Public Service Credit Union
Appeal adjourned for the third time due to absence of counsel
Stabroek News
March 11, 2003
The hearing of a motion filed by the Guyana Public Service Cooperative Credit Union (GPSCCU) seeking to discharge an order made by Justice of Appeal Claudette Singh dismissing its application for an injunction to restrain the Chief Cooperative Development Officer from dismissing and replacing the committee of GPSCCU headed by N. Veecock has been adjourned for the third time.
The hearing was scheduled for February 28 but was postponed to March 21 due to the absence of the legal counsel for the GPSCCU who had not been present on the last two occasions.
The appeal, to be presided over by the Chancellor of the Judiciary, Desiree Bernard, was filed on October 28, 2002 after Justice Claudette Singh dismissed the GPSCCU's application for an injunction.
Justice Winston Moore had on March 25, 2002 discharged an Order Nisi made in favour of the applicants by Justice Claudette La Bennett prohibiting the Chief Cooperative Development Officer from taking over the management of the credit union. Justice Moore in discharging the order nisi said he had found that the Chief Cooperative Development Officer, Lilian Miller, had enough grounds to dismiss the Management Committee.
Ms Miller on May 31 2001, had by order appointed a committee to take over the management of the GPSCCU following an Interim Report on the affairs of the credit union. That report by Mr Claude Muller, a retired public servant, had been commissioned following complaints by a large number of public servants about the management of the credit union. The report noted that the last audited accounts were done for the year 1994 and the last Annual General Meeting had been held in 1998. It had also pointed to a number of improper financial practices.
Miller had appointed founder/member of the GPSCCU Roy McArthur to chair the committee, with effect from June 1, 2001, with other members being Donna Ellis, Michael Scott, Clinton Melville, a representative of the Guyana Cooperative Credit Union League, Joan Gentle and Chandrawattie Samaroo.
Their duty was to conduct a properly documented take-over exercise, appoint a task force to bring the accounts up to date to the point of audit, update computer and other relevant systems, establish a comprehensive and enlightened set of personnel policies, and convene an annual general meeting within the first quarter of 2002.
As a result of a variety of legal proceedings filed on behalf of the committee headed by Veecock the new committee headed by McArthur has not taken over the management of the credit union despite the fact that Miller's order was made nearly two years ago. Legal sources have noted that there is no injunction or order of court in place preventing the takeover.
