8 NEWS
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2020 | GUYANATIMESGY.COM
High Court dismisses Bulkans’ lawsuit against BoG …former APNU/AFC Minister to pay $250,000 in court costs for “incoherent” claim
Former APNU/AFC Minister Ronald Bulkan
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$90 million lawsuit against the Bank of Guyana and its Governor, Dr Gobind Ganga, was on Monday dismissed by High Court Judge Priya Sewnarine-Beharry, who among other things, deemed it deficient and an abuse of the court process. Via a Statement of Claim, former APNU/AFC Minister Ronald Bulkan and his brother, Rustum Bulkan were asking the court to award them damages against Dr Ganga for negligence, deceit, misfeasance in public office for which they were seeking $40 million. Also, they were seeking damages against Central Bank for breach of statutory duty and were seeking in excess of $50 million in damages. They had accused the
Bank of Guyana and Dr Ganga (the first and second named respondents) of neglecting statutory duties when they failed to launch an investigation into the deposit of $82,068,617 into an account for which they are the only authorised signatories, belonging to Precision Woodworking Limited that was held at Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited (RBL). The two brothers are shareholders in Precision Woodworking, a company that was placed into receivership of RBL in June 2016. Their Statement of Claim was filed in December 2019 by Attorney-at-Law Patrice Henry. To counter their application, Dr Ganga and Central Bank filed a Notice of Application in February 2020, asking that the lawsuit be dismissed. They were represented by lawyer Pauline Chase. In doing so, Dr Ganga, among other points, contended that the action was based on an erroneous premise that the deposit was made by an individual into the account. Chase stated that the deposit was not cash but credit, by way of provisioning pursuant to the Bank of Guyana Guidelines No 5 on “Loan Portfolio Review, Classification, Provisioning and other Related Requirements” issued under the authority of the Financial Institutions Act (FIA). Chase disclosed that the
Central Bank Governor, Dr Gobind Ganga
bank account of Precision Woodworking was classified as non-performing by Bank of Guyana and by Republic Bank, with effect from May 31, 2011, as a result of the company being unable to satisfy its debts and obligations to the commercial bank. Among other things, the lawyer contended that the brothers failed to demonstrate in the Statement of Claim a breach of statutory duty whether supervisory or investigatory under Sections 11 and 38 of the Bank of Guyana Act Cap 85:02 as her clients have at all times discharged their statutory duties in accordance with the Bank of Guyana Act, Cap 85:02 and the Financial Institution’s Act Cap 85:03. In dismissing the
Statement of Claim, Justice Sewnarine-Beharry underscored that the action is an abuse of the process. The High Court Judge held, “Statements of Case must be concise. They must plead only material facts, meaning those necessary for the purpose of formulating a cause of action or defence, and not background facts or evidence. Still less should they contain arguments, reasons, or rhetoric. [This] Statement of Claim is incoherent, prolix, lacks precision and is obscure.” Furthermore, the Judge said that the action against Central Bank and its Governor should have been brought by Precision Woodworking, and not its shareholders. According to her, it is trite that a company has a separate legal personality from its directors and shareholders. In fact, the High Court Judge ruled that Dr Ganga was improperly sued in his personal capacity. According to her, Section 4 (1) of the Bank of Guyana Act provides that it shall be a body corporate, while Section 11 provides that the Governor shall be the Chief Executive Officer and shall be responsible for the management of the Bank. Section 38 of the Act, the Judge said, provides that the Bank of Guyana shall have exclusive responsibility for the supervision and regulation of licensed financial institutions under that Act and the Financial Institutions Act. Against this backdrop, Justice Sewnarine-Beharry held that “Actions for alleged wrongs must be instituted against the Bank of Guyana itself since it is a body corporate. The [Statement of] Claim is devoid of any particulars that support a cause of action against [Dr Ganga] in his personally.” Furthermore, the Judge noted that the action brought by the brothers is statute-barred. She noted, too, that an action for the recovery of damages must be brought within three years after the cause of action arises. In court documents seen by Guyana Times, the brothers said that the monies were deposited into the company’s bank account on June 16, 2011, and can be supported through a Discovery Statement issued by Republic Bank pursuant to a court order. The former Minister and his brother further said that during March 11, 2013, to December 22, 2017, they wrote to Dr Ganga; Republic Bank; former Finance Minister Winston Jordan; and former Attorney General Basil Williams in relation to the “unauthorised and suspicious” deposit. TURN TO PAGE 12
Guess who’s...
