Attorneys for state-owned Cepep Company Ltd have sent a legal warning to its former chairman Joel Edwards, accusing him of misleading the company’s board into extending hundreds of contracts worth about $1.4 billion.

In a pre-action letter on July 25, attorney Jarrd Jagroo, who is led by Senior Counsel Anand Ramlogan of Freedom Law Chambers, claims Edwards wrongly told the board that cabinet had approved the extensions, which locked the company into long-term commitments until 2029.

The letter said the statement was false and amounted to fraud, misrepresentation and breach of fiduciary duty.