THE dispute between Sugar Company of Jamaica (SCJ) Holdings and Victor Wright, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Trelawny Northern, seems headed to court as both parties hold hard to their positions.

The SCJ Holdings is adamant that Wright owes it just over $3.6 million in rent and electricity, but the People’s National Party (PNP) parliamentarian is equally adamant that he has paid his bills.

Yesterday, the SCJ outlined its case in a statement in which it argued that the legislator continues to occupy its property on Fontabelle Estate, Westmoreland, despite its efforts to remove him over the past six years.

According to the SCJ, in 2011 it entered a two-year lease agreement with Wright for the property, which also contains a two-storey house, with a conditional option to purchase, at a rate of $5,000 per month for the first year, and an increase of five per cent every year after.

But, despite a 2013 letter in which it indicated to Wright that it would extend the lease for one year and demanded outstanding rental payments of $159,150, no formal agreement was signed to extend the lease and the option to purchase was never followed up.

The SCJ said in 2014 it wrote to Wright indicating that the two-year lease he was granted in 2011 would not be extended and gave him “notice to quit and deliver up possession of the property… on or before July 4, 2014”.

According to the SCJ, at that time Wright owed $127,650 in lease payments.

“The records disclosed that Mr Wright had disputed the quantum of rent that had been demanded by SCJ, in response to which SCJ wrote to Mr Wright, on June 23, 2014 advising that, ‘in light of your claim to a discrepancy between your record and ours, we ask that you supply us with copies of all the receipts in your possession for lease rental and utility charges pertaining to the… property’.

“There is no evidence on file that Mr Wright ever produced to SCJ any of the alleged receipts,” said the company.

The SCJ added that its records show that between 2019 and now Wright made three payments totalling $60,500 for electricity charges, but based on its estimate of his electricity consumption he should have paid just under $3 million.

Responding to the MP’s claim that he was due money from the SCJ, which was to be used to offset his lease payments, the company said a different entity — the Sugar Company of Jamaica — owed Wright just under $600,000 for redundancy and motor vehicle allowance based on his former role as operations manager of Frome Sugar Factory which was shuttered in 2011.

“If this were to be applied to Mr Wright’s debt to SCJ, there would still remain an unpaid balance of $3,052,870.08,” SCJ said as it indicated that it will be instructing its lawyers to file a claim in the Supreme Court seeking recovery of the property and all sums remaining due to it.

Responding to the latest salvo from SCJ yesterday, Wright told the Jamaica Observer that he is prepared to go to court as he is confident that he is correct in his position on the dispute.

“The SCJ’s calculation is false and it is based on an assumption that is wrong,” Wright said.

In a subsequent release Wright listed his payments and money owed to him by the SCJ as $725,000, while he said his obligations to the agency was approximately $744,000, leaving him with a credit of almost $19,000.

“I have documentation that the utility payment was $10,500 per month and I have proof and cheques that all was paid up to 2014,” added Wright as he argued that any legal action by the SCJ could not be only against him.

“The matter does not only involve Victor Wright. There is a group of us, and a citizens’ association of which I am a part, and that court action would definitely apply to all of us. There are about 60 of us and we are writing to the permanent secretary [in the Ministry of Agriculture] to resolve this matter. If they want to go to court, I have already advised my lawyer,” declared Wright.

The MP argued that the 2014 notice for him to vacate the property was disputed and a meeting was held during which the residents outlined their position to representatives of SCJ Holdings and its lawyers.

“At that meeting we asked SCJ if we could get the sub-division plans. So Mr [Joseph] Shoucair, [managing director of SCJ] is out of his depth and he doesn’t have the facts as it relates to the case,” added Wright.