KNews boss withdraws misconduct complaint against Chris Ram

Feb 11, 2020 News

The malpractice complaint filed by Kaieteur News’s Publisher, Glenn Lall against Attorney-at-law, Christopher Ram has been withdrawn.

Kaieteur News Publisher Glenn Lall

The complaint was filed against Ram over his failure to represent Kaieteur News in a libel suit by former head of the National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL), Winston Brassington.
On the day of the hearing the judge adjourned the matter twice to allow for Ram to appear for his clients. He did not show. The following day he abandoned his clients.
The matter came up before the Legal Practitioners Committee (LPC) last week.
Both Ram and the complainant (Lall) were present for the hearing before the committee at the Court of Appeal.
Lall then informed the secretary of the LPC that he was no longer interested in pursuing the matter.
The newspaper publisher said that Ram had no part in the decision to withdraw the complaint.
He said, “I took it upon myself to withdraw the complaint; Chris Ram did not ask me to do it.”
Lall told Kaieteur News that he realized the contribution that Ram is making to the national discourse on topical issues in Guyana, most importantly the nation’s contentious oil deal, far outweighs any issue between them.
Lall said, too, that he realised how happy the oil companies would be to see two individuals who have been vocal in their stance for renegotiation of the contracts, fighting amongst themselves.

Attorney- at- law, Chris Ram

“Our oil is under contention, so I decided that is far more important. I called a truce so that we could continue to fight in Guyana’s best interest, “he added.
The publisher had filed the complaint with the LPC – the body responsible for hearing grievances of clients and sanction lawyers– after Ram, Kaieteur News’s attorney at the time, decided not to show up for Court, last December.
The publication is involved in a number of libel suits filed by the former head of NICIL.
When the case came up, Shaunella Glenn, another lawyer provided representation for Kaieteur News.
She was, however, ill-prepared for the proceeding since Ram only made the files to the case, available by way of a junior in his office, a mere 20 minutes before the trial began.
Kaieteur News successfully petitioned the Court for time to retain another attorney to handle the matters.
As a result, the Court deferred the matters and awarded $200,000 cost against the newspaper for the delays.
The matter stemmed from lawsuits Brassington repeatedly filed against Kaieteur News for publishing stories about his handling of major deals involving state assets.
The deals involving major projects and contracts such as the Marriott Hotel, the Berbice River Bridge, Rusal, and sale of a number of state properties date back to 2009.
From the inception, Kaieteur News’s publisher and editors refused to be muzzled in the face of what they saw as a number of irregularities.
However in 2014, months before general elections, Brassington began to file writs. In the end, there were 19.