After multimillion-dollar judgement
…attorney rejects proposal, to examine respondent’s assets
By Shemuel Fanfair
Several weeks after four farmers from Region Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara) were awarded almost $10 million in judgement and court costs by High Court Judge Gino Persaud, the miller, Andre Poonai, who is the respondent in the case, has stated his intention to pay the farmers instalments of $20,000 per month. This was however on Tuesday rejected by Attorney for the plaintiffs, Manoj Narayan, who will attempt to examine the assets of the miller next month.
From left: Rice farmers Tularam Ramkissioon, Yogeshwar Jaichand, Ishwar Lall and Chetram Surujpaul at the High Court
The four farmers – Tularam Ramkissioon, Ishwar Lall and Yogeshwar Jaichand from Wakenaam Island and Chetram Surujpaul – sued Poonai, the proprietor of rice giant Golden Grains Investments for millions in outstanding payments and costs on October 9, 2017. Justice Persaud heard the four applications and granted the judgement on November 16, 2017. The Judge ordered that the sums be paid together with an interest rate of six per cent per annum from October 9, 2017 to December 16, 2017 and an interest rate at 45 per cent after the December date.
In court documents seen by Guyana Times, Ramkissioon was awarded $2,219,900 in judgement by the court while Surujpal was awarded $3,899,568. Additionally, Jaichand stated that he was awarded $2,700,000 while Lall said he was awarded $487,713. Each farmer was also awarded $50,000 in court costs.
However, the farmers through their Attorney, Narayan, were forced to file judgement summons proceedings as Poonai defaulted on paying the farmers the judgement awarded by the court. The judgement summonses were heard and then granted by Justice Franklin Holder on January 15, 2018. That Judge heard the matter on Tuesday. Speaking after the court proceedings on Tuesday, Narayan indicated that garnering information on the Golden Grains Investments miller’s assets has been difficult.
Chetram Surujpaul holds the bounced cheque issued to him
“We had first attempted to do levy proceedings against Andre Poonai but we couldn’t locate any assets in the name of Andre Poonai so we have been forced under oath to examine him in the witness box as to the means that he has to pay the judgement sum,” the Attorney explained.
His clients have rejected Poonai’s intention to only pay them instalments of $20,000, saying that it will take several years for them to be paid off.
“This is totally unacceptable, so we will proceed and if we get evidence to establish to the court that he can afford to pay more, the court may at that stage order imprisonment for contempt of court,” he explained.
Guyana Times understands that it took several weeks for the farmers to locate Poonai to serve the judgement summons and this was done only recently after investigations to track him down were successful. It was in his affidavit in response to the said summons that the miller outlined his case to the court. Poonai of Kitty, Georgetown, highlighted that he is the subject of a Customs Anti-Narcotics Unit (CANU) investigations of which he claims his innocent.
He explained that rice from Georgetown was being exported to Belgium and that CANU said cocaine was allegedly found in five containers packed with rice. He noted that the rice was confiscated by CANU. He also claimed that the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB) prevented him from obtaining an export licence since he is under investigation, adding that he expended all of his savings to pay other farmers. He further noted that he does not own land or vehicles. Poonai, speaking briefly to this newspaper after the court appearance, denied accusations of fraud levelled by the farmers, noting that they were “being paid consistently right through”.
The case continues before Justice Holder on April 9 when Poonai will take the stand.
Golden Grains Investments, based out of Dubai, is one successor to the Alesie Rice Group after that company announced that it pulled out from local operations last year. The company had however informed farmers last year that it was encountering financial difficulties and was unable to make the payments.
