http://www.targetgoa.com/newsd-Lyndon-s-2002-conviction-GTDC-appt-illegal-Aires-435
Lyndon's 2002 conviction; GTDC appt illegal - Aires 2010-06-12 Lyndon's previous 15-month conviction makes his appointment as Director and Vice-Chairman of GTDC illegal. So says Adv. Aires Rodrigues who revealed that in 2002 Lyndon Monteiro was convicted and sentenced to a total of 15 months imprisonment by a Margao Court under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act for issuing six dud cheques to a Vasco based businessman Mr. Rudradevan Ellath amounting to a total of for Rs six lakhs. Adv. Rodrigues has stated that Section 274(1)(d) of the Companies Act mandates that a person shall not be appointed director of a company, if he has been convicted by a court of any offence involving moral turpitude and sentenced in respect thereof to imprisonment for not less than six months and a period of five years has not elapsed from the date of expiry of the sentence. Monteiro's conviction was in 2002 by Judicial Magistrate First Class, Vasco Mrs. Kshama Joshi on 11th Feb. The order was upheld n 10 June 2003 by South Goa Additional Sessions Judge Desmond D’Costa who dismissed Monteiro's appeal and sent him to jail that very day. Lyndon Monteiro, says Aires Rodrigues, was imprisoned at Sada Sub-Jail at Vasco from 10th June 2003 to 16th September 2003. The matter was later compounded in the High Court after Monteiro paid Rudradevan Ellath the Rs 6 lakh to avoid undergoing a further year in jail. In view of the sentence imposed by the Court on Lyndon Monteiro he could not have been appointed as a Director and Vice-Chairman of Goa Tourism Development Corporation in November 2007, says Adv Rodrigues. He further pointed out that the Companies Act also provides that in case of appointment of a Director in contravention of law, the appointed director is liable to refund to the Corporation the entire amount received and perks or enjoyed by him at the cost of the Corporation. A Director appointment in contravention of law is liable for imprisonment upto 3 years and also fine of Rs.500/- for every day of default. All expenditure incurred on Lyndon Monteiro by the Goa Tourism Development Corporation must be recovered from him and Adv Rodrigues calls for Lyndon Monteiro's proscecution in accordance with the law. "I have nothing personal against Mickky Pacheco or Lyndon Monteiro," said the activist. "It is high time people in public office learn that they have to be ready for their public and private life to come under the public scanner. Now their guilt or innocence is for the court to decide. I would like to tell the people of Benaulim too that I understand their concern that their elected representative is absconding, but there is no reason for them to threaten to chop off the hands of the police. This is not fair to the police. They are merely doing their job. This is a serious crime." -- DEV BOREM KORUM Gabe Menezes.
