Philipsburg:--- As the 2013 carnival season is approaching its end which is scheduled for May 2nd, 2013, the SCDF is now faced with a possible court litigation which will be filed by TELEM Group of Companies with whom SCDF has signed a sponsorship agreement and has given the company certain exclusive rights.
TELEM through its lawyers sent SCDF a letter on April 17th, 2013 pointing out some of their concerns and the infringements on the part of SCDF which they claimed has tremendously affected their commercial department. TELEM also dispatched a letter to the Department of New Works which is headed by Kurt Ruan informing him that its tenant SCDF has breached its agreement by allowing Chippie to sell SIM cards, provide WIFI services, and to also run adverts beside the stage on April 22nd when they were promoting the launch of the BBZ10.
The letter that was sent to Ruan dated April 26th, 2013 states that SCDF has left them no choice but to take legal action. TELEM pointed out in its letter to Ruan that SCDF allows Chippie (UTS) to sell telecom services at booth 79 which also includes top-ups. The company asked Ruan to summon the President of SCDF Michael Granger to refrain from performing activities that would infringe on their rights and breach the SOG agreement TELEM entered in 2007 as a corporate investor and sponsor to the Festival Village. According to information provide to SMN News, TELEM has an agreement with New Works for the stage they built inside the Festival Village to the tune of $1.2 million United States Dollars. However, that agreement it is understood has affected Festival Village tremendously because other sponsors have refused to use the Festival Village while TELEM's banner is hanging on the stage. According to information provided to SMN News, anyone who desires to use the Festival Village and wants the TELEM banner down for a one night event has to pay the company $20,000.00 due to the fact that TELEM has an agreement to have its banner hanging on the stage at all times. SMN News tried contacting Ruan on Sunday for a comment but he could not be reached by telephone.
TELEM Group also dispatched a letter to the President of SCDF Michael Granger on April 26th, 2013 informing him of their dissatisfaction on the breach of their Sponsorship Agreement. The four page letter pointed out a number of areas of the agreement that SCDF breached. In that letter, TELEM claims that SCDF gave them exclusive rights for several events and or locations. They stated that SCDF neglected TELEM exclusive Telecom rights for services in the Festival Village.
TELEM further claims that SCDF infringed the sponsorship agreement with their direct competitor Chippie. Below this article the letters that were sent to Ruan and Granger are linked.
While TELEM claims that SCDF gave them exclusive rights for certain events and locations, on March 26th, 2013 Chippie issued a press release indicating that they have partnered with SCDF whom they dubbed as the largest contributor to carnival in recent years. The press release stated that Chippie contributed $50,000.00 to the 2013 carnival season. The grand parade to be held on April 30th is to be dubbed the Chippie Grand Carnival Parade. Below is the link with the press release that was published by SMN News on behalf of SCDF. President of the SCDF Michael Granger could not be reached for a comment on Sunday.
Click here to view the letters sent by TELEM to Kurt Ruan and SCDF President Michael Granger.
Click here to view the press release by Chippie on March 26, 2013.
