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Finance Minister appeals contempt order
Finance Minister Winston Jordan has appealed the decision of High Court Judge Priya Sewnarine-Beharry to issue a contempt order, to have him imprisoned for 21 days, if he fails to honour a judgment of US$2.2M, which is to be paid to Dipcon Engineering Services Limited by Saturday, July 6.
In a notice of appeal filed on Tuesday, Jordan asked the Court of Appeal to set aside and reverse the order of the Supreme Court Justice. According to court documents seen by this newspaper, the Finance Minister is challenging the authority of the Supreme Court to issue such an order against him.
He is appealing the entire decision on the grounds that the judge erred and misdirected herself in law when she exercised jurisdiction to hear the application of contempt against him in his private and personal capacity as Minister of Finance for alleged monies owed by the State and Government of Guyana.
Finance Minster Winston Jordan
The application noted that Justice Sewnarine-Beharry erred and misdirected herself in law when she failed to appreciate that contempt proceedings were coercive in nature and such order could not be made against the Jordan in his private capacity, since no act was committed by the Minister in his private capacity.
The application further stated that the Judge erred in her actions as she failed to consider sections of the State Liability Proceeding Act, which prohibits action being taken against the Minister in his personal capacity in civil proceedings against the State.
Additionally, Jordan contends that the learned trial judge erred and misdirected herself in law when she refused to grant the stay of the order for contempt to permit the State and Government of Guyana to pursue in law the process of appeal.
As such, the Minister is asking the Appeal Court to set aside and reverse the orders of Justice Sewnarine-Beharry.
On Monday, Justice Sewnarine-Beharry ruled that Minister Jordan will be imprisoned if he fails to comply with the court’s order to pay out the outstanding monies by the specified date.
Judge Priya Sewnarine -Beharry
Justice Sewnarine-Beharry, in her ruling, pointed out that Minister Jordan had failed to comply with a judgment handed down sometime back by Justice Rishi Persaud, who ordered that the monies are to be paid to the company. Added to that, Justice Sewnarine-Beharry pointed out that the Minister had also failed to comply with a writ of Mandamus issued by the Chief Justice for the monies to be paid.
Furthermore, Justice Sewnarine-Beharry also awarded cost to the engineering company in the sum of $3M, which she ordered be paid by the Minister.
According to the High Court Judge, there was no stay of proceedings granted on the two court orders, and the Minister, through his lawyers, has told the court that the National Assembly had approved monies to honour the judgment. Back in 2015, Justice Persaud, who was then sitting at the High Court, granted judgment in favour of Dipcon.
The matter had stemmed from a multimillion-dollar contract dispute between the Trinidad-based company and the State.
Justice Persaud had ruled that Dipcon recover from government US$665,032.17 as money due to the engineering company for infrastructural works done under the previous PPP government, along with the sum of US$1,563,368.50 for increased costs incurred by Dipcon at the request of the government in the course of undertaking the aforementioned work.
Obviously dissatisfied with the judgment, the Attorney General Basil Williams filed an appeal with the Court of Appeal. Based on reports, that appeal was out of time by about six months. The Court of Appeal refused to allow the appeal and dismissed it. Williams subsequently sought redress at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
In substantiating his case at the CCJ, Williams contended that there were good reasons for the belated appeal. For one, the Attorney General told the CCJ that the matter was handled by a private attorney and the State was not informed of the judgment until months after it was delivered. Noting the fact that the appeal was not filed within the prescribed time limit, the CCJ dismissed the appeal, among other things, noting that it was unacceptable.
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