Engineer Charles Ceres and his wife, Ndibi Schwiers, have secured judgment against the Guyana Times in a libel suit after the newspaper’s attorney failed to submit a defence to their claim in the stipulated time.
This failure prompted attorney Darren Wade, who represents Ceres and Schwiers, to apply for judgment in default of the failure to file the defence in time.
Wade told Stabroek News yesterday that counsel for Guyana Times had filed an application to extend the deadline, but the court found that the threshold could not be met.
The quantum of the damages to which Ceres and Schwiers are entitled to as a result of the default judgement will be assessed on February 15th, 2020.
Ceres and Schwiers sued the Guyana Times as well as the Kaieteur News newspaper and opposition leader Bharrat Jagdeo each for $200 million over allegations made by the latter, which were reported by the newspapers.
The attorneys for Jagdeo and the Kaieteur News have filed their respective defences and those suits will be proceeding to case management, Wade said.
Ceres contends that Jagdeo distorted the manner in which he had been allocated several parcels of land in the Canje Creek, Bohemia in Berbice, and at Liliendaal.
In response, Ceres provided documents to show that it was under the former Jagdeo government that he and three others were issued land in the Canje Creek in 2004, which has since been relinquished and that the land at Liliendaal was bought above market value and is being beneficially occupied.
“I paid $1, 000 per acre per year for the land in Canje Creek up to the time of relinquishment. I continue to pay $200,000 per acre/per year for the land in Liliendaal, which is being beneficially utilised as dictated by the terms of the lease,” Ceres had shared, while claiming that the Peoples Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) under Jagdeo, and former president Donald Ramotar, granted land to China Paper for $50 per acre per year.
Apart from the $200 million, Ceres by way of his suits is claiming exemplary and aggravated damages in addition to court costs.
