Company goes after contractor over $7m, attorney's account frozen

A HIGH COURT judge has frozen the Scotiabank account of attorney Varun Debideen.

Justice Frank Seepersad granted the freezing injunction late on Wednesday.

Debideen also cannot remove from TT, dispose of, or diminish the value of his assets up to the value of $6 million.

Advanced Hose and Marketing Ltd sought the injunction, claiming it transferred $7 million to a contractor who fraudulently misappropriated and converted the money for his own use and benefit.

Contacted late on Wednesday, Debideen denied any wrongdoing. He said he had never had direct dealings with either the company or the contractor.

"I had absolutely nothing to do with them," he said.

He said one of the named defendants had previously retained him to represent him in separate legal proceedings.

He said the money the "lender" paid him represented a loan to his client to repay the multi-million-dollar judgment debt against him (the client.)

"I was following the instructions of my client under the Legal Profession Act," he said.

Debideen says he intends to challenge the freezing order.

According to the application, Advanced Hose alleged the contractor deposited some, or all, of the funds into RBC Royal Bank TT accounts, and the money was then allegedly transferred to the attorney and Scotiabank. The electronic transaction allegedly took place on July 19.

The injunction application named Cordell Philbert – who received the $7 million to provide services in the potential construction project – RBC Royal Bank TT, Brad Persad, Joash Ramjattan, Mitoonlal Persad, Debideen, Za Limity Engineering Consultancy and Scotiabank TT as the eight defendants.

Advanced Hose and Marketing is now seeking to recover its $7 million. The company sought a previous order for disclosure of banking information, which allegedly showed Philbert transferred $6 million to Debideen’s Scotiabank account and additional sums, of $182,000, $20,000, $122,650, $100,000, $100,000 and $100,000, to Ramjattan.

The application alleged: “The first, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh 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.”

The third, fourth and fifth respondents, the application said, are Philbert’s business associates.

“The applicant engaged the first respondent in a prospective construction project which has since been cancelled. The transferred sum was in consideration of performance of construction services which was yet to commence. However, the said project and contractual relations between the first respondent has since broken down and no services have been rendered by the first respondent. The applicant, therefore, seeks restitution of the transferred sum.”

The application acknowledged that Scotiabank had been “mixed up” in the alleged fraud, but said the orders sought were necessary to investigate and pursue those ultimately responsible for Advanced Hose’s losses and assist in recovering the misappropriated sums.

In his order, Seepersad said if the court later finds the freezing injunction caused loss to Debideen and Scotiabank, they will have to be compensated for their losses.

Advance Hose was given until 4 pm on Thursday to serve the respondents with the judge’s orders.

The company was also put on notice it will have to pay the reasonable costs of anyone, other than the eight, who holds any of the respondents' assets and compensate them for any loss they may incur.

Seepersad also ordered that Advanced Hose cannot use any of the information obtained as a result of his order for any civil or criminal proceedings not related to the claim without the court’s permission.

The court’s order only allows Debideen to remove any unencumbered assets outside the $6 million figure.

He also has to inform Advanced Hose’s attorneys of all his assets in TT exceeding $1 million, whether in his name or jointly owned, giving the value, location and details.

If the information is likely to incriminate him, he may be entitled to refuse to provide it. The court’s order recommended he should get legal advice before refusing to give the information.

“Wrongful refusal may amount to a contempt of court and may render the sixth respondent liable to be imprisoned, fined or have his assets seized.”

Debideen also has to swear and serve an affidavit setting out his assets seven days after he is served with the order.

The judge also said the order does not prohibit the attorney from spending $10,000 a week towards his ordinary living expenses and a reasonable sum on legal advice and representation. However, before he spends the money, he must tell Advanced Hose’s attorneys where the money would be coming from.

He also has the option to agree with Advanced Hose’s attorneys on an increase on spending limits.

The freezing order will cease to have effect if the attorney pays into court, as security, $6 million or security for the same sum by another method.

The parties mentioned in the order can also apply for it to be varied or discharged.

“It is a contempt of court for any person notified of this order knowingly to assist in or permit a breach of this order. Any person doing so may be imprisoned, fined or have their assets seized,” the order warns.

Advanced House is represented by attorneys Jagdeo Singh, Leon Kalicharan and Karina Singh.