PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) on Wednesday dismissed an appeal in the case of Attorney General of Guyana v Azad Meerza involving a contractual dispute over road construction works.
The matter arose after Azad Meerza, trading as Falcon Transportation and Construction Services of Meten-Meer-Zorg, West Coast Demerara, secured an arbitral award against the Government of Guyana.
Attorney General Mohabir Anil Nandlall challenged the enforcement of the award, arguing that one of the arbitrators was biased because he had previously served on a tribunal that handled the same dispute.
However, the CCJ rejected the claim of apparent bias, ruling that the mere fact that an arbitrator had sat on an earlier panel dealing with the matter was insufficient to establish bias.
The court said additional evidence would be required to prove such a claim and noted that each case must be assessed on its own merits since it is impossible to create an exhaustive list of circumstances that might indicate bias.
The court also found that the appellant had waived the right to challenge the arbitrator’s impartiality because the objection was not raised within the 15 days required under the applicable international arbitration rules agreed to by both parties.
While the court acknowledged that arbitrators have a duty to disclose any circumstances that could give rise to a real possibility of bias, it concluded that no such obligation arose in this case because both parties were already aware of the arbitrator’s involvement in the earlier tribunal.
The appeal was heard by CCJ President Adrian Saunders and Justices Jacqueline Rajnauth-Lee, Winston Anderson, Peter Jamadar, Chibuzo Ononaiwu, and Andrew Burgess Bulkan.
The CCJ is Guyana’s highest and final court.
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