— Sobers says Floyd Doris refuses to collect his money

LESLIE Sobers, the attorney representing Minister of State Joseph Harmon in the case brought against him at the Legal Practitioners Committee, said UK-based Guyanese Floyd Doris has shown no interest in collecting the $600,000 owed to him although the money has been sitting in an account for more than a year.

Doris has filed a complaint to the Legal Practitioners Committee against Minister Harmon over an alleged failure to reimburse more than $500,000 owed to him but Sobers, in a recent interview with Guyana Chronicle, said the allegation is exactly what it is – an allegation and is without merit.

In putting the issue into perspective, Sobers explained that Harmon, in his capacity as an attorney was retained by Doris sometime in 2008 to facilitate the purchasing of a Hadfield Street property.

At the time, Collette Britton-Harry was reportedly identified by Doris as his power of attorney. During the initial stage of the sale, financial transactions were conducted among the trio to facilitate the sale of the property. However, the decision to purchase the property was called off by Doris following issues that had arisen.

According to Sobers, the money that Minister Harmon collected from the power of attorney was returned to her with the intention of it being reimbursed to Doris. However, only a portion of the funds was returned and Doris, in turn filed a complaint against Minister Harmon to the Legal Practitioners Committee, alleging that he failed to reimburse the more than $500,000.

Sobers said subsequently he was approached by Britton-Harry for assistance and has been offering same.
According to him, during the initial stage of the issue, he wrote a cheque of $100,000 to Doris’ new attorney Ronald Burch-Smith but that was rejected on the basis that Doris said he will not accept the money in parts.

He said for more than a year ago he wrote another cheque, on behalf of Britton-Harry, this time to the tune of G$600,000 but the cheque was also returned although it was the full and final amount.

According to Sobers, he was informed by Burch-Smith that he did not receive any instruction from Doris to collect the money. Sobers said since then he has not heard from Doris or his attorney on the matter.
The money, Sobers said, is sitting in a bank account.“I can write the cheque tomorrow,” the attorney said, while noting that he is awaiting word from Doris or his attorney.