Businessman and sex therapist Giriraj “Dr Raj” Ramnanan has won his lawsuit against the Comptroller of the Customs and Excise Division over the seizure of a shipment of adult sex toys in 2017.
Delivering an oral judgement at the Hall of Justice in Port-of-Spain, on Friday, High Court Judge Ricky Rahim ruled that division acted unlawfully by failing to institute forfeiture proceedings over the items, within a reasonable time after they were seized in August 2017.
Ramnanan’s case dealt with the division’s delay in instituting forfeiture proceedings after the seizures and not the division’s decision to seize the items on the basis that they were considered obscene or indecent, under Section 45 (l) of the Customs Act.
The issue of the classification of similar items is being considered by another judge in a separate case brought by an E-commerce consultant, whose sex doll was seized in December, last year.
As the division filed the forfeiture proceedings in June after the trial of the case before Rahim was completed, it means that Ramnanan will have to challenge the seizure and the attempt by the division to dispose of the items, in that matter.
“It is declared that the said decision is made in breach of natural justice and/or the Claimant’s right to the protection of the law in that the said forfeiture proceedings would afford the Claimant an opportunity to be heard in relation to the Defendant’s reasons and/or basis for the seizure of its goods,” Rahim said.
In the lawsuit, Ramnanan was also challenging a similar issue over another shipment he imported in November, that year, but Rahim dismissed that aspect of the claim as he ruled that Ramnanan failed to inform the division of his intention to challenge the seizure within a month of it, as required by the Customs Act.
However, Rahim noted that division had declared that some of the items in the second shipment were not considered to be prohibited and ordered that they should be immediately released by the division.
Although Ramnanan did not get all his goods released in the lawsuit, he did not walk away empty-handed as Rahim ordered that a High Court Master assess damages for him on a later date. The division was also ordered to pay 75 per cent of Ramnanan’s legal costs for bringing the lawsuit.
Before disposing of the case, Rahim granted a request from the division to grant a two-week stay of his judgement.
According to the evidence presented in the case, Ramnanan, the owner of Total Image Limited, purchased and shipped the packages to Trinidad between August and November 2017.
The packages, together valued at US$1,045.27, contained condoms, penis pumps, whips, vibrators and dildos.
Ramnanan and his attorneys met with officials over the shipments and were offered to plead guilty to the illegal importation of the items or face forfeiture. However, no forfeiture proceedings were initially filed and the items were not returned.
While Ramnanan elected to not plead to the charges, he admitted that he had done so with other shipments in the past.
Ramnanan was represented by Jagdeo Singh, Dinesh Rambally, Kiel Taklalsingh and Karina Singh. The division was represented by Gilbert Peterson, SC, and Josefina Baptiste-Mohammed.