Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
The Community-based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme Company (CEPEP) has claimed that its former board was deceived into controversially renewing the contracts of over 300 contractors days before the general election on April 28. The company said the renewals were based on a fraudulent misrepresentation that the action was approved by the then-Cabinet.
The State company’s legal team, led by Senior Counsel Anand Ramlogan of Freedom Law Chambers, made the major accusation on Monday in an application to strike out a lawsuit brought by the People’s National Movement (PNM) on behalf of Laventille-based general contracting company Eastman Enterprise Limited.
The application is expected to be raised on Friday when High Court Judge Margaret Mohammed considers a separate injunction application from the Opposition PNM to stay the recent decision of the current United National Congress (UNC) Government to terminate the contracts and block the possible appointment of replacement contractors.
In the striking-out application, CEPEP’s lawyer Jared Jagroo claimed that the discrepancy over Cabinet approval was discovered while his client was seeking to respond to Eastman’s case, which was filed last week after another case from another affected contractor was withdrawn.
Attached to the application were affidavits from CEPEP’s chief executive officer Keith Eddy, its head of legal/corporate secretary Nicole Gopaulsingh, and Neela Ram-Atwaroo, the acting permanent secretary in the Ministry of Public Utilities.
In his affidavit, Eddy claimed that in March, former CEPEP chairman Joel Edwards told him Cabinet had approved extending the contracts—originally set to expire in 2026—until 2029.
He claimed that based on Edwards’ representation, a ratification note was prepared and sent via email to the board members for “round-robin” approval, which they subsequently granted.
Eddy claimed that while he had concerns over the directive, he believed that it was approved by the Cabinet led by former prime minister Stuart Young.
“I consider that CEPEP was duty-bound to implement the decision of the Cabinet because it reflected the Government’s policy and was therefore the express will of the shareholder,” he said.
Gopaulsingh confirmed Eddy’s claims over the renewals in her affidavit.
Ram-Atwaroo, whose ministry replaced the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government as CEPEP’s line ministry with the change of government, details the steps she took to verify whether there was, in fact, Cabinet approval.
“Despite thorough and diligent searches, the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government was unable to find any record of such a Cabinet Note,” she said.
She also stated that she sought further clarification from the Secretary of Cabinet, who confirmed that there was no Cabinet note or minute in which the renewals were approved.
Stating that the lack of documentation showed that there was no Cabinet approval, Ram-Atwaroo said, “This is important because Cabinet would have needed to approve these extensions, as the extensions would necessitate allocation of funding for the next four years out of the yearly budget for these contractors.”
She also stated that the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Finance had confirmed to her that the Cabinet approval was required for the extensions.
Jagroo stated that the company would be reporting what it uncovered to the Fraud Squad and the Anti-Corruption Bureau of the T&T Police Service to determine whether such could result in charges for fraud and misconduct in public office.
“The CEPEP Board was clearly labouring under a serious misapprehension as a result of this fraudulent misrepresentation and extended the contracts on the false premise that it was implementing and executing a Cabinet decision,” Jagroo said.
“In the premises, the court has no jurisdiction or should not exercise any jurisdiction which it may have in this matter,” he added.
Guardian Media contacted Edwards to respond to Eddy and Gopaulsingh’s claims over his alleged assurance of Cabinet approval.
Edwards declined to comment on whether he gave the assurance or whether former Rural Development and Local Government minister and current Opposition Senator Faris Al-Rawi had indicated such to him.
“I would not respond because I have been advised not to speak on this matter since it is a matter before the courts,” Edwards said.
Al-Rawi also refused to comment on the issue when contacted yesterday.
In addition to the approval issue, Jagroo also stated that Eastman’s case should be rejected by the court without a trial, as its contract with CEPEP contained a clause directing the parties to engage in mediation and arbitration to resolve disputes between them, such as the termination.
“As a precondition to bringing this claim, the parties have agreed to first exercise and/or exhaust these two alternative dispute resolution mechanisms before a viable and justiciable claim could be brought in the High Court,” Jagroo said.
“It would be inappropriate and improper for the court to allow the claimant to breach and/or bypass the mandatory alternative dispute resolution mechanisms they agreed to and entertain this claim.”
In the substantive case, Eastman is contending that CEPEP acted unlawfully in terminating the contracts based on a directive from the current Cabinet led by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
It claims that CEPEP was required to immediately pay it for one month’s service as it sought to terminate, based on Clause 15 of the contract, without giving notice.
The clause allows CEPEP to terminate by giving 30 days’ notice or making a payment in lieu of notice if the company fails to meet its contractual obligations or performance assessments conducted by CEPEP officials.
It alleged that while it was promised that the payment would be processed and dispensed when CEPEP notified the company of the termination, the payment should have been made together with the termination letter.
It is also contending that the clause is unfair and in breach of the Unfair Contract Terms Act 1985, as it gave CEPEP too wide a discretion to terminate.
Eastman is being represented by Larry Lalla, SC, Kareem Marcelle, and St Clair O’Neil.