VICE-PRESIDENT, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo and his legal team is preparing an application to have a judgement which was granted without the knowledge of Jagdeo and his Attorneys-at-Law, and in their absence, set aside.

The default judgment stemmed from libel proceedings filed on January 9, 2020, by former Minister of Housing, Annettee Ferguson, who served under the A Partnership for National Unity Plus Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) administration.

The proceedings resulted from statements made by Jagdeo alleging that Ferguson had acquired significant wealth in only two years of being the housing minister, and used her public office to acquire several plots of lands at Eccles, East Bank Demerara on which she was constructing a mansion, which was published in the Guyana Times Newspapers.

Marshals of the High Court, on Tuesday, served upon the Office of Vice President, Bharrat Jagdeo, an Order of Court which states that Default Judgement was granted on March 11, 2021, against him in the sum of $20,000,000 along with costs in the sum of $75,000.

When the proceedings were filed, Jagdeo was represented by the current Attorney- General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, S.C, who appeared at the hearings for injunctions which were also applied for in proceedings, filed the required affidavits, and made legal submissions.

Subsequently on February 25, 2020, the court dismissed the applications filed for injunctions after considering the affidavits and hearing the legal submissions made. Jagdeo pleaded the defence of justification and fair comment in his affidavits.

At or about February 24, 2020, a defence on behalf of Jagdeo became due under the Rules of Court; however, that defence, though prepared was inadvertently never filed.

The non-filing of the defence on behalf of Jagdeo was consequent to a series of exceptional circumstances which resulted in the Jagdeo and his legal team being unreservedly occupied, and caused the non-filing to not be detected by them.

The defence was due to be filed a mere week prior to the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections; Jagdeo and Nandlall had both been immersed with responsibilities pertaining to the elections.

Jagdeo was at the time the General Secretary of the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) and Leader of the List of Candidates for the PPP/C, while Nandlall was an Executive Member of the PPP/C, Legal Adviser to the PPP/C, a Candidate on the List, as well as the party’s Assistant Chief Elections Scrutineer.

They both had multiple responsibilities in relation to and in connection with the impending elections, including meeting with the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), meeting with international observer teams, planning and preparing for election day as well as campaigning across the country.

Further the fiasco that accompanied the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections, which included a series of unforeseen events, a string of lawsuits pertaining to the elections and a national recount.

And the detection of the first case of the COVID-19 virus in Guyana on March 11, 2020, which led to drastic measures being employed to stem the spread of the virus, including the closure of the operations of the Court’s Registries and lawyers’ chambers.

“It is interesting to note, that the default judgement was obtained over one year after the defence became due and Mr. Jagdeo, nor his lawyers were in any manner notified, whatsoever, so that their default could have been remedied,” a press release from Jagdeo’s legal team stated.

“Significantly, it appears as though damages were assessed, an examination of the court’s record does not indicate that there was any hearing where these damages were assessed,” it added.

It was noted that Jagdeo and his lawyers, even without the filing of the defence, ought to have been notified of such a hearing to be able to interrogate, the evidence presented to the court, which was not done.

Section 12.03 of the Supreme Court of Guyana, Civil Procedure Rules 2016 provides that the Court may, on its own initiative or upon application, make an order setting aside or varying a Default Judgement.

Up to press time an application to set aside default judgment was being prepared by the Jagdeo’s legal team and it was noted that the Vice-President has every intention of defending the proceedings.