The Guyana Government is hoping to meet with representatives of Trinidadian construction company NH International Ltd to work on an arrangement that could see a reduction in a $2.8 billion arbitral award now due following a recent ruling by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Attorney General Basil Williams says.
The new government continues to be faced with multi-million dollar judgments and is struggling to find the money to pay these liabilities. Government has taken up the approach that it will seek an audience with the other party with a view of having these sums reduced. This had been done recently when Surinamese beverage company Rudisa International NV agreed to accept US$6.22M of the US$7.72M that accumulated following the award by the court. The judgement represented monies collected in an environmental tax which was found to be in contravention of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas (RTC).
Speaking to Stabroek News last Thursday, Williams said that since the ruling was made by the CCJ he had spoken to Senior Counsel Rex Mc Kay, one of the lawyers representing the company.
“Well that is another debt under the previous government, they refuse to pay”, Williams said before adding that he is not surprised by this lax attitude from the former government. “Why would I be surprised with anything that happened under the last government”, he said.
Asked if there are any hopes for a meeting with the company officials as was done with Rudisa he said “yes Mr Mc Kay represents them so they will have to talk to him with respect to what they are seeking in relation to the judgment”. According to Williams there are other judgments made previously which are yet to be honoured. On the list are other beverage manufacturers. He could not say how many but stressed that “there are others”
He said that it appears as though by the time all of these debts are paid the country will be bankrupt.
Williams said that with the Rudisa matter the CCJ had stated that the government had failed to produce any evidence that the company had passed on the tax to the consumers. “So it will be a challenge to us now in other cases to check to see whether they had passed on the tax”, he said.
Following the dispute between NH International and the Guyana Government, an adjudicator was appointed and awarded the sum of US$11.7 million plus $411.3 million in favour of the Trinidadian company. The company then applied to a judge in Chambers for the enforcement of the adjudication award. Such leave was granted by Justice Singh on February 19, 2007 but it took another eight years before the matter was finally settled and the CCJ criticised the long delay in its ruling.
In its ruling issued in April this year, the CCJ noted that the respondent company, NH International Limited had entered into a contract with the Government of Guyana for the construction of a roadway. The agreement provided for the settlement of disputes arising out of the contract. This process included the appointment of an Adjudicator and an Arbitrator who could hear appeals from the Adjudicator’s decision.
After disputes arose between the parties, an Adjudicator was appointed. The adjudicator later gave an award in favour of NH International for the sum of US$11,719,717.02 and $411,302,140.59. The company, by way of an Originating Summons, then applied to a Judge in Chambers for leave to enforce the adjudication award and this leave was granted by Justice Singh on 19 February 2007.
The Attorney General then appealed the decision of the Judge to the Guyana Court of Appeal but, by way of a preliminary objection, NH International asserted that the Court of Appeal did not have jurisdiction to hear the appeal.
The CCJ said that the proceedings before it were solely concerned with the merits of this preliminary objection by the AG and threw it out.
