Woman contractor gets $32,500 damages

Karlene Lange Burnett, 43, of Lisas Gardens, Couva, was a director of Blue Jay Services Ltd, a company which built houses for HDC.

The company bought building materials from Ramlagan General Hardware and Electrical Ltd. but Burnett claimed, through her attorney Hansraj Bhola, that payments to the hardware was done on a systematic basis which was determined by payments she received from HDC. In a constitutional motion against the State, Burnett contended that Ramlagan agreed to the payment arrangement. She stated that between March 14, and April 20, 2007, cheques were sent to the Fraud Squad, San Fernando, which were payable by her company to Ramlagan’s Hardware, but which bounced. It amounted to $124,000.

Burnett was arrested at her home and taken to the San Fernando Police Station on September 20, 2007 by three police officers. She remained incarcerated for six hours in a cell, her motion stated.

The trial was heard before Gobin in the San Fernando High Court in which the State challenged the motion. Bhola led evidence from Burnett that on the day of her arrest, she took fraud squad officers to her offices and confirmed that monies were paid into the Ramlagan Hardware account, and in fact she had owed $67,255.86.