Jensen La Vende
Senior Reporter
jensen.lavende@guardian.co.tt
Former housing minister and current Oropouche MP Dr Roodal Moonilal was granted a 28-day extension on Wednesday to file his defence in his matter, where the Estate Management and Business Development Company Ltd (EMBD) has sued him and six others.
Moonilal, through his attorneys, Anand Ramlogan, SC, Michael Rooplal and Ganesh Saroop, submitted that pending the outcome of a Privy Council matter where he and his co-accused are seeking to overthrow an Appeal Court decision, it will be prudent to set aside his defence until then.
The attorneys argued that should the Privy Council hear the appeal and rule in favour of Moonilal and his co-accused, then the EMBD may need to change the particulars of its case, creating a ripple effect where the defendants will also have to amend their defences.
To save judicial time, the lawyers asked for time allowing for the Privy Council to make a determination before the defence is submitted.
In February, a group of contractors filed an application for conditional leave to appeal to the Privy Council, after failing to have a multi-million-dollar cartel case brought against them by the EMBD struck out.
After initially being sued for outstanding payments, the EMBD filed a counter-suit against Moonilal, former EMBD CEO Gary Parmassar, former divisional manager Madhoo Balroop, and engineer Andrew Walker, as well as contractors Fides, LCB Contractors Limited and Namalco Construction Services Limited.
The counter-suit alleged that the parties agreed to facilitate the contractors receiving preliminary payments for the work which was allegedly overpriced and substandard, and utilised a loan, meant to pay for other legitimate contracts, to make interim payments to the contractors.
Through the lawsuit, the EMBD is seeking a series of declarations against the parties, including one on the illegality of the contracts.