Settle ownership issue first
-GT&T responds to Cel*Star
Stabroek News
February 5, 2004
GT&T has assured start-up cellular phone company, Cel*Star Guyana Inc. that it would resume interconnection preparations as soon as they are comfortable that they are dealing with the lawful owners of the cellular company.
But the phone company in a press release expressed disappointment over what they deem defamatory accusations by Cel*Star in a statement on Tuesday.
Cel*Star had accused GT&T of refusing to honour an agreement to provide it with a connection to its network.
However, GT&T says Cel*Star will agree that having negotiated the agreement in April 2003, in good faith, it did proceed to execute it in an expeditious and timely manner.
According to GT&T, this process was moving along when legal proceedings instituted by Cel*Star Caribbean Inc. in the Circuit Court of Florida, USA saw Cel*Star Guyana Inc. Head Wesley Kirton being sued.
This matter was also brought to the attention of GT&T by lawyers for Cel*Star Caribbean Inc. by letter of October 17, the release further said.
According to GT&T, this action was later countered by Cel*Star Guyana Inc. which filed an "Originating Summons" in the local courts seeking to have the matter of shares purportedly issued to Cel*Star Caribbean Inc. declared null and void.
"GT&T did not cause these disruptive issues and we were certainly not trying to delay Cel*Star Guyana Inc.'s entrance into the market," the release further said.
"GT&T is ready and willing to resume interconnection preparations as soon as GT&T has confidence that it is dealing with the lawful owners of Cel*Star Guyana Inc. and that the existing interconnection agreement is valid," the statement said.
GT&T's concern about the validity of the interconnection agreement had also extended to the authority of Greg Libertiny of TWT (Guyana) - the new owners of Cel*Star - to have signed that agreement given that the authorizing documents were purported to have been improperly filed in the Company Registry. But Paul Strasser, head of Cel*Star's operation in Guyana yesterday assured Stabroek Business that this authority was sent to GT&T on three occasions. He was asked to provide these to Stabroek Business but did not do so up to press time.
GT&T's Chief Executive Officer, Sonita Jagan, could not be contacted up to press time to ascertain whether GT&T was satisfied that Libertiny had the authority to sign the interconnection agreement.
Strasser also said that the firm filed proceedings locally in December to have a declaration from the High Court that TWT is the rightful owner of Cel *Star.
The GT&T statement yesterday noted also that Cel*Star Guyana Inc.'s press release mentions certain "foreign proceedings," but pointed out that Cel*Star Guyana Inc. itself filed the lawsuit referred to above, in Guyana in an effort to clear its name and clarify that it has lawful title to the business."
The phone company says its only interest is to ensure that Cel*Star Guyana Inc.'s current owners are lawfully entitled to operate the business.
"Cel*Star Guyana Inc. is trying to get GT&T to take sides in these disputes by agreeing to interconnect with them before the issue is resolved." GT&T says upon the advice of its legal counsel, it has decided to adopt the prudent approach and await the outcome of the legal matter.
Cel*Star in their release on Tuesday had said that nothing in the foreign proceedings should invalidate the interconnection agreement and that GT&T was required by law to perform under the interconnection agreement unless and until it was proved invalid.