A&V Oil and Gas has lost its final bid to block State-owned Petrotrin from taking steps to terminate its contract and withhold an $83.9 million payment based on allegations of inflated bills.
On Monday, the United Kingdom-based Privy Council denied the company permission to appeal the decisions of two local courts to dismiss its application for an injunction against Petrotrin. The court ruled that the company had failed to raise an arguable case with a realistic prospect of success.
As a result of the decision, a temporary injunction granted by the Privy Council almost two weeks ago was automatically discharged. The company was challenging a decision by High Court Judge Avason Quinlan-Williams to dismiss its claim and refuse it an injunction, which would have preserved the legality of the contractual dispute between the parties being arbitrated.
Quinlan-Williams’ decision was then upheld by Appellate Judge Prakash Moosai.
However, the company requested that a full three-member Appeal Court panel reconsider the issue. Earlier this month, the panel comprising of Chief Justice Ivor Archie and Appellate Judges Andre Des Vignes and Charmaine Pemberton approved the two previous decisions.
In her decision, Quinlan-Williams had said that Petrotrin was justified in terminating the contract based on the findings of internal and external audit reports into its relationship with A&V.
She suggested that the company was also not entitled to the injunction as the contract contained a multi-tiered and explicit dispute resolution process which includes negotiation, mitigation and arbitration.
A&V was represented by Peter Knox, QC, Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, SC, Ronnie Bissessar, Vijaya Maharaj and Varin Gopaul-Gosine. Deborah Peake, SC, Ravi Heffes-Doon and Marcelle Ferdinand represented Petrotrin.
MORE INFO
In 2009, A&V was granted a 10-year licence from Petrotrin to operate its onshore oil fields in Catskill, Moruga.
The scandal involving the two companies was first raised in September, last year, by Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who revealed that Petrotrin’s internal audit had shown that A&V inflated its crude oil production figures leading to overpayments.
She also questioned the link between the company’s owner Haniff Nizam Baksh and Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.
Rowley admitted to knowing Baksh and contacting him when the news broke but has denied any wrongdoing.
Baksh and his son-in-law Billy Ramsundar, who is a police corporal, have been charged with assaulting the T&T Guardian’s senior
photographer Kristian De Silva and destroying his camera valued at US$1,600.
The incident related to the criminal charges occurred on September 15, while De Silva was on taking photographs of the company’s headquarters at Nizam Avenue, San Francique.