Six weeks after the Siparia Regional Corporation (SRC) was levied upon for failing to pay compensation to an injured worker, the corporation has found all the money—$840,000—to settle the matter.
As a result, the five trucks which were seized from the corporation in March were returned to the corporation yesterday.
Chairman Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh said the money was paid from the corporation’s unspent balances which amounted to $4.2 million. Ramdharsingh said the injured worker, Neru Joseph, was not paid through the insurance company because of an administrative error and the corporation did not have the funds to pay the compensation.
However, he said they had tried to negotiate a part payment of $100,000 and a monthly instalment but the offer was turned down by Joseph’s lawyers.
“The SRC does not raise its own funds but is dependent on releases from Central Government. Hence, we could not make a payment without releases, of which in December, there were none. Additionally, the amount superseded in enormous terms the budgetary allocation for legal fees which usually hovers in and around $50,000. As a result, we wrote the Ministry asking for advice and guidance and they asked that we find the money within the corporation. This was an obvious impossibility. It is against this backdrop that the levy took place,” he said.
He said the corporation will also be moving to retrieve the money from the insurance company, even if they have to take legal action.
In 2011, Joseph suffered spinal injuries after being struck with a plank while working on a drainage project in Santa Flora and was left disabled.
Joseph filed a lawsuit in the High Court in June 2015, but the corporation did not file a defence and judgment was ordered against the corporation by default.