In December 17, the presiding Judge Francis Amum granted defense advocate Mr. Gabriel Anyar more time to decide on his next move after rejecting their legal objection.
Addressing journalists after a court session on Monday, Marko Reech – a plaintiff lawyer for axed UAP said the UAP defense team have decided to withdraw their appeal and presented counterclaim allegedly that the firm had settled dismissed staff.
“They came with something called counterclaim, in that claim, they are saying that the plaintiffs from those National Staff – took the money from them, so they are claiming that money also in the same case,” Reech said.
Reech reaffirmed their readiness to reply to the defense lawyer’s claim in the court session scheduled for December 20.
He said the fresh evidence did give details of how much the firm had paid to former staff, adding that they would study the claim and respond.
“Actually, I’m going to pass through the paper, and I will make a clarification on it on Friday. I didn’t read the counterclaim fully – So it’s difficult for me now to disclose it,” he stated.
He claimed that UAP Company is playing what he called ‘delay tactic.’
“They [defense team] are now coming in with the new assumption again. That new assumption, we are going to look at it and we will continue. They are now using the tactic for delaying the case, I don’t think they have any evidence to prove their case,” he said.
In September 2023, 57 national staff of the UAP insurance company staged a strike over what they termed unfair working environment.
They accused the company of unequal payment compared to their foreign counterparts.
However, the company decided to sack the leaders of the national staff association, who later dragged it to court.