Accountant’s election was proper, court rules

In a 33-page written ruling delivered in the San Fernando High Court yesterday, Justice Ricky Rahim held that ICATT member Mohan Mahabir-Singh failed to prove that there were substantial irregularities in the election process to affect the results.

In his ruling, Rahim also noted Mahabir- Singh failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove that an error in the announcement of the results, and the actions taken by ICATT after, to remedy the error, were so substantially irregular that it vitiated the results of the elections.

“In the view of the court, the course of action which was adopted by ICATT was fair and reasonable in the circumstances and was done in an effort to accord with the electoral will of the membership of ICATT,” he said.

Rahim also said, it was clear “corrective measures” taken by ICATT were not unlawful or taken in an attempt to wrongfully affect or influence the outcome of the elections.

“It was reasonable and practical that the error be drawn to the attention of the council as soon as it was discovered and that measures be taken immediately to remedy the material error.

That was the proper and fair thing to do.” Mahabir-Singh sued ICATT and its council members alleging that the decision by ICATT to remove member Saleem Mohammed and replace him with Anthony Pierre, after the results of the election, was irregular, inappropriate and against ICATT’s rules.

He claimed that on March 24, 2015, prior to the election, he was notified by a former council member that the rules of the proxy votes had been leaked and efforts were being made to canvass support from members who had not cast their proxy vote.

He said after the election was held, ICATT’s chairman Pria Narinesingh announced the names of those elected to sit on the council and Pierre was not among them.

The names of the six successful members announced were Ryan Nunes, Jonny Ramjeawan, Carla Dube, Krishna Boodai, Dwayne Rodriguez- Seijas and Saleem Mohammed. Narinesingh then notified the newly elected council that there was an error in the announcement of the results and that it appeared that Pierre received more votes than Mohammed who was then asked to vacate his seat. A recount was conducted and Pierre was announced the clear winner by three votes. In its defence, the ICATT’s attorneys Michael Quamina and Imran Ali argued that had ICATT not acted in the manner in which it did, it would have been exposed to a legal claim from Pierre if he did not sit on the council.