The Attorney General’s Chambers is in the process of moving to recover costs awarded in litigation lost by the main Parliamentary Opposition, Attorney General Anil Nandlall, SC said on Monday.
Speaking with reporters at the Demerara High Court where a Judge ordered Opposition Chief Whip, Christopher Jones and Trade Unionist Norris Witter to each pay $1,250,000 in costs after dismissing their case, Nandlall noted that this and other costs orders will be enforced.
The $1.2M has to be paid on or before July 19.
“I now have a pile of them [costs orders] because it is a series of cases that have been filed by the Opposition, all [they have] lost,” he said while highlighting that the Opposition has unpaid costs orders dating back to its 2020 election-related cases, at the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ).
“I have already asked my staff to accumulate the matters and let us begin the enforcement process of getting these monies. When you file these frivolous, vexatious matters and the court expresses its displeasure in order for costs, they must be paid,” he emphasised.
When asked to explain the enforcement process, he said that while there are many ways to enforce a court judgement, his Chambers will be exploring three options.
Firstly, Nandlall said that the court can seize the personal assets, both movable and immovable, of the losing party. Another option, he said, is that “you can go to imprison them if you establish that they have the means to pay and they are deliberating not paying.”
According to him, he believes the fact that they are deliberating not paying can be established because Opposition Members of Parliament are salaried employees.
The third option, he disclosed, is going to their employers to garnish wages/salaries due to them monthly, or depending on their pay frequency. Nandlall assured that these processes will be examined and that he will “move swiftly” to recover the owed monies.
In March, Nandlall wrote to eight Opposition Parliamentarians, demanding that they settle the costs awarded by the court after their case to overturn their suspension was dismissed.
In those legal proceedings filed against Nandlall, House Speaker Manzoor Nadir, and Clerk of the National Assembly, Sherlock Isaacs, the MPs were each ordered to pay costs to the tune of $350,000 to each of the three defendants on or before February 6, 2023.
These monies are still outstanding, and as such, Nandlall has written letters of demand to them.
The MPs are: Christopher Jones, Ganesh Mahipaul, Sherod Duncan, Natasha Singh-Lewis, Annette Ferguson, Vinceroy Jordan, Tabitha Sarabo-Halley, and Maureen Philadelphia.
In relation to the series of cases filed by the then APNU/AFC Opposition to block the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) from declaring the PPP/C the winner of the March 2020 election which was tossed out by the CCJ, Nandlall had estimated costs being several million of dollars.
He had explained that costs to be taxed fit for two counsel will require an elaborate bill of costs to be submitted to the court which would include all of the expenses associated with the two appeals, including preparation of written submissions, preparation of pleadings, preparation for oral argument, appearances in the court, stationery, photocopying, and filing fees.
He had estimated the photocopying cost for one case to be $500,000. According to him, the charge rate for one counsel runs into several hundred US dollars per hour. In short, he had said that several millions of dollars would have to be paid in costs.
