Senate Bill Information

Fourth (2004/2005) Session, Eighth Parliament

• The Bill seeks to amend the Supreme Court of Judicature Act (Chap. 4:01) to give effect to the decision of the Privy Council in the case of Kirvek Management and Consulting Services Limited v. The Attorney General of Trinidad and Tobago (2002) 61 WIR 48. In that case, the Judicial Committee held that the Court has a duty to ensure that moneys paid into it are properly invested and the interest credited to the account of the depositor. The amendment therefore seeks to empower the Court to deposit or invest moneys paid into Court in authorized securities or interest bearing accounts in any financial institutions as defined by the Financial Institutions Act, 1993.
• The power of the High Court to invest, deposit and regulate moneys paid into Court is governed by the Court Funds Investment Act (Chap 7:06). This Act sets out the manner in which all moneys paid into the High Court may be invested and restricts all other forms of investment. Many of the provisions of this Act are no longer relevant, as the range of investments permitted under section 2 are now obsolete. The Act permits the depositing of moneys in the Post Office Savings Bank which ceased operations in August 2001. It also allows moneys paid into Court to be invested in stocks and land. However, for more than fifty years the High Court has not made such investments because of the uncertainty of the markets and the costs and charges incidental to these methods of investment
• It is therefore expedient to repeal the Court Funds Investment Act in its entirety and amend the Supreme Court of Judicature Act by inserting two provisions which would empower the Court to engage in new forms of investment.