AN injunction freezing the account of attorney Varun Debideen remains in place until the end of November when a High Court judge will decide if it should be set aside.

Debideen has asked Justice Frank Seepersad to discharge the freezing order he imposed on his account on November 1.

Seepersad has ordered submissions on Debideen's application and said he will rule on November 28.

Advanced Hose and Marketing Ltd sought the injunction, claiming it transferred $7 million to a contractor for a potential construction project.

As it seeks to recover its $7 million from contractor Cordell Philbert, the company first applied 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 another of the eight defendants named in the action.

The freezing injunction application named Philbert - who received the $7 million - RBC Royal Bank TT, Brad Persad, Joash Ramjattan, Mitoonlal Persad, Debideen, Za Limity Engineering Consultancy and Scotiabank TT as the eight defendants.

Scotiabank is Debideen's banker.

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.

After receiving the disclosure of the banking information, Advanced Hose then applied for the injunction to freeze Debideen's account.

The freezing order prevents Debideen from removing, disposing of, or diminishing the value of his assets up to the value of $6 million.

The court's order only allows Debideen to remove any unencumbered assets outside the $6 million figure and also provides him with a $ 10,000-a-week spending allowance for ordinary living expenses and legal advice and representation.

However, on Wednesday, the judge stayed those parts of his order which called on Debideen to give information to 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.

In asking for the variation, Debideen's attorney Tom Richards, KC, said it was 'highly intrusive.'

At Wednesday's hearing, Richards objected to an adjournment but further argued the injunction application had not been properly made.

He described the freezing order as a 'nuclear weapon of an order' against his client. He also said an application had been filed by his client to have the freezing order discharged.

In asking for time to respond to it, Advanced Hose's lead attorney, Jagdeo Singh said his client has been able to 'draw a straight line' showing the funds went from his client's account to Philbert and then to Debideen.

'It calls for some level of explanation,' he said, adding that it was prima facie

Wakanda News Details

Web Portal of the Government of Saint Lucia

You may also like

Literature Facts

Popular Topics

Education Facts

I have a Dream - MLK