doubt 22

[aditya8062]

In the most bizarre court case this month, the judge ruled that two ping-pong ball
manufacturers owed restitution to four national ping-pong teams for the illegal
weighting of the ping-pong balls in an effort to fix the tournament.

(A) that two ping-pong ball manufacturers owed restitution to four national
ping-pong teams for the illegal weighting of
(B) that two ping-pong ball manufacturers owed restitution to four national
ping-pong teams because of their illegal weighting of
(C) that two ping-pong ball manufacturers owe restitution to four national pingpong
teams for their illegal weighting of
(D) on two ping-pong ball manufacturers that owed restitution to four national
ping-pong teams because they illegally weighted
(E) on the restitution that two ping-pong ball manufacturers owed to four national
ping-pong teams for the illegal weighting of

my doubt: my concern is with the option A . option A uses past tense "owed". if this sentence is about a court case one month old then will it be not more prudent to use the present tense "owe" because the "defaulters" still "owe" that restitution