Judge orders that summonses be served on Canadian entities
Acting Chief Justice Lennox Perry on Wednesday issued an order for summonses to be served on the respondents named in the Omai Gold Mines Limited cyanide waste spill lawsuit who reside outside Guyana. The order states that the defendants, upon receipt of the summonses, must enter an appearance within 42 days. Attorneys-at-law Mortimer Codette and Storm Westmaas representing the plaintiffs, Judith David and Elizabeth David and 23,000 residents of the Essequibo River, had moved to the High Court on Tuesday to obtain an order to serve summonses on the three defendants who live in Canada. The defendants are Cambior Inc, Golder & Associates and Home Insurance all of Quebec, Canada. Justice Perry had denied the request after it was learnt that lawyer, Eva Rawana-Scott, had already obtained an order in May this year. However, Judith David of 97 Fourth Avenue, Bartica, in an affidavit in support, denied that the signature on an affidavit dated May 24, 1999, instructing Rawana-Scott to act on her behalf, was her own. In her affidavit of support filed on Wednesday, David said that on August 14, 1998, a Canadian court had held that the proper forum for the case of the Omai cyanide spill to be heard, was Guyana. On the advice of a Canadian representative, Rawana-Scott was retained in August 1998. However, David alleged that subsequent events made it unsuitable for the female attorney to prosecute the case and in May 1999 agents acting on her behalf contracted attorney-at-law, Mortimer Codette to be the new counsel in the matter. The plaintiffs have taken the gold mining company to court for US$100 million for the alleged pollution of the river on August 19, 1995. Residents from Regions Seven and Eight on Monday picketed the High Court claiming that the use of water from the river for bathing, washing, cooking and drinking purposes, had led to a number of illnesses including skin diseases, vomiting and diarrhoea, eye problems and headaches.
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