Lynch still owes PM over $20,000
Although BDS Ltd, owner of Nice Radio, has paid the full judgement debt owed to this countryâs prime minister, former talk show host Elwardo Lynch still owes the prime minister over $20,000 in the same matter.{{more}}
Lynchâs indebtedness was disclosed to SEARCHLIGHT on Wednesday, by lawyer for Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, Grahame Bollers.
âThey raised money for Nice Radio and they have not raised anything for Lynch. This is $20,000 plus interest that has to be paid by Lynch personally,â he said.
Bollers explained that in 2012, the Court of Appeal ordered Lynch to pay $20,000 at five per cent interest from November 26, 2008, the date of assessment.
Gonsalves successfully sued BDS Ltd and Lynch after the talk show host made comments, broadcast on Nice Radio, about the financing of a trip to Rome for members of the prime ministerâs family in 2002.
Bollers, however, confirmed that in satisfaction of the BDS Ltd judgement debt, a cheque of $169,880 was paid into the court on Monday, and the balance of $36,262.47 was presented in another cheque, delivered to his office later that day.
Bollers, however, said that BDS Ltd âmistakenlyâ thought that interest only ran on the judgement debt.
âWhat these people have done is mistakenly think that somehow interest was only for the judgement debt. Thatâs why they were saying how âwe have the money to pay the prime minister, but we donât have the money for cost…. [They] didnât realise that a judgement consists of cost, which you have to pay interest …
âSo while they were breaking down everything into the money the court awarded to Dr Gonsalves and paying interest on that, they hadnât calculated interest on costs. As the master told them and I told them, the judgement debt is the total amount of money awarded, plus cost equals X and you pay five percent on that and that is when they had to scramble to get additional money,â Bollers said.
The judgement debt which amounted to $206, 142. 47.
In October 2012, social activist Junior Bacchus, attorney Kay Bacchus-Browne and pharmacist Matthew Thomas launched the âSave Nice Radioâ appeal.
An account was later set up at RBTT to help raise money to save the radio station from closure.
At the launch of the appeal, the organizers said the account was set up in order to prevent the appointment of a receiver.
However, Master V. Georgis Taylor-Alexander appointed Peter Alexander and Trevor Edwards as receiver managers for BDS Ltd on January 30.
Gonsalves in a press conference earlier this week, told reporters that he is not interested in closing down Nice Radio. He said the money from the judgement debt will be used to make donations to charities and to pay his lawyers.(KW)
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