Not being paid the almost $100M awarded to him by the High Court for paddy supplied, rice miller Arnold Sankar, through an agent, yesterday afternoon executed a levy on assets belonging to the Guyana Rice Development Board (GRDB).
Left with no alternatives to enforce the judgment which was awarded more than half a year ago, the levy was carried out during which two vehicles belonging to the GRDB were seized.
The Essequibo rice miller’s agent who is attached to the Chambers of attorney Anil Nandlall descended on the rice board’s Kingston, Georgetown office in the company of two marshals of the Supreme Court and a police officer.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the agent explained that since the award by the court some seven months ago, Sankar had not been paid a cent from the rice board which owes for paddy it had asked him to supply in 2015.
The agent said that they had gone to GRDB’s head office early yesterday morning to execute the levy but had been asked by officials there to return in the afternoon as they were in a meeting to discuss a compromise.
Having returned sometime between 2:30 and 3:00, however, the agent said it was evident that no compromise had been met nor was there any proposal to discuss nor was any payment made. In the circumstances, in a bid to enforce the judgment, the levy was executed.
According to the agent, while they were only able to seize two vehicles, they intend to return some other time to levy on other assets once payment is not forthcoming.
The agent said that no stay of the judgment had been granted to the GRDB, yet, it refuses to honour its financial obligation to the rice miller for the sum it owes together with interest.
In April of this year, Justices Jo-Ann Barlow and Simone Morris-Ramlall at the conclusion of a Full Court hearing awarded Sankar the full sum of $99,670,273, which he lost as a result of the Rice Board’s breach of the paddy-supply deal.
Additionally, the GRDB was ordered to pay interest at a rate of 6% per annum from November 7th, 2016, when Sankar’s court action was filed, to the date of judgment, which was passed on April 23rd of this year.
The rice board also has to pay interest at a rate of 4% per annum from the date of judgment until the amount has been paid in full.
Apart from these sums, Sankar was also granted $249,963 in High Court costs he was seeking, in addition to securing $50,000 in costs from the Full Court.
The rice miller of the Arnold Sankar and Sons Rice Mill, of Airy Hall Essequibo Coast, had moved to the courts over a 2015 paddy deal which went sour after he ordered paddy the rice board requested but for which they never paid.
In his lawsuit, Sankar had said that during the first rice crop of 2015, the GRDB requested that his company purchase as much paddy as was available on the market, at a price of between $3,000 and $3,300 per bag.
Undertaking
He said the GRDB gave an undertaking to purchase all of the paddy from Arnold Sankar and Sons, at a cost of US$490 per metric tonne.
As part performance of their agreement, Sankar said that the GRDB made an advance payment of $60 million to his company. After receiving the cash, Sankar noted that he paid by cheque, from the said $60 million, to some of his suppliers, under the agreement. He said that this payment was done in the presence of then GRDB General Manager Jagnarine Singh, accountant Peter Ramcharran and Deputy General Manager Madanlall Ramraj.
He, however, said that the advance sum paid by the defendant was inadequate to pay for all the paddy purchased and that the named representatives of the GRDB knew this but still desired the delivery of all the paddy purchased.
Sankar had deposed that the GRDB representatives requested that his company fully pay the remainder of the farmers and thereafter promised to repay Arnold Sankar and Sons Rice Mill from the proceeds to be received from the sale of the said paddy by the GRDB.
Relying on this promise made by the GRDB, Sankar said that his company then went ahead and purchased a total of 32,622 bags of paddy, equivalent to 2,121 metric tonnes, at a cost of $90,749,215.
Again relying on the said “warranty, guarantee, promise, undertaking and agreement,” the plaintiff stated in his affidavit that he applied for, and obtained overdraft facilities from the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry, therefrom paying the unpaid farmers the balance of $30,749,215.
He further asserted that the GRDB then breached the agreement when on May 5th of 2015, it accepted delivery of only 813 metric tonnes of paddy, valued at $21,447,467, thereby leaving a balance of 1,308 metric tonnes of paddy.
The plaintiff in his statement of claim had said that his repeated requests to the GRDB to accept delivery of the remaining 1,308 metric tonnes of paddy were futile.
Sankar said that as a result he was forced to sell this remaining amount to C-Rice Inc., at the price of US$225 per metric tonne, which was a price far lower than the US$490 per metric tonne to which the GRDB had committed.
The rice miller said he was forced to sell the paddy for US$225 per metric tonne because it was on the verge of spoiling. As a result, Sankar sued the Rice Board for $99,670,273, which he says Arnold Sankar and Sons Rice Mill suffered in losses and damage by the GRDB’s breach.
This figure comprises $131.3 million, the value of the remaining paddy had it been accepted by the GRDB, less the $58.5m received from C-Rice Inc, added to $25.1 million expended for the storage of the paddy plus $1.6 million in interest paid to GBTI for use of its overdraft facility.
Sankar was represented in the High Court by attorneys Manoj Narayan and Rajindra Jaigobin.
