(Trinidad Guardian) A High Court judge has frozen the assets of an attorney as part of a bid by a company to recover $7 million in funds paid to a contractor for a construction project that allegedly did not materialise.
Delivering a decision late yesterday, High Court Judge Frank Seepersad upheld an ex-parte application from Advance Hose and Marketing Limited, of Ridgewood Heights, Tacarigua, to freeze an account held by attorney Varun Debideen.
In the court filings obtained by Guardian Media, the company’s lawyer Karina Singh claimed that on July 19, 2023, her client transferred the money to contractor Cordell Philbert, of Royal Palm Gardens, Malabar, Arima, as payment for a prospective construction project it (the company) was pursuing.
“The First Respondent (Philbert) has, through fraudulent means, misappropriated and/or converted the sum of $7 million to his own use and benefit,” Singh said.
“The transferred sums were fraudulently obtained by the First Defendant through negligent and/or fraudulent misrepresentation arising out of the prospective construction project, in which the First Respondent undertook to provide services in consideration for the payment of the sum of $7 million,” she added.
On Tuesday, the company’s lawyers obtained a Norwich Pharmacal order from a High Court judge in relation to the RBC Royal Bank (T&T) Limited account held by Philbert that the company transferred the funds to.
Such orders seek to compel third parties such as financial institutions to reveal confidential information of their clients, which can then be used to pursue litigation over alleged wrongdoing.
Singh claimed that Philbert’s financial records showed that after receiving the funds, $6 million was transferred to Debideen’s account held with Scotiabank. She further claimed that $624,650 was transferred to ZA Limity Engineering Consultancy, a company owned by Joash Ramjattan.
The court proceedings also listed Ramjattan, his company, Mitoonlal Persad and his son Brad as defendants.
Singh claimed that Ramjattan and the Persads were business associates of Philbert and acted as his agents.
“The First (Philbert), Third (Brad), Fourth (Ramjattan), Fifth (Persad), Sixth (Debideen) and Seventh (ZA Limity) Respondents have colluded with the intention of defrauding the Applicant and/or intend to and/or have misappropriated the transferred sum and/or placed the transferred sum beyond the reach of the Applicant,” Singh said.
“The Sixth (Debideen) and Seventh (ZA Limity) are liable in knowing receipt and/or dishonest assistance having received the misappropriated funds and the Claimant is entitled to trace and/or follow the assets into the hands of the Sixth and Seventh Respondents,” she added.
Under Justice Seepersad’s order, Debideen was barred from disposing of $6 million of his assets in the account the money was transferred to by Philbert and his other bank accounts.
Debideen was also given three days in which to disclose records of all his local assets exceeding $1 million.
“If the provision of any of this information is likely to incriminate the Sixth Respondent (Debideen), he may be entitled to refuse to provide it, but is recommended to take legal advice before refusing to provide the information,” Justice Seepersad said.
“Wrongful refusal to provide the information may amount to a contempt of court and may render the Sixth Respondent liable to be imprisoned, fined or have his assets seized,” he added.
The order, which will remain in place until the defendants appear before Justice Seepersad next Wednesday, does not stop Debideen from spending $10,000 of his funds on living expenses.
Debideen was also given the option to automatically lift the freeze order by paying $6 million to the court to be held pending the determination of the litigation.
Debideen can also apply to Justice Seepersad to vary or discharge the order before the case comes up for hearing next week.
Justice Seepersad noted that breaching the order or knowingly assisting someone in breaching it would constitute contempt of court.
“Any person doing so may be imprisoned, fined or have their assets seized,” the order said.
The company was also represented by Jagdeo Singh and Leon Kailcharan.
In a brief telephone interview yesterday, Debideen denied any wrongdoing. He claimed that he never had any direct dealings with the company or Philbert.
“I had absolutely nothing to do with them,” he said.
He claimed that he had been previously retained by Ramjattan to represent him in separate legal proceedings and that the money paid to him by Philbert represented a loan that he (Philbert) allegedly gave to Ramjattan to pay his (Ramjattan) multi-million dollar judgment debt.
“I was following the instructions of my client under the Legal Profession Act,” he said.
Debideen noted that he intends to challenge the freezing order.