Court ready to hand down decision in E’bo rice miller $99M lawsuit
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Justice Diana Insanally will soon hand down a decision in the ongoing court case involving Essequibo Rice Miller, Arnold Sankar, and the Guyana Rice Development Board, (GRDB).
The Essequibo rice miller, who operates under the name Arnold Sankar and Sons Rice Mills, had taken the GRDB to court for some $99 million over an alleged breach in agreement.
The plaintiff had claimed that under the agreement, the GRBD had promised to repay Sankar for the purchase of paddy but failed to honour its obligations.
The motion was filed by Attorney-at- Law Anil Nandlall and Associates.
The respondent in the matter GRDB (the State) is represented by Attorneys from the Chambers of the Attorney General.
Some months ago, an attempt was made by the Special Organised Crime Unit, (SOCU) to be inserted in a legal battle between the State and the rice miller. The affidavit by SOCU was eventually struck out after lawyers for the businessman, Manoj Narayan and Rajendra Jaigobin, objected on the grounds that SOCU has no locus standi in the matter.
The attorneys had instead called for judgment to be granted in the matter.
The lawyers based their arguments on the defendant’s failure to meet the court’s deadline in filing their affidavit in response.
They had noted that the failure to meet the deadline resulted in a delay in the court proceedings.
The attorneys outlined that the defendants were initially granted 14 days leave to file an affidavit in answer. That response should have been filed by January 19, last.
However, the AG Chambers did not meet the initial deadline.
The court subsequently granted them more time to file their defence. Failure to do so would have resulted in judgment being granted in favour of the plaintiff.
Again, the lawyers reported that the attorneys from the AG Chambers had failed to reach the deadline. An affidavit was then filed.
Last week, attorneys from both sides made submissions before Justice Insanally, with the State contending that among the reasons for the delay is the issue of having SOCU joined in the action.
Sankar’s lawyers nonetheless maintained that judgment should be granted in favour of their client given those delays.
As such, Justice Insanally is set to hand down a decision on whether to grant the judgment or grant time the State further time to file an affidavit in dissent.
