– depositor pickets lawyer’s office
The majority of Globe Trust and Investment Company Limited (GTICL) former directors are in court defending claims filed against them for monies owed to the failed institution, but the company’s liquidators recently slapped a second lawsuit on director and Senior Counsel, Peter Britton after he put two properties up for sale.
The company is claiming $19.5 million, which it said Britton owes and is seeking a declaration that the attorney is justly and lawfully indebted to Globe Trust. It is also asking for a declaration that it is entitled to a lien on certain properties, and has entered an opposition to Britton passing transport of the properties at Campbellville and East Ruimveldt. The Registrar of Deeds is also named as a defendant in the action.
Globe Trust depositor CS Vaughn Major (Rtd), who said he lost $4.5 million when the institution collapsed, yesterday picketed Britton’s law firm at South Road. He held a one man protest for 30 minutes outside the law firm and vowed to keep the pressure on until monies owed are paid back to the company. According to Vaughn, the money he lost in the debacle had been set aside to pay for his daughter’s education and his retirement.
Stabroek News was told that a string of legal matters are currently in the High Court involving Globe Trust and several former directors. The company is claiming close to $20 million in monies to be recovered from each director, and in the case of the former chief executive officer of the company some $35 million. There is at least one other director who the company says owed in excess of $20 million.
In addition to the directors, Globe Trust has moved to the court against other debtors in an attempt to reclaim some of the $750 million handed out in unsecured loans. The matters are all being vigorously defended but the company recently won judgment against a debtor, and subsequently moved to foreclose on his property before holding an auction.
This newspaper was reliably informed that the debtor’s land, located at Land of Canaan went on the auction block two weeks ago and a bid of $91 million was accepted. The bidder lodged the $200,000 deposit as required but failed to make the subsequent 25 percent payment in keeping with law – the bid was later withdrawn.
Nizam Ali, the liqudator for Globe Trust commented briefly yesterday that the process is moving ahead but not at the pace he would like. He said certain procedures have to be followed and as such the company is sticking to the rules and taking the process one step at a time. He said too that debt collection continues to trickle in slowly.
He had previously observed that the liquidation process can only move forward if the monies are repaid, adding that Globe Trust would not be in a position to refund depositors and cover other expenses if these monies are not paid back.
The liquidator had also described the court process as a protracted one noting that the matter 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 given the rate at which collection was going.
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.