JUSTICE Diana Insanally on Monday, handed down her ruling in the case filed by former Guyana High Commissioner to Canada, Harry Narine Nawbatt, against the government ordering that he paid over $24.M for wrongful dismissal.

In 2016, Nawbatt sued the government through his Attorneys-at-Law, Mohabir Anil Nandlall, Manoj Narayan and Rajendra Jaigobin, claiming that the terms of his contractual agreement with the PPP/C administration were breached, and as such, is seeking his salaries, emoluments and other benefits owing under the said contract, Nandlall said in a release.

After a full-fledged trial, and hearing submissions from lawyers for both sides, Justice Insanally ruled, granting judgment to Nawbatt in the sum of: (i) twenty-four million, two hundred and ninety-five thousand, one hundred and four dollars ($24,295,104); (ii) five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) for breach of contract; (iii) interest on the said sums at the rate of six per cent per annum from the date of filing to the date of judgment and thereafter at the rate of four per cent per annum until fully paid; (iv) costs in the sum of $50,000.

These sums of monies would have been outlined in the contract of employment made and entered into on the 9th day of February, 2015, between the Government of Guyana and Nawbatt, Nandlall said. He said Nawbatt was engaged to perform the duties and functions of High Commissioner of the Republic of Guyana to Canada effective from the 10th day of February, 2015, to the 9th day of February, 2016, inclusive at a monthly salary of seven hundred and seventy-three thousand, eight hundred and one dollars ($773,801) subject to certain terms and conditions set out in a schedule attached to the said agreement and which formed part of the said agreement.

“We filed similar cases in 2015/2016 for former Advisor to the Minister of Local Government, Clinton Collymore, Zulfikar Mustapha, former Liaison Officer to the Office of the President for Region Six and Ms. Anna Correia, who was employed by the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs,” Nandlall stated. He said in all these cases, the plaintiffs sued for damages for wrongful dismissal/unlawful termination of their contracts of employment. “Again, after a trial of each of these cases, judgments were awarded to each of them in various sums as compensation along with interest and costs.”

Adding that the attorney general was the defendant in all of these cases, Nandlall said no appeal was filed against any of these decisions. “Yet, the attorney general has consistently refused to honour these judgments although we have made repeated written requests for him to do so.”