COME November 11, Acting Chief Justice Roxane George, S.C., will entertain oral arguments in the matter filed by Ramps Logistics Guyana challenging the denial of its application for a local content certificate.

A Case Management Conference (CMC) was held on Thursday, at the Demerara High Court.

The logistics company which was incorporated in 2013 and is parented by Ramps Logistics Limited out of Trinidad and Tobago, through Senior Counsel Edward Luckhoo, is seeking several orders to force the Local Content Secretariat (LCS) to issue the document.

The respondents in the case are the Minister of Natural Resources, the Attorney General, the LCS and its director.

During Thursday’s Zoom hearing, the Chief Justice laid out timelines for the parties to file their written submissions. The matter was then adjourned until November 11, 2022.

The logistics company had made a request to be part of Guyana’s Local Content Register.

However, in June, the LCS, after reviewing the company’s application, determined that the information submitted was insufficient for a proper compliance evaluation to be done by the Secretariat in accordance with the requirements of the Act.

The company is seeking a declaration that it has satisfied the statutory requirements and/or pre-conditions necessary for the grant of and/or issuance of the certificate.

It is also seeking another declaration that “as a Guyanese Company” it is “entitled” to be issued with a Certificate of Registration and to be entered into the Local Content Register.

The company stated that the Minster and Local Content Secretariat, on June 8, 2022, unlawfully refused to grant it the certificate and misconducted themselves.

Against this backdrop, the logistics company is asking the court to grant an order compelling the Minster and the LSC to issue the certificate or to reconsider their application.

It was reported earlier this year that some 51 per cent of the local company was sold to Trinidadian businessman, Deepak Lall, who Ramps had said, has Guyanese parentage.

The sale of majority shares of the local logistics company came just after Guyana’s Parliament enacted its updated local content rules which are set to protect the interest of Guyanese and Guyanese companies in the growing local oil and gas sector.

Shaun Rampersad during a recent press conference at the local subsidiary’s New Market Street, Georgetown headquarters, said he was of the view that the company complied with specifics of the local content legislation. He had said, too, that the company felt that it went about the process in the right way.

Following the passing of the local content law, Ramps reportedly sold 51 per cent of the company’s shares to Lall who, Rampersad said, paid GY$210 million.

The goal, Rampersad had noted, was to include someone from the Guyanese diaspora. Lall reportedly received his Guyanese passport in 2021.

Recently, the Guyana Revenue Authority (GRA) instituted 10 charges against Ramps in accordance with the provisions of the Customs Act, Chapter 82:01, following an investigation by its Law Enforcement and Investigations Division.

That case is expected to be called at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court today