National Alliance councilman George Pantophlet wants to know if the Merit Group a financial Services Company had dropped its $2.5 million Lawsuit filed against Smitcoms and Telem Group in a New York court on March 13, 2008. An agreement was entered into between Smitcoms and Merit Group in September of 2005. And according to Merit Group after working 28 months for Smitcoms they had secured a $78 million loan with the Citibank Group. When Smitcoms pulled out of the agreement, Merit Group filed the lawsuit and demanded payments of its consulting fees. During an island council meeting the then commissioner of Telecommunications Maria Buncamper-Molanus had confirmed that indeed a lawsuit was filed and that Smitcoms had contracted a law firm to defend them against the lawsuit. The councilman would like to know how much has been spent in legal fees to date. He wants to remind the executive council who was well aware of the discussions that the longer this process continues in addition to the $2.5 million Merit Group is claiming a monthly amount of $10,000. They are also requesting compensation for their legal fees.
