Judge orders court appearance of Registrar

Oct 09, 2010 News

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– after official refused to execute judgment in favour of Bill Direct

A judge has ordered the Registrar of the Supreme Court to appear before him later this month in response to court proceedings filed by Bill Direct Inc. questioning why a judgment granted in its favour has not been executed.
The case has already seen complaints to the Attorney General as well as correspondences to the Registrar’s office.
Bill Direct, on August 4, obtained judgment against Shazim Khan of Lusignan Public Road, East Coast Demerara. Khan operated a branch of the bill payment service under the name and style of Discount Palace, before Bill Direct took him to court for payments he failed to remit to the company.
In court documents sworn to by the company, it had moved to court and Justice Rishi Persaud had ordered a Writ of Execution.
However, Bill Direct said, the move to seize assets of Khan was never carried out.  “Despite the filing and the issue of the aforesaid documents, upon the oral instructions of the Registrar of the Supreme Court, the First Marshal refused, omitted and/or neglected to carry out the levy proceedings.”
Bill Direct’s lawyer, Anil Nandlall, on September 24, then wrote Shabena Ali
Registrar of the Supreme Court (ag), querying the failure.
“The defendant (Khan) has since neglected to obey this order as a result of which proceedings were filed to levy upon his property to satisfy the judgment.
“Your office did not grant the relevant authorization to commence this process on the basis that the defendant named therein is a business entity and therefore the Order of Court was irregular.” The Attorney General was also written to.
“Following this order, our attorneys filed levy proceedings as a means of recouping the monies due. Since this time the Registrar of the Supreme Court, Ms. Shabena Ali, and her deputy Mr. Mohamad, have done everything in their power to obstruct the course of justice,” the letter said.
On September 15, levy instructions were signed by Mohamad, however, “within minutes of his signing, he sent instructions to the Marshals to hold on the levy proceedings.
The basis for this was the name on the writ and a legal technicality which he thought existed. However, after consultation with the Chief Justice on the matter, it was found that the case was properly brought and that the levy proceedings can be executed as is.
However, the company claimed, levy proceedings were still stalled by Mohamad on the basis that “he was not satisfied with the position of the Chief Justice on the matter. Following this, our attorneys made several attempts to have the matter sorted with the registrar but to no avail.”
The company also claimed in court documents that the letter sent on September 24, to the Registrar, was not well received and “she indicated boldly to our attorney that she will destroy the letter.
She will not take any instructions from the Attorney General on this matter.”
Bill Direct’s Chief Executive Officer, Dwayne Roach, said that he believed that the Registrar and Deputy Registrar “are above the law and therefore this matter will remain unresolved for so long as they hold office.
“It is sad to see that the bonds of religion are being used as a basis for diverting justice and tampering with the law. One would never have imagined that such situations could occur within the confines of the legal system.”
Roach also said that he was appalled at the fact that the business name, Discount Palace, was struck off the register on the same day that Mohamad halted the levy proceedings.
“Yet the business in question can be found in operation from Monday – Saturday. This is a clear attempt again to evade the hands of justice. It is a shame that the good people of Guyana are the ones who are being made to suffer in this case.”
Bill Direct disclosed that the several customers paid their bills to the outlet but its owner used these monies “to travel the United States of America among other things, as opposed to remitting the funds to our company as our contract with him stipulated.”
According to Bill Direct, several persons would suffer since their electricity, water, telephone and other utilities would be disconnected “all because of his dishonesty and the relentless efforts of those in “authority” to cover and protect him from the actions of the law.”
The Attorney General had answered Bill Direct and advised that the matter be taken to the High Court for compliance to the judgment.
Representing Bill Direct in addition to Nandlall are attorneys-at-law, Euclin Gomes and Manoj Narayan.
On Wednesday, Justice Franklin Holder, granted an order compelling the Registrar to appear in court on October 25 to explain why the execution order to seize movable properties were not carried out.

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