Berbice Magistrate seeks to have $10M lawsuit against him dismissed

Feb 07, 2010 News

A Berbice Magistrate, being sued by an alleged fuel smuggler who is accusing him of soliciting a bribe, has responded and is asking Judge William Ramlal to dismiss the case since it is unreasonable.
In a response to the action filed in December by Lendrick Ramdowar, of Bath, West Coast Berbice, Attorney-at-law, Sanjeev Datadin, on behalf of Magistrate Chandra Sohan, also asked for an order for the action to be dismissed on the grounds that it is frivolous, vexatious, scandalous, and an abuse of the process of court.
Ramdowar had sued the Magistrate for $10M for “false imprisonment, misfeasance in public office and/or negligence with costs.”

Accused Smuggler
In a Statement of Claim filed by Ramdowar’s lawyer, Mursaline Bacchus, against the Magistrate, it was disclosed that in March 2007, the Plaintiff was charged along with his son, Muneshwar Ramdowar, for possession and transportation of illegal fuel.
The matter came up before Magistrate Sohan at the Albion Magistrate’s Court, and both men were remanded to prison. They were subsequently granted bail by the same magistrate and the matter was transferred to the New Amsterdam court.
About three months after being charged, Ramdowar claimed in the statement that he was approached by one Kumar Doraisami who said that the Magistrate “wanted one million dollars to dismiss the case against the plaintiff (Ramdowar). The plaintiff rejected the proposal,” the claim said.
In August or September 2007, another person named “Alex”, a “known associate of the Defendant, met the Plaintiff and informed him that the Defendant sent him to speak to the Plaintiff about his fuel case and informed the Plaintiff that the Defendant wanted $750,000 to dismiss the case. The Plaintiff rejected the proposal.”
According to Ramdowar, last year, on September 4, he appeared before the Magistrate in the same fuel case. He was placed on the bench for two hours from 09:30hrs by the Magistrate after being told that there was a warrant for his arrest issued at the Fort Wellington Court.
The statement said that there was no arrest warrant and he was released after he made representations to the Magistrate.
“The Plaintiff alleges and would establish that the Defendant is liable to him for false imprisonment. The Plaintiff alleges and would establish that if the Defendant acted within his jurisdiction in imprisoning the Plaintiff, he the Defendant acted maliciously and without reasonable or probable cause. Alternatively that the Defendant had no jurisdiction or exceeded his jurisdiction in imprisoning the Plaintiff.” Ramdowar claimed that he suffered loss of liberty and damages as a result.

Defense
On Thursday when the matter came up, Magistrate Sohan, instead of filing a response, moved straight away to have the action dismissed. In his affidavit, the magistrate denies knowing anyone by the name of “Alex” and pointed out that while Ramdowar claims someone approached him to pay money for his case to be dismissed, the pertinent paragraph failed to implicate him (the magistrate) of doing anything directly or otherwise.
The Magistrate said that he is advised that Ramdowar’s Statement of Claim contains evidence, which is illegally inadmissible in a trial and cannot be lawfully stated or otherwise pleaded in court.
Magistrate Sohan, in addressing the claims that Ramdowar was made to sit on the prisoners’ bench when a warrant had been ordered for his arrest, said it is a lawful and legitimate exercise of his magisterial discretion.
Sohan, in his statement, also said that he is denying each and every statement by Ramdowar as contained in his claim.
“That I am advised by Counsel and verily believe that the action filed herein by the plaintiff is unsustainable having regard to the provisions of the Justice Protection Act, Chap 5:07 Laws of Guyana.”
Also representing the Magistrate are Attorneys-at-Law Anil Nandlall and Ramesh Rajkumar.