Lawyers for Citizen’s Bank and Willems Timber are arguing whether or not the Commercial Court is within its jurisdiction in adjudicating in the matter of the non-disbursement of a $240M loan.
Reports say that the matter is set for continuation on January 15, 2007. It is said to be at the preliminary stage of the process in which Willems Timber is suing Citizen’s Bank for its failure to disburse a loan of $240M to the company. Embattled businessman Roger Khan had purchased Willems Timber.
The money is to be used by Khan to pay the remainder of the debt to Harry Rambarran, who is based in Florida, for the purchase of Willems Timber. Khan is presently in the US facing drug trafficking charges.
Citizen’s Bank on September 14, 2006 had Willems Timber sign a Promissory Note which stated that Willems Timber owed the Bank $240M, even though the money had not been handed over and it is argued that this puts the Bank in a position to sue Willems Timber for that money.
On February 3, 2006 Willems Timber applied for the loan and on February 27, 2006, the Bank prepared a letter of commitment which the company signed. Willems Timber then had to pay a commitment fee of $1.2M, stamp duty of $240,000 and a processing fee of $1000.
They also had to pay $3.5M in legal fees to Cameron and Shepherd on May 23, 2006 and had to file debentures in the amount of $306M. Those debentures were then advertised in the Official Gazette on June 9 and on September 12, 2006, proof of all risk insurance covering the loan was submitted to the Bank.
Up to late September the Board of Directors of Citizen’s Bank had been engaged in discussions with legal advisors trying to decide on whether it is obligated to honour a written commitment given.
Early last year the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) decided not to grant a forest permit to Aurelius after word surfaced that the application had links to Roger Khan.
The GFC permitting process for that company was halted following the allegations contained in the US Narcotics Control Strategy Report which named Khan as a known drug trafficker and also named Aurelius Inc as being under his control.