The State’s half-a-billion-dollar case against Calder Hart has run cold for the last eight months, while a judge-imposed gag order keeps all details of the protracted case hush-hush even though it has been in limbo since March. Hart, the former executive chairman at Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (Udecott) is the subject of both criminal and civil suits, but to date he has not been called to face either one. The Sunday Guardian understands that the last submissions for the case were made before Justice Andre des Vignes back in March. Since then, two subsequent case management hearings—July 17 and July 26—have both been cancelled, with no date set for the next submissions. This means that Hart, who was supposed to be in the country on the date of the first cancelled case management hearing—July 17—now has no reason to return to the country, as there is no date set for his case. Though Attorney General Anand Ramlogan has been spearheading the call for Hart to return to the country to face the charges, he has since admitted that the matter is out of his hands. “I have been literally begging for this matter to be given some priority by the judiciary,” Ramlogan said in a telephone interview yesterday.
Senior members of Udecott’s legal team also expressed frustration over the months-long drag on this matter. One attorney involved in the case said the matter has been “vacated” twice, meaning that it was cancelled without lawyers from either side having to face the judge. “We got calls and notes, we weren’t even given a chance to speak with the judge on the matter so that we could ask any questions,” the source said. The legal minds said they found it “very strange” that the judiciary could “simply lose eight months” on such an urgent matter. The Sunday Guardian understands that if the case management hearings were held when they were set, Hart may have had to face the courts by January 2014. But with the no-warning cancellations, the matter could continue to “limp along” indefinitely. Hart is also facing criminal charges including perjury for his submissions during the Uff inquiry. That file, it was reported, had been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) by the Integrity Commission back in August. One of Hart’s attorney’s, Stewart Young, in a brief interview yesterday, said all attorneys involved in the case were under a court-imposed gag order and as such he was unable to discuss the case. The gag order, Young said, was imposed “very early,” at the beginning of the matter.
Recent court ruling
Despite the stalled case against Hart, recent court rulings against similar cases breathed a breath of fresh air into civil matters of this sort. Last month Justice Devindra Rampersad cleared the way for a legal case against eTecK and eight directors, including former chairman Ken Julien, University of the West Indies Brian Copeland, former Miss Universe Wendy Fitzwilliam. Ramlogan had then described that ruling as a “landmark” one because it opened the door to several civil lawsuits against malfunctioning state boards, including his civil case against Hart. That suit also includes cases against former deputy chairman, businessman Krishna Bahadoorsingh; former financial manager, Ricardo O’Brien; and former corporate secretary, Neelanda Rampaul. The Sunday Guardian received a chronology of the matter dating back to its inception in 2011 when the first pre-action protocol letter was sent to Hart, Bahadoorsingh, O’Brien and Rampaul. By 2013 applications were made to sell off Hart’s local property to recover cost. This failed to stir Hart, who to date has not appeared in the country.