate account under the name `Special General Meeting 2024 account’ and to deposit the sum of $17m.
Further, Griffith, the Chief Executive Officer of the GPSCCUL and the administrative manager are to be directed to act in accordance with the instructions of Benn, Mentore and Jagarnauth who are empowered and appointed by the court to do all things necessary to give effect to the principal orders handed down by Justice Singh.
The court further ordered that Benn, Mentore and Jagarnauth submit a full report and account of all expenditures pursuant to the holding of the SGM within 14 days of it being held.
The SGM was to be held on Monday but the two sides turned up at the scene of the election and had differing views on what transpired.
While Chairperson of the Guyana Public Service Co-operative Credit Union Limited (GPSCCUL) Karen Vanslutyman-Corbin maintains that a court-ordered Special General Meeting was convened on Monday at the Critchlow Labour College, Benn, a member of the committee of management said that this was “disingenuous”.
Benn told this newspaper that when he showed up at the location on Monday, the nine-member committee led by Vanslutyman-Corbin was non-compliant with the High Court order by Justice Singh which stipulated that a meeting be held yesterday.
But Vanslutyman-Corbin told Stabroek News that a meeting was indeed held on Monday which sought the participation of Benn. However, Benn made it clear that what he attended was not a “special general meeting” but a gathering with several members of the credit union who were dissatisfied with its current management.
