A retired police constable has threatened to sue the State over its failure to pay his pension and gratuity over one and a half years after he left the T&T Police Service (TTPS).
In a pre-action protocol letter sent to the Office of the Attorney General, yesterday, attorneys representing retired PC Samuel Friday, of Fanny Village, Point Fortin, threatened to file legal proceedings over the inordinate delay.
According to the document, obtained by Guardian Media, Friday’s lawyer Ted Roopnarine claimed that his client retired in December 2019 after serving as a police officer for 36 years.
In October, last year, RBC Royal Bank threatened to sell Friday’s home if he and his wife failed to clear the $147,967 balance on their mortgage plus an additional 9.25 per cent in interest over the period that they continued to fail to service the loan.
Friday’s lawyers wrote to the TTPS’s Legal Unit, which claimed that Friday’s retirement benefits were engaging the attention of an internal audit team and were dependent on the TTPS’s financial resources.
The unit then informed Friday that his query was being delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing national curfew to address it.
Through the proposed lawsuit, Friday is seeking an order compelling the payment of his pension and gratuity as well as indemnity for the arrears and interest on his mortgage.
The AG’s Office was given a week in which to respond to Friday’s legal threat and indicate its position.
“We ask that you let us have your clear position at this stage with respect to liability,” Roopnarine said.
Friday is also being represented by Prakash Ramadhar.