For­mer Com­mu­ni­ty-based En­vi­ron­men­tal Pro­tec­tion and En­hance­ment Pro­gramme Com­pa­ny (CEPEP) chair­man Joel Ed­wards and 10 for­mer board mem­bers are fac­ing a law­suit over their de­ci­sion to ap­prove a three-year ex­ten­sion for con­trac­tors just days be­fore last year’s gen­er­al elec­tion.

On Thurs­day, lawyers rep­re­sent­ing CEPEP, led by Se­nior Coun­sel Anand Ram­lo­gan, filed the case al­leg­ing breach of fidu­cia­ry du­ty, neg­li­gence, and de­ceit by the for­mer board. This is the first law­suit launched by the cur­rent Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC) coali­tion gov­ern­ment over de­ci­sions tak­en by a state board un­der the pre­vi­ous Peo­ple’s Na­tion­al Move­ment (PNM) ad­min­is­tra­tion.

The de­fen­dants are Ed­wards, Gee­ta Ram­per­sad, Kirt Bernard, Thomas Sanoir, Wen­dell Williams, Yin­ka Jag­bir-Gar­cia, Camille Ho­sein, Mau­ris­sa Smith, Robert Lee, Bri­an Rock, and Michael Seales. CEPEP is seek­ing sig­nif­i­cant com­pen­sa­tion, in­clud­ing hav­ing Ed­wards in­dem­ni­fy the com­pa­ny for any li­a­bil­i­ties aris­ing from the mass ter­mi­na­tion of con­tracts by the cur­rent gov­ern­ment in June last year.