22 years on, Delhi court allows Canada govt to recover siphoned funds
08, February 2019, New Delhi
After a long legal battle of 22 years, a city court has allowed the Canadian government to recover over Rs 90 lakh from one of its former accountants, a 70-year-old man, accused of defrauding the plaintiff.
Additional District Judge Sumit Dass in his judgment allowed the Canadian High Commission in Delhi to recover Rs 37.94 lakh with interest of 6% from January 1, 1995 from its former accountant N V Ramani.
“It is not my benevolence nor is there any sympathy towards the defendant, but the fact of the matter is that this grinding litigation for the past 22 years filed by a sovereign state against an individual, which they have pursued vigorously, is a sufficient lesson for Ramani. The loss of job, social stigma and the fact that Ramani had contested the suit for 22 years have all been taken into consideration,” the court said.
The Canadian government’s counsel, Amir Singh Pasrich, argued that the amount had been misappropriated. He added that the amount was received by Ramani out of official funds of the Canadian High Commission. Ramani argued that the suit was not maintainable as the plaintiff had not come with clean hands. “The facts are full of concoction, on account of malafide design of the superior official and racial bias,” he said in his defence.
The court appreciated the assistance of advocate Pasrich along with advocate Kalyan Arambam and defence counsel Pradeep Dubey for “bringing the finer points of the case in a lucid manner”. In addition, it observed: “Ramani is also 70 years of age or maybe more as evident from his physical appearance. The case as well as age both may have taken a toll on him.”
However, the court said Ramani must be given an opportunity to reform and extricate himself out of such a mess and to live honourably by compensating the Canadian government.
The civil suit originally filed in Delhi high court on April 6, 1996 was transferred to Patiala House Courts when HC’s pecuniary jurisdiction was revised upwards in the year 2015. Ramani was appointed as a librarian and typist on March 21, 1975 and was given charge as an accounts officer on June 4, 1982.
