Trial dates in 2026 likely for Warner Group challenge to police raid on quarry

Businessman Allan Warner leaves the St Joseph Police Station after being granted bail on a charge of processing minerals without a licence on July 4. - File photo

Trial dates for the constitutional claim filed by companies owned by businessman Allan Warner, a longtime friend of former prime minister Dr Keith Rowley, are likely to be set later this month for 2026.

Justice Frank Seepersad is presiding over a lawsuit by Warner’s companies — Warns Quarry Company Ltd, Warner Construction and Sanitation Ltd, Inez Investments Ltd, Pres-T-con 2021 Ltd, and Allcrete Ltd — and 12 people, including Warner’s son Akulo Warner, charged with illegal mining, who are challenging the police’s detention of heavy equipment and a property seized as part of an ongoing investigation into their mining operation.

Seepersad adjourned the matter to October 29, after attorneys for the Attorney General asked for a short adjournment to settle the issue of legal representation.

The judge granted the request, which, he said, was not unreasonable given the change of attorney general after the April 28 general election. Trial dates, the judge said, are likely in the new year given the court's calendar.

The claimants in the case are Warns Quarry Company Ltd, Warner Construction and Sanitation Ltd, Inez Investments Ltd, Pres-T-Con 2021 Ltd, Allcrete Ltd, Warner’s son Aluko, employees Robert Wilson, Ricky Joseph, Corey Charles, Kimal Williams, Willinsque Tobias, and Shastri Madhoo and independent contractors Rueben Maprangala, Deon George, Rudy Sahai, Aaron Neptune, and Ahmeed David.

In 2024, the group filed a lawsuit contending that an ongoing police probe, which resulted in the individuals being charged with engaging in illegal quarrying, was unlawful and unconstitutional.

Through an associated injunction application, they sought the return of heavy equipment, tools and communication devices seized by police officers during raids in December 2023 and in May 2024, as well as the release of a 16.67-hectare parcel of land in Wallerfield commandeered by the police as part of their probe.

They also sought the release of a large quantity of original documents that were seized from their offices.

In the lawsuit, the group’s lawyers noted that Pres-T-Con obtained a 25-year lease from a company for the Wallerfield property in January 2022.

Pres-T-Con granted permission to Warns Quarry to occupy the property, and the latter was granted a licence from the Commissioner of State Lands on May 20, 2024.

They noted that the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries granted Warns Quarry a conditional authorisation to undertake mineral processing at the property until the end of this year.

Warner, his son, and seven employees and associates were charged with processing aggregate without a licence under Section 45(1)(a) of the Minerals Act.

The group, which has denied any wrongdoing, faces a $200,000 fine and imprisonment for two years if they are eventually convicted.

In September 2024, Seepersad dismissed the injunction application.

Several months later, appellate judges Mark Mohammed and Peter Rajkumar rejected an appeal from the group alleging that Justice Seepersad erred in his decision.

In July, the Privy Council refused Warns Quarry and Pres-T-Con permission to appeal preliminary rulings delivered by the High Court and Court of Appeal.

A separate appeal filed by the larger group is pending. Seepersad has also previously permitted the group and the Attorney General to produce evidence of expert witnesses.

Attorney Farai Hove Masasai represent the group. Ian Benjamin, SC, Tekijah Jorsling, and Vincent Jardine represent the Director of Public Prosecutions.