Latest update January 20th, 2025 4:00 AM
Judiciary still woefully unprepared for oil -Sanjeev Datadin
In early 2017, Attorney-at-law Sanjeev Datadin expressed concerns that Guyana’s judicial system was not prepared for the complex legal issues that may arise from the looming multibillion-dollar oil and gas sector.
Almost two years later, he says not much has changed.
During an interview with Kaieteur News, Datadin said that the judiciary is functioning just a little better. He said that the new civil procedure rules are of some help towards moving commercial litigation forward. But, the judiciary “is still not functioning in a manner that is consistent with what is required for what Guyana is about to encounter”.
Datadin, who has worked with several international oil and gas companies, holds the view that Guyana’s judicial system is simply too slow, understaffed and lacks individuals with the necessary knowledge and skills.
Attorney-at-Law, Sanjeev Datadin
The attorney asserted that Guyana’s judiciary is not equipped to deal with real commercial activity.
Datadin said, “We still have to do the simple things like e-filing, which would reduce paperwork and increase efficiency. We still have to get the registry hours to be a little bit more, and we still have to get the registry staff to understand more of what is going on. We need to get matters before judges quicker, and when judges need to give decisions, we need to have the reasons within a timely manner. We cannot wait years and six months anymore. We need to function better”.
The question of the preparedness of the judiciary became extremely important when citizens take into consideration, the track record of US oil giant, ExxonMobil, and the wave of litigation it has faced over the years.
In the case of Chad, ExxonMobil was fined US$74 billion, as it was ruled in the courts that the nation was underpaid the royalties to which it was entitled from the oil giant.
Research indicates that the fine itself was about five times more than Chad’s Gross Domestic Product, which the World Bank estimated at US$13 billion.
The fine imposed against the company was handed down October 5, last, by the High Court in the capital, N’Djamena. The ruling was in reaction to a protest from the Finance Ministry in Chad that a group led by the ExxonMobil giant did not honour its tax commitments.
According to www.bloomberg.com, the court also demanded that the Texas-based oil explorer pay US$819 million in overdue royalties.
Legal minds believe that Chad would not see most of the money as ordered by the court.
ExxonMobil has since said that it disagreed with the Chadian court’s ruling. At the time of the judgment, it was examining other options.
Furthermore, in 2003, ExxonMobil was found to be defrauding the state of Alabama out of royalty payments and was ordered by the courts to pay up more than US$100 million in back-pay royalties.
According to www.classaction.org., in August 2012, a Kansas judge approved a US$54 million settlement with landowners who claimed that they were underpaid royalties when ExxonMobil made deductions for expenses that occurred downstream of their wells. The settlement also ended a lawsuit filed in Kansas state court against ExxonMobil over royalties dating back to 2000.
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Mental illness is real and a serious public health concern
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- Mental illness is a reality we often acknowledge in passing but seldom confront with the... more
OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus
Antiguan Barbudan Ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The upcoming election... more
Weekend Cartoon
