Company goes after $7m paid to contractor for Guyana project

A CLASSIC case of “financial grooming by a quintessential financial sociopath” was the description of the case by the attorney representing a company seeking to recover $7 million in funds paid to a contractor for a construction project that allegedly did not materialise.

Attorney Jagdeo Singh used the description in an opening statement at the start of the trial of Advance Hose and Marketing Ltd against contractor Cordell Philbert, Joash Ramjattan, and his company ZA Limity Engineering Consultancy.

Singh represents Advance Hose and Justice Frank Seepersad will deliver his ruling on April 2.

Singh admitted the case was “substantially culled” since his client’s claim against several other parties, including attorney Varun Debideen had been discontinued. However, he maintained that the remaining evidence was “unimpeachable.”

“One defendant is saying he was duped by someone and led to believe he would be made a wealthy person in Guyana, the modern city of El Dorado.

Singh said the deal was a “vicious and wicked scene,” but like a “good fisherman” one of the players drowned with his hook.

The attorney also accused one of the defendants of “weaving a tangled web of deceit.

“If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck it is most likely a duck.”

In its substantive case, the company claimed that on July 19, 2023, it transferred the money to Philbert, a contractor from Royal Palm Gardens, Malabar, Arima. The money was purportedly a payment for a prospective construction project it was pursuing in Guyana.

The company claimed that Philbert did not perform his contractual obligations, and it sought to recover the funds it had advanced.

In late October last year, the company’s lawyers obtained a Norwich Pharmacal order from a High Court judge for the RBC Royal Bank (TT) Ltd account held by Philbert that the company transferred the funds.

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.

That company claimed that Philbert’s financial records showed that after receiving the funds, $6 million was transferred to Debideen’s account held with Scotiabank. It further claimed that $624,650 was transferred to Ramjattan’s company.

Seepersad also froze accounts belonging to Debideen and the accounts of the other defendants. Those against Debideen and the others were lifted when Advance Hose’s case against them was withdrawn and compromised by agreement.

Debideen had denied that he was involved in any suspected conspiracy as alleged. He admitted that he represented Ramjattan and pointed to a loan agreement for the money he prepared for Philbert and his client. He claimed that the money Philbert paid to Ramjattan under the agreement was used to pay a portion of a substantial judgment debt Ramjattan owed to a third party and his associated legal fees.

Advance Hose is also represented by Leon Kalicharan, and Karina Singh, while Andrew Ramsubeik represents Ramjattan and his company. Kerra Bazzey represents Philbert.