ATTORNEY General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Basil Williams is calling for his predecessor, Anil Nandlall, to account for $1.2B that was approved by Cabinet under the Donald Ramotar Administration for payment ordered by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in favour of Surinamese company Rudisa Beverage Company. “If Cabinet passed a decision to pay it, why they didn’t pay it?” Williams asked yesterday while in an interview with this publication. “In fact,” he continued, “I have a cabinet memo approving the payment of the sum.”
In his address to the National Assembly on Friday regarding the non-payment of monies ordered by the Court, Williams said, “the previous Government has left this new Government burdened by horrendous debt.” The AG’s fear is that the debt would have rolled over from the previous Government as a sanction on the new Administration.
The AG recalled on his recent visit to the CCJ in Trinidad, “I was informed that the previous Government, represented by the former Attorney General had occasioned a judgement in the matter of Rudisa Beverage Company’s case of $1.2B…and that judgement has not been paid by the previous Government.”
On another case, regarding Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL), Williams further disclosed to the House, in the absence of the Opposition People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), a sum of $57M owed to the company, which was unpaid by the former Administration.
In a statement released to the media yesterday, Nandlall sought to explain the judgement in relation to the Rudisa case, saying “it boggles the mind that the Attorney General made this ‘discovery’ by chance when I repeatedly, and ad nauseum, made this information public, both when the judgement was awarded, as well as on numerable times thereafter.”
To Nandlall’s credit, the matter was exhausted in the media when the rulings first surfaced in mid-2014. “The truth is,” Nandlall’s statement read, “Guyana has failed to amend its laws to bring them in conformity with the revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, in terms of ensuring that certain goods of CARICOM origin are not levied with tax and customs duties when imported into Guyana.”
He said the case was adjourned by the CCJ to facilitate Guyana’s change to the “offensive provisions” which sought to impose a discriminatory environmental tax on imported beverages from CARICOM countries. Nandlall indicated the beverage company indicated a willingness to withdraw the case if Guyana had changed its provisions.
Nandlall said the then Finance Minister, Dr. Ashni Singh, “tabled the necessary amendments to the Customs Act in the National Assembly on two occasions. On both occasions, the joint Opposition, which held a majority in the National Assembly, voted against the amendments.”
Nandlall noted the 2014 objection of “Messrs Basil Williams, Khemraj Ramjattan and Carl Greenidge” to the proposed amendments, he however did not say what those objections were.
Attorney General Basil Williams yesterday, in an invited comment from this publication, responded to Nandlall’s assertions calling them “erroneous” and further stated that the objections to the amendments made by himself, Ramjattan, and Greenidge, had nothing to do with the environmental tax law. He said the PPP/C Government, of which Nandlall served as Attorney General, should have paid the money ordered by the court.
Nandlall maintained, however, “The reality is that Guyana remains in violation of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas [RTC] and many more lawsuits can be filed. Therefore, rather than engage in political ramblings on this issue, it would be prudent if the AG could ensure Guyana complies with its Treaty obligations.”
When asked whether the David Granger Administration would consider the appeal of the laws, Williams said the issue is a matter for the consideration of Cabinet.
In a May 2014 media release from the CCJ, the Court ruling said, “A breach of the RTC cannot be excused on the basis that the Government was unable to obtain from the National Assembly necessary amendments to domestic legislation.”
The release continued: “The CCJ held the Claimants [Rudisa] were entitled to a declaration that the legislation was inconsistent with the RTC. The Claimants were also entitled to be repaid the environmental taxes collected from them up to 2013 amounting to US$6,047,244.47.”
Additionally, the Court had ordered Guyana to become compliant with the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas, which outlines the responsibilities of member countries in CARICOM, and to file a report in late 2014 on compliance with such orders. The Chronicle is unaware whether such a report was filed.
As it relates to the court’s order for payments to Trinidad Cement Limited (TCL), Nandlall challenged that such an award was not made except, “the only monetary order made in that matter relates to costs, and it is nothing close to $57M.”

By Derwayne Wills