Uncertainty surrounds the status of the National Gas Company (NGC)’s injunction freezing the assets of contractor Super Industrial Services (SIS).
Amid speculation earlier this week that the injunction had been removed due to an alleged legal error and later denials, attorneys for both parties met for a hearing at the Port-of-Spain High Court yesterday.
The hearing before Justice Joan Charles was held in camera and the media was not permitted entry. But both sets of attorneys refused to comment on the case as they left court after the seven-hour marathon hearing.
The injunction was granted on December 23 last year after a protracted dispute between the company and State-owned NGC over the US$162,055,318.77 project, which is still incomplete. It prohibited SIS, which was awarded the contract to design and build the facility in March 2014, from removing from the country, or in any way disposing of, dealing with or diminishing the value of any of its assets in T&T. While the injunction froze $180 million of the company’s assets, it does not affect its assets exceeding this value.
The dispute between the parties started last year after delays in the project, which was due to be completed on October 21, 2015. The contract was eventually terminated on November 24 after SIS reportedly informed NGC it was unable to continue with the work “under the current circumstances and current conditions of the contract.”
Days later, Minister in the Office of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs, Stuart Young, disclosed in Parliament that Government was considering all options in seeking to recover costs incurred on the project, which started under the former People’s Partnership government.
In an interview earlier this week, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, SC, who is representing a group of workers from companies connected to SIS which were allegedly incorrectly affected by the asset freeze, claimed the injunction had been struck out based on documents he received from his clients.
But both NGC and Young have denied this. However, after yesterday’s hearing the attorneys for both sides refused to disclose anything on the matter, even with regard to whether the injunction was in force or not.