Caption: Anand Ramlogan
By Alicia Chamely
A lawsuit brought against the Community-Based Environmental Protection and Enhancement Programme (CEPEP) by terminated contractor Stephen Samuel has collapsed.
Samuel bought a claim against CEPEP arguing his termination was wrongful. However, on Friday, as former CEPEP contractors and workers protested outside the Red House in Port of Spain, Samuel’s legal team applied to have his claim against the programme withdrawn.
Samuel, who was represented by attorney St Clair O’Neil of S M O’Neil & Associates, Larry Lala, SC, and Kareem Marcelle, filed suit against CEPEP for the wrongful termination of his contract on Thursday, applying for an intended high court matter and urgent injunctive relief to block the termination of his contract.
CEPEP was represented by Freedom Law Chambers, headed by former attorney general Anand Ramlogan SC.
Speaking with AZP News on Saturday, Ramlogan said the case brought forward by Samuel had no merit, as through his firm’s investigations it was found Samuel’s contract, which was not up for expiration until 2026, had been hastily renewed days before the April 28, 2025, general election.
He stated, “The People’s National Movement (PNM) has been protesting the termination of CEPEP contractors, whose contracts they secretly extended the week before the general elections. Many of the contracts are not yet expired but were suddenly extended until 2029.”
Ramlogan said, “CEPEP retained Freedom Law Chambers, who immediately responded to the threat of litigation against CEPEP by pointing out several breaches in the rules and regulations of government contractors.
Ramlogan highlighted what he believed was the “suspicious circumstance in which these contracts were extended and warned the contractor against pursuing his claim due to the because it was without legal merit and misconceived.”
The former AG, said, “The PNM legal team quietly withdrew the legal claim, this while Beckles singing the praises of PNM battery of lawyers, singling out the team of lawyers to whom the PNM conferred silk. Beckles championed the very lawsuit that was now withdrawn making it out to be the mother of all legal battles.”
Ramlogan said he had notified the contractor that he will be pursuing legal costs because the “PNMs legal team misled the court by failing to exhibit and disclose his response to the pr action letter.”
This, he claimed was a breach of the contractor’s duty to make full disclosure to the court of all relevant documents required by law.
Ramlogan said, “This contractor had been paid over $7 million by CEPEP” and queried why “contrary to the company’s policy, he was not rotated to give others a chance.”
Ramlogan stated the claim was filed with “ulterior motives, highlighted by the public posturing by PNM speakers concerning the matter. Letters were being released to the media before the government was notified.”
Ramlogan defended Minister of Public Utilities Barry Padarath, whom, he said, did nothing wrong having regard to the “suspicious circumstances in which these contracts were renewed days before the general election”.
He added that Padarath had a duty to act and would be in dereliction of duty if he simply ignored the “crisis in CEPEP”.
Ramlogan said CEPEP had since notified Samuel that they have filed to seek the remuneration of legal costs paid out by the government over this “failed” suit.
That claim had been assigned to high court judge Marissa Robinson and is expected to come up for hearing to decide the issue of legal costs in due course.
