Norman Trotz, the proprietor of Toucan Suites at Eccles, East Bank Demerara has filed a constitutional motion seeking $120 million in compensation from the government for the destruction of the complex by security forces during the ambush of a notorious criminal.

Units of the police and army destroyed Trotz's hotel on February 8, 2000 in their attempt to capture Linden London, known as 'Blackie' whom they had cornered there. London was eventually shot dead after some 11 hours.

Trotz's attorney, Andrew Pollard of Hughes, Fields and Stoby, initiated the legal action on Tuesday and the case is to be called in Bail Court on Monday.

A statement issued by Trotz's company, N&R Company Ltd, said that it had recently been informed, by way of a letter from Attorney General, Doodnauth Singh, that the state "despite ... assurances given would not be compensating the company."

Trotz said that the Attorney General's letter was a complete surprise as he had led him to believe that there was no obstacle to compensation. But contacted for a comment Tuesday, Singh said that there was a lot of issues to be sorted out such as whether the police were entitled to act as they did on February 9, whether the police had used excessive force as well as the claim that the fire had been started by 'Blackie'. These were matters, he said, for the court to determine.

The N&R statement described the government's position as "callous, cruel, and even discriminatory, especially in the light of the ready compensation afforded to persons who recently suffered damage to property caused by natural agencies."

The statement said that the security forces had carried out an armed assault on the apartment complex during which "they fired a tremendous quantity of explosives and discharged high-powered firearms into the premises, and finally, set it afire. The results of this was that the building and all its contents were completely destroyed, resulting in losses to the company quantified conservatively as over $120,000,000."

It said that it "naturally expected that it would be fully compensated by the Guyana government for its agents' deliberate destruction" of the property and immediately submitted a claim.

For the past two years the company has been pursuing the claim but despite "several open admissions by the government of sole responsibility for the destruction of the premises, and various assurances that the claim would be settled, the company has been completely unable to obtain compensation", the release added.