Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
A High Court Judge is expected to determine a petition to wind up local energy company Mora Oil Ventures Limited over its inability to pay a $2.2 million debt.
In February, Fyzabad-based API Pipeline Construction Company Limited filed an application against the energy company based at Invaders Bay in Port-of-Spain.
API sued Mora for trespassing on a parcel of land owned by it. The case was eventually settled in 2021 with Mora agreeing to pay $2.2 million in compensation on or before April 26, 2022.
Mora also agreed to deduct the compensation from the proceeds of the sale of its 460K Snubbing Unit, a hydraulic rig which formed a part of the lawsuit.
In December 2022, API’s lawyers from Freedom Law Chambers registered the judgment debt against Mora’s assets.
In April, August and December last year, the law firm sent demand letters to Mora requesting that it clears its debt. Mora did not respond.
In an affidavit attached to the petition, API’s director Fawwaaz Hosein claimed the company also contacted Republic Bank Limited, which has a charge over Mora’s rig through a chattel mortgage, and informed it of the judgment debt.
Hosein said the bank stated it was no longer interested in maintaining its security over the equipment.
“I am advised by Senior Counsel and verily believe that there is a real risk that Mora is incapable of paying his debts and liabilities. In these circumstances, I believe it is just and equitable for a winding-up order to be granted as it is just and honest,” Hosein said.
He referred to several other lesser judgment debts against Mora from third parties which also remained unsatisfied.
“I verily believe that the financial woes of the appellant company are of such a magnitude that the risk of injustice lies solely with me,” he said.
When the petition came up for hearing before High Court Judge Nadia Kangaloo on Wednesday, attorneys for Maritime Preservation Limited and Parad Engineering Limited, two companies also owed monies from Mora, appeared.
Justice Kangaloo permitted them to file evidence over their outstanding claims.
She also promised to determine the petition on May 3.
API was represented by Anand Ramlogan, SC, Natasha Bisram, and Vishaal Siewsaran, while Raphael Morton-Gittens represented Mora.
Maritime Preservation was represented by Shiv Sharma and Asif Hosein-Shah, while Christlyn Moore represented Parad.