By Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterA Mareva injunction has been granted to Amal-gamated Commodities Ltd., barring Maurice Bean, its former general manager, and two companies formed by Mr. Bean from disposing of their assets.
Amalgamated Commodities is contending that from investigations Mr. Bean had not accounted for a sum in excess of $12 million which was owing to it.
Justice Maurice Record granted the injunction last month after hearing affidavit evidence and submissions in the Supreme Court from attorney Raphael Codlin that the plaintiff company feared that Mr. Bean who once lived in Guyana, if not restrained, would leave the jurisdiction of the court, taking the company's assets with him to Guyana.
The injunctions were granted against Mr. Bean, and Rice Warehouse Ltd. and United Amalgamated Co. Ltd.
Amalgamated Commodities is a limited liability company with offices at 4 Fourth Street, New Port West, Kingston. It is engaged in the business of purchasing bagged rice from abroad and selling it to customers in Jamaica.
In 1997, Mr. Bean was employed as general manager and was instructed to sell rice, collect payments and lodge all payments into Amalgamated Commodities' accounts at the Bank of Nova Scotia, Hagley Park branch, Kingston. Mr. Bean, in terms of his contract of employment was not allowed to engage in any activity that would interfere with his fiduciary duties to Amalgamated Commodities. He was not entitled to set up any business in competition with that of Amalgamated Commodities or to open any warehouse to sell the rice without approval.
The loss gap suffered after the middle of 1999 continued to widen to the point where the company decided to close its warehouse and to re-organise its marketing strategy in Jamaica. It involved making the position of general manager redundant and Mr. Bean was informed.
Amalgamated is contending that it later discovered that Mr. Bean said one Paul Barrett, a customer had owed the company $3 million but Mr. Barrett later disclosed that Mr. Bean had employed him as a servant of the company in Montego Bay. It was also unaware that Mr. Bean had ordered Mr. Barrett to open a warehouse in Montego Bay and the rent was $50,000 monthly. Mr. Bean had allegedly instructed Mr. Barrett that after selling rice for the company, he was to deposit payments from those sales into an account in the name of Rice Warehouse Ltd., at the Hagley Park branch of Nova Scotia. Mr. Barrett handed over 11 copies of lodgement vouchers showing lodgement to that account for the period May to August 1999, which totalled over $1.9 million, Bert Rouwers, assistant manager of Amalgamated Commodities, said in his affidavit. From Mr. Rouwers' investigation a sum in excess of $12 million due to the plaintiff had not been accounted for by Mr. Bean," the company is alleging.
Mr. Bean has opened a rice warehouse at Third Street, New Port West and is importing rice from Guyana and Suriname and is distributing it through Rice Warehouse Ltd., Amagamated Commodities said.
Mr. Barrett said that Mr. Bean had employed him in January 1999 to Rice Warehouse to sell rice in Montego Bay. He said he made lodgements totalling $9,270,464 over the period that the warehouse operated.
Mr. Bean in his affidavit admitted that he gave instructions for the incorporation of Rice Warehouse Ltd. He said apart from being a manager of that warehouse, he played no part in the day-to-day management of that company. He said he never sold any of Amalgamated Commodities products at that warehouse. He denied hiring Mr. Barrett as an employee of Amalgamated Commodities. He said he formed the two defendant companies but United Amal-gamated Co. Ltd. did not get off the ground and the plan to sell rice though that company was abandoned. He admitted that Rice Warehouse did draw a cheque for $519,000 in favour of Amalgamated Commodities but the cheque was stopped because it was drawn in error.
The judge in granting the injunction said that the evidence supplied by Amalgamated Commodities was overwhelmingly in favour of granting the injunction sought. The judge said a great injustice would be suffered by Amalgamated Commodities if the court were to refuse its application.
The two defendant companies are restrained from dealing in anyway whatsoever with account number 90816 at the Hagley Park Branch, Bank of Nova Scotia or with any other accounts in the names of the two defendant companies. Bean and Rice Warehouse have been ordered to deliver to Amalgamated Commodities a list of their assets. They are also barred from parting with any assets being held by them or proceeds belonging to Amalgamated Commodities Ltd.
