(Trinidad Express) The High Court has ordered that the State immediately return nine high-end vehicles to a Penal businessman that were seized by Customs and Excise in 2020 and which Customs continued to detain without any justifiable reasons.
In addition to having the vehicles returned, a High Court master will also have to determine, at a later date, the amount of damages that is to be awarded to the businessman—Kess Kessoondan.
Further to that, after delivering summary judgment in Kessoondan’s favour on Tuesday, Justice Nadia Kangaloo directed that the State must also bear his legal costs.
In total, 17 vehicles were seized but eight of them were eventually returned. The other nine remained in the possession of Customs.
The judge noted that even though the initial seizure, which included Jaguars, Prados, BMWs, Range Rovers and Mercedes Benzes, may have been lawful, the continued detention without any charge being brought against Kessoondan or forfeiture proceedings being filed violated his constitutional rights to enjoyment of property.
She pointed out that the authorities could not lawfully detain private property for an indefinite period without pursuing legal proceedings. And that is what was done in this case, said the judge.
Justice Kangaloo said while Customs and Excise continuously claimed that the vehicles were being detained because of “an ongoing investigation” she found the explanation to be vague. Customs did not provide Kessoondan with any details of the said investigation nor was he ever charged for any offence, she said.
Because of this, the judge said the State’s defence had no realistic prospect of success.
In his claim, Kessoondan, who was represented by attorneys Kiel Taklalsingh, Vivek Lakhan-Joseph and Shivash Maraj, was seeking compensation in the sum of $725,000 for trespass, conversion, detinue and because of the depreciation of value of the vehicles over the past five years.
He claimed that in December 2020 customs officers along with police came to his home, carried out a search and seized the vehicles.
They also seized documents including certified copies, receipts and invoices.
In September 2021, Kessoondan’s attorneys issued a pre-action protocol letter asking that the vehicles be released.
A response was received acknowledging receipt of the letter.
Correspondence between the parties continued until October 2021, with the businessman’s lawyers asserting that the documents being requested by customs had already been confiscated, so it would be impossible for their client to comply. They had also asked for detailed reasons for the seizure since the notices only cited sections of the Customs Act that refer to undeclared goods.
No further response was forthcoming from the State resulting in the attorneys filing the court action.
