Retired municipal police demand $m

RETIRED municipal police officers are begging government to pay $85 million to them and end their suffering, 16 years after the High Court ruled in their favour and ordered the payment. The call came over the weekend as 40 members of a committee which represents the retirees met at the Arima Town Hall to discuss the way forward.

Newly elected chairman of the committee Edgar Carter said 134 municipal police officers filed action against the state in 2003 seeking compensation for outstanding issues relating to the officers' terms of employment.

Former High Court judge Amrika Tiwary-Reddy ruled in favour of the officers and ordered the State to pay $85 million. The state has appealed this ruling.

Carter told Newsday on Saturday, “What would have happened to cause this meeting today is the state reneging on making an interim payment.” He said that the state state promised an interim payment of $23.4 million to the officers even as the matter is still pending before the courts. He added that former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj is representing the interests of the retirees.

A letter sent to the municipal police officers from the Office of the Chief State Solicitor, in the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs - a copy of which was sent to Newsday - stated, “The Honorable Attorney General has approved an interim payment in the sum of 23,450,000.00 for the 134 respondents pending the determination of the appeal.”

The letter further stated, “We propose that discussions be held between attorneys for the respondents and attorneys for the appellant as to how that sum is to be distributed among the respective respondents.” The letter also noted that once an agreement was reached upon, the payment would be subject to the approval of the Minister of Finance.

“The AG is saying that he is not willing to pay individual cheques and we are saying to pay the money to Mr Maharaj and he will distribute it amongst the applicants. They would have made an offer, now they are reneging on the payment. They want to put the money in an escrow account until the appeal is completed and we are saying 'no', we want our money now.”