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...coming to dinner o, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is coming to Guyana this Thursday. Imagine that! And here your Eyewitness thought he was living in a benighted backwater that (at best) only attracted diplomats being banished from up north. His daddy had told him that the Queen of England had actually checked us natives out personally back in the day just before Independence... and then again, he dimly remembered she’d also come in 1994. But those don’t really count...do they? Her visits are more or less ceremonial. So that raises the question as to what brings Secretary Pompeo down in these parts? Surely, we can all agree it’s not “ceremonial”. Mike doesn’t do “ceremonial”. This West Point graduate is a “can-do” man – being a businessman, lawyer (Harvard grad, even!) , a Congressman and most importantly – a Director of the CIA! Succeeding Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State after the latter earned President Trump’s ire, Pompeo’s stint at State has been positively benign compared to the hijinks going on in other areas of the US Government! And that’s pretty much because he’s a personification of the conservative agenda that Trump adopted – even being a member of the Tea Party at one time! So once again, why is Big Mike moseying down these parts? The question, of course, is actually, “which of the US’s interests are intersecting with Guyana’s at this time that the peripatetic Secty of State must tend to? There’re, of course, our democratic credentials – which Secretary Pompeo played not an inconsiderable role in helping to preserve over the last five months!! Against the machinations of the PNC and its proxies in GECOM to hijack the elections. It’s not surprising, therefore, that the PNC is having fits over the visit! Raphael Trotman literally was foaming at the mouth and issuing dire threats against the PPP not to pander to Pompeo. This is quite ironic, since it’s been said – without contradiction – that his political career (and Ramjattan’s) received quite a defining boost from George Bush’s Republican Administration back in 2005!! Oh, how the world turns!! But would Pompeo really fly down just to compliment President Ali?? Naah... there’s gotta be more in the mortar than that pestle. There’s the Exxon desire to get on with Payara, some say with good reason, since Mike’s always been supportive of Big Oil. Kinda like, “what’s good for the energy industry is good for America!” The Government should expect a nudge. Then, of course, there’s the elephant in the (Southern Caribbean) room – Venezuela. Mike’s been integral in pushing for democracy over there. So, for sure he’ll ask the Government to give Maduro a nudge!! Democracy lives!! ...now playing catch-up With one simple statement last week, Volda Lawrence pulled the rug out from under David Granger and his pretentions of being leader of the PNC!! Showing she could beard the (toothless) lion in his chosen arena, Volda left Georgetown and threw down the gauntlet to Granger and his place-holder Harmon at historic Hopetown. Granger had unleashed the hounds of inter-ethnic violence on West Berbice after the gruesome murder of the Henry cousins. And just when matters were spiralling out of control as the Police’s and Army’s professionalism were stretched, Volda called upon “every single member of the PNC”: “what I have seen along the way, as a leader, I consciously cannot condone. We are hurting each other as a people, we are hurting each other as neighbours and friends and we are turning on each other as though we don’t know each other and as a Leader, we have to call a spade a spade. “We certainly can display our grief in a different manner,” she concluded. And forced Granger to do a volte-face! ...possibly coming back Not that they’ll ever get credit from the likes of Lincoln Lewis and his bauxite union, but the PPP’re doing their darnedest to help Rusal to get back into Guyana. Even considering dredging the Berbice River. Readers are invited to send their comments by email to eye@guyanatimesgy.com