OWING $1.2 million on a High Court judgment since April last year, the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association (TTFA) yesterday agreed before a judge to pay the monies, but in installments.
In April last year, Justice Frank Seepersad delivered a written judgment in a lawsuit filed by a company known as Graphix Advantage Limited (GAL), against the TT FA, the Local Organising Committee South (LOC) Africa 2010 Limited.
The judge ordered the TT FA and the LOC to pay the monies due and owing for work done by GAL in the Under 17 Women’s 2010 World Cup. Former Government Minister and adviser to the then- TT FF (TT Football Federation) Jack Warner, was also sued but the judge did not find him personally liable to pay the monies. Warner had given evidence in the trial before Justice Seepersad. When the monies were not paid up until last month, Senior Counsel Hendrickson Suenath representing GAL, filed a Garnishee application in the High Court, to freeze the bank accounts of the TT FA held at First Citizens in Port of Spain. There was a hearing and attorneys for the bank indicated that they would comply with whatever order the court made. The judge urged the attorneys, as well as those representing the TT FF, to settle the matter before the court moves to freeze the latter’s bank accounts.
Justice Seepersad had held that the TT FA was liable to pay the monies for advertising goods and services which GAL had provided for the staging of the World Cup.
Though Warner was chairman of the LOC 2010 South Africa Limited, the judge ruled that he was not personally liable to pay the monies.
Since Justice Seepersad’s judgment on April 30 2015, the monies have not been paid to GAL and as a result, the Garnishee application was filed.
Yesterday, the matter came up for hearing before Justice Seepersad and attorney Anand Misir appeared for the TT FA. Suenath told the judge that a consent order had been entered between the parties and it was agreed that the defendants would pay GAL $262,413.19 on or before December 31. The order further stated that this is to be followed with a payment of $200,000 for five consecutive months commencing from January 21 2017.
And, it was further ordered by consent, that they are to pay $145,333.58 which represents interest and that is to be paid before February 28 2017.
It further ordered that the final interest on the $1.2 million judgment, must be paid before June 2017, and that is expected to amount to $239,858.48.
There was no order as to the legal cost for yesterday’s hearing of the Garnishee application, but if there is to be any default on the payment, the Consent order stated, then the entire sum would become due and owing plus interest.