A $90M lawsuit filed against the Bank of Guyana and its Governor, Dr. Gobind Ganga over an alleged failure to investigate a multimillion-dollar deposit into an account held by the former Minister of Communities Ronald Bulkan and his brother, Rustum Bulkan, was dismissed by High Court Judge Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.
In filing the lawsuit last December, the then Government Minister and his brother contended that the Governor failed to investigation a deposit of $82.06M on June 16, 2011 into an account held by Precision Woodworking Limited (PWL) at Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited.
Today, the High Court judge dismissed the application on five primary grounds – the lawsuit ought to have been brought by the company and not its shareholders; the action is statute barred; the Governor was improperly sued in his personal capacity and the Statement of Claim amounts to an abuse of the process.
In justifying her decision, the High Court judge cited the case of Salomon vs Salomon & Co Ltd [1897] in which it was established that it is trite that a company has a separate legal personality from its directors and shareholders.
“Individual shareholders have no cause of action in law for any wrongs committed on the corporation. If an action is to be brought in that respect it must be brought by the corporation itself,” the High Court Judge said as she further referenced to case Foss vs. Harbottle (1843).
Further, Justice Sewnarine-Beharry noted that the lawsuit was not filed within the statutory timeframe. It was explained that an action for recovery of damages must be brought within three years after the cause of action arises. “Assuming that the cause of action arose from (1) June 16, 2011, the date of the alleged deposit, (2) March 13, 2013 when the matter was first raised by letter, (3)July 15, 2014, the request for prosecution, or (4) March 22, 2016 by letter intimating to the Respondents that there was no evidence to prosecute RBL, each fell outside the limitation period, the action having been filed on December 23, 2019,” the judge reasoned.
She also dismissed the contention by the Bulkans that a further request by letter dated March 2018 could bring a fresh cause of action. Such, the High Court Judge said, is without merit as Section 10 of the Limitation Act applies to liquidate claims.
Cost was awarded in favour of the Governor and the Bank of Guyana at a sum of $250,000 and is to be paid by the Bulkans. Further $75,000 is to be paid by the Attorneys-at-Law due to the prolixity of the pleadings. All costs are to be paid no later than October 30, 2020.
