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Former attorney general Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj says there is no basis for Petrotrin to challenge the arbitrators’ findings and award in the A&V Oil dispute.
He said an appeal would do nothing more than “tactically” delaying the inevitable.
Maharaj who led a team of attorneys for A&V Oil and its owner Nizam Baksh, was responding to advice given by Petrotrin’s lead attorney Deborah Peake, SC, that her clients move quickly and file an application to have the arbitration finding and award set aside.
In his statement on Friday, Maharaj warned the new board should not make the same errors of its predecessors and that it would be in the best interest of tax payers if the company “cut its losses.”
Peake argued the arbitration tribunal made fundamental errors in arriving at their conclusion and that its award to A&V was a gross miscarriage of justice.
Maharaj said the only good prospect of success Petrotrin would have by going to the courts would be that attorneys would make more money and the people of the country would have to pay.

He said Petrotrin failed to resolve the dispute before the arbitration process and having now lost, going to the High Court to overturn the decision would be contrary to the public’s interest.
Maharaj said Petrotrin had every opportunity to present all of its evidence at the arbitration process and challenge all of A&V’s witnesses.
He insisted there were no errors in the arbitrators’ judgment and for the Government to permit the company to pursue an appeal would be costly since the matter will no doubt end up in the Privy Council resulting in millions of taxpayer dollars being spent in legal costs.
“The losses which Petrotrin have incurred due to the findings of the arbitrators is because Petrotrin was advised it had good prospects of success. It has been shown by the decision of the arbitrators that Petrotrin did not have any good prospects of success.”
Maharaj renewed his call for Government to lay the arbitration judgment in Parliament.
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