DeFreitas says he thinks receiver was out of place

Douglas DeFreitas, the managing director of BDS Ltd., would like to know why one of the court appointed receivers for BDS Ltd turned up at his office last Saturday, without court papers and not accompanied by the other receiver.{{more}}

“I think he was out of place,” DeFreitas said of the receiver Peter Alexander, yesterday.

On January 28, Master V. Georgis Taylor-Alexander signed a consent order appointing Trevor Edwards receiver manager of BDS Ltd on behalf of Beachmont Estates Inc. Beachmont Estates Inc claims it is trying to recover almost $500,000, which it says it is owed by BDS Ltd.

Two days later, the master also granted an application made by lawyers for Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, who was owed a judgement debt by BDS Ltd. She appointed Peter Alexander as joint receiver manager with Edwards.

“Tell me if I am unreasonable. Here it is, a single receiver comes to the station to have discussions. I cannot entertain him. He has a responsibility to contact the other receiver… and both of them should have then come to me, and I would have accommodated him. I asked him, where is the other receiver, he said, ‘he don’t know anything about that’. So I said, ‘if you don’t know anything about that, why should I entertain you? You know a joint receiver was appointed by the court, so what are you coming here for,’” DeFreitas said he told Alexander.

“Secondly, when a receiver is first initiating his work, he comes with an order from the court…. He did not present me with anything. And even if he had presented me, the order would have shown that he and Trevor Edwards are joint receivers on the matter. How then you can come by yourself. Both of them need to collaborate anything that they are doing,” DeFreitas added.

However in an interview with SEARCHLIGHT yesterday, Alexander said presenting the court order was just a formality.

“Didn’t he know that I was appointed? That is just a lame excuse. Everybody and his uncle knew that I was appointed,” the accountant said.

Alexander said on Saturday, when DeFreitas refused to cooperate, DeFreitas did not give the non presentation of the court order or the fact that Edwards was not with Alexander as his reasons.

“I didn’t go there to start the process, I went there to discuss with him how the process would go,” Alexander said.

He said DeFreitas refused to listen.

Alexander said when joint receivers are appointed, unless they are from the same organization, each one has to be given specific instructions and their duties must be clearly delineated.

“His (Edwards) role and my role were in conflict, and at some point, my lawyers were going to move to set the joint receivership aside,” Alexander said.

“None of those things were excuses he made when I came. The reasons he gave why he wasn’t going to cooperate were that the money was going to be paid and that they were going to contest the appointment of the receiver.

“Had he raised the concern regarding the presentation of court papers, I would have gone down the road and got them for him,” Alexander said.

Alexander also said he went to the radio station because it had been three weeks since he had been appointed by the court, but he had not acted.

He also said he was unsure how successful the fund-raising efforts being undertaken by friends of the radio station would be.

“As receiver, my role was to seek to satisfy the judgment debt by harnessing the company’s resources. The efforts that were being undertaken, and heavily reported in the media, to raise the funds was a mercy endeavour, outside the direct operations of the station. I did not know if these efforts were ever going to be successful. I was not part of that effort and no one contacted me to provide evidence that the funds earmarked to pay the debt in fact existed, or was under the company’s control,” Alexander said.

Commenting on the fact that the money owed to the prime minister was paid on Monday, Alexander said it is possible that his visit to the radio station accelerated fund-raising efforts.

“The possibility exists that the seriousness of the court order, and the initial steps I took to act, worked in Nice Radio’s favour because its supporters accelerated the process of raising the money needed to satisfy the debt; and for that they must be commended,” he said.

The accountant said the entire visit to the radio station on Saturday took less than 10 minutes.

“The station is housed at Mr DeFreitas’ home, which made the receivership particularly sensitive. On arrival, I introduced myself to Mrs DeFreitas who greeted me warmly and directed me to the basement to meet Mr DeFreitas, who at the time was on-air. I was welcomed in the studio by the receptionist and soon after Mr DeFreitas excused himself from his on-air programme and came to see me.

“Clearly he knew why I was at the station and asserted that he was not going to cooperate with me …” Alexander said.

Alexander said after DeFreitas refused to cooperate, he left the premises.

“Evidently, there was little point in my remaining on the premises, especially as it seemed that by Monday afternoon one of two events would take place: the funds would be paid in satisfaction of the amount due, or my lawyers, who had advised that I begin to act, would take the steps necessary to allow the receivership to commence,” Alexander said.