GMLvictory in High Court INJUNCTION TO BLOCK SIS STORIES THROWN OUT Saturday, March 22, 2014 By Renuka Singh United National Congress financier and founder of Super Industrial Services (SIS) Krishna Lalla failed in a bid to stop further media investigations into SIS and several multi-million-dollar contracts that company has received. This action stemmed from a Sunday Guardian article last week which labelled Lalla a “billion-dollar man” after SIS won the controversial contract for the Beetham wastewater recycling facility. Lalla filed a broad injunction against the T&T Guardian on Wednesday, seeking the High Court’s protection against further probing articles on SIS. Lalla also sought to stop references that he was still tied to the company he founded, saying he had sold his shares in the company to his son and was retained as a “consultant.” Senior Counsel Douglas Mendes and attorney Michael Quamina argued on behalf of the T&T Guardian that there was no need for an injunction, as the story contained no defamatory statements. Justice Carol Gobin, presiding at the Hall of Justice, in Port-of-Spain heard submissions on Thursday and yesterday found, after examining the information before her, there was no justification for an injunction. She said Lalla’s lawyer, Neal Bisnath, had failed to provide any evidence of malicious intent or malicious falsehoods in the story. Gobin also warned that the matter was of a “delicate nature” and advised caution in matters that might infringe the freedom of the press. She also noted that Bisnath’s failure to provide “significant” documents—evidence of the transfer of funds from Lalla to his son to prove he is no longer the owner—affected the outcome. She said there was no proof that Lalla kept an “arm’s distance” from the company’s operations. “At the end of the day, I am not persuaded,” she said. Gobin’s determination was made on the basis of her own interpretation of the Sunday Guardian story, as well as submissions and interpretations from both sides. During Thursday’s submissions, when Mendes said the paper would no longer refer to Lalla as the owner of SIS, Bisnath dismissed that as a “red herring” offer by the paper but was quickly shut down by Gobin. “You have no evidence of that,” she said. Later in those same proceedings, Bisnath said once Lalla was no longer referred to as the owner of SIS, he “would be happy” but Gobin said the issue was not whether he was happy or not. “It is what is in the law,” she said. Bisnath cited the article’s reference to public statements on the Beetham project made by Opposition leader Dr Keith Rowley as “malicious” and done with an intent to hurt his client, but Gobin did not agree. She too noted that the issue was one of public interest. Rowley has claimed that the award of the billion dollar contract to a consortium led by SIS was improper prompting the Energy Minister Kevin Ramnarine to investigate the matter. Ramnarine later defended the award of the contract saying it was above board. Lalla, in his affidavit, contested that he had only become a person of public interest after the Tobago House of Assembly election was announced, that he had been linked to SIS in the public mind and had “grown weary of the constant attacks.” He also said that it was the media that “imputed” that he was a government financier and was “involved in unethical conduct.” guardian.co.tt/news/2014-03-22/injunction-block-sis-stories-thrown-out
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 00:57:01 +0000
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