Globe Trust and Investment Company Limited (GTICL) liquidator Nizam Ali and Company is in court battling to reclaim funds owed to the institution after months of reluctance from debtors, filing claims to levy on personal property that were put up as collateral.
And in a short while the company is expected to move against some debtors by claiming goods that were listed as security when the loans were issued. Since being appointed liquidator for the company in October last year, Ali has recovered some$14M of the $750M disbursed in loans. He referred to the debt collection as being “extremely poor,” saying that it is has been difficult to get people to cooperate.
Ali told Stabroek News yesterday that the court process has gone favourably so far, noting that certain items belonging to debtors are to be seized as identified in court proceedings. But he added that there is no room to facilitate the goods if Globe Trust decides to move on them, since according to him, “storage at the court is currently at its capacity.”
He disclosed that the company’s lawyers are currently in talks with the authorities at the court to have the issue solved. Items claimed by Globe Trust will go to storage as the company awaits judgment and a move on foreclosures before the steps are taken to have them auctioned off.
The silence from debtors, many of whom have failed to respond since letters were first dispatched by Ali, resulted in the move to the court, Ali said. According to him, Globe Trust is now filing frequent actions to reclaim funds through a battery of attorneys. “We are sparing no efforts to recover the money that is out, given the lack of interest shown so far, and we are also fully aware that this [court] is a long process”, he added.
But he noted that many of the debtors had no security on the loans, adding that the company will have a difficult time reclaiming funds from those who failed to put up any collateral.
“We are moving against some persons but it is a fraction of those who owed that actually [put] up security that we can levy on,” he added.
Ali was unable to say how many court matters have been filed by Globe Trust within recent months since according to him there were previous matters that also have to be tied in. He said too that the lawyers are handling separate cases.
Ali had previously describ-ed the court process as a protracted one noting that the matters could be tied up there for years. He had stated his intentions to have the liquidation process completed in a year, but had pointed out that this was not likely.
In October last year, Chief Justice (Ag) Ian Chang issued an order for the compulsory liquidation of Globe Trust following a High Court application by the Bank of Guyana (BoG).
The company came crashing down after issuing many unsecured loans among other dubious practices. The BoG filed an application asking that an order be granted for the compulsory liquidation of GTICL as provided for under the Financial Institutions Act after an investment deal for the troubled institution failed to materialise. It was the second such application; the first was filed in 2002 after which numerous depositors had intervened.
