NBS managers charged for locking customers in building

Mar 22, 2018 News

Some of the customers locked-inside NBS

Two months after several persons were locked in New Building Society (NBS) head office after a five-hour standoff with High Court marshals, three managers were yesterday brought before the court and slapped with eight counts of wrongful confinement.

The marshals had moved to levy on NBS assets in a $59M judgment for former Chief Executive Officer, Maurice Arjoon

Appearing in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Senior Magistrate Fabayo Azore were Anil Kishun, CEO Anil Beharry and Deka Tularam. They all denied the charge, which alleged that on January 23, last, at the Avenue of the Republic building, they wrongfully confined Ganesh Kalicharan, Goodish Singh, Alex Moore, Joseph Allen, Gina Arjoon, Patrick Higgins, Martin Brown and Ganish Hira, from proceeding out of the building.

The Police Prosecutor had no objection to bail being granted to the defendants and they were all released on their own recognizance (self bail).

Magistrate Azore who instructed the court orderly to not allow members of the media and the public inside the courtroom, instructed the defendants to make their next court appearance on March 28.

They will appear before Senior Magistrate Dylon Bess for a report on the matter.

According to reports, on the day in question, the bank closed its doors locking inside several customers, a Court Marshal, lawyer and a police rank, after a team of Court Marshals went to NBS to levy on its assets in a $59M judgment for its former CEO Maurice Arjoon.

Arjoon and two others were charged in 2007 in a high-profile case for allegedly stealing $69M from the mortgage entity. The then Ombudsman, Justice Winston Moore, decided a few years ago after Maurice Arjoon, and his two managers, Kissoon Baldeo and Kent Vincent, were both freed in the magistrates’ court.

In fact, the Ombudsman, who investigated Arjoon’s complaint of being framed, made it clear that something was fishy about the charges and the men should explore private action.
Arjoon claimed that he was framed because he refused to allow a request of former President Bharrat Jagdeo, to sink $2B of NBS funds into the Berbice River Bridge, which was being configured at the time. Arjoon said that the transaction would have been illegal.
Last July, after years of battle in the High Court for his outstanding pension and benefits, Arjoon was awarded $79M by Justice Brassington Reynolds.

Last December, Justice Rishi Persaud, reducing the $79M to $59M, pending a number of procedures, paved the way for Arjoon, to be paid.
Since December, NBS refused to pay and it all came to a head in a dramatic way.

Eventually after the five-hour standoff, NBS was forced to hand over a cheque to his wife, Gina, for $59,033,281– the amount of the judgment in December.

One of the two other managers, Kissoon Baldeo, who has since moved to New Jersery, in the US, is set to also stake his claims for benefits.Kent Vincent, meanwhile, is the head of the local office Food For The Poor. He is currently fighting in the High Court for his benefits.

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