Attorney General Anand Ramlogan has filed yet another defamation lawsuit against Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley, this time for his role in the controversial E-mailgate scandal. It comes almost three weeks after Ramlogan produced correspondence from Google Inc which he said invalidated a thread of incriminating e-mails purportedly sent between him, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and other senior government ministers.
According to the documents, filed in the Port-of-Spain High Court yesterday afternoon, Ramlogan is alleging that Rowley committed slander when he spoke extensively on the alleged conspiracy at a public meeting in San Juan, days after he revealed the e-mails in Parliament on May 20 last year. While Ramlogan’s lawyers admitted that Rowley could not be sued for his statement in the House of Representatives as it fell under parliamentary privilege, they said he had no protection for his subsequent comments. “The words complained of and the entirety of the Croisee speech made by the defendant have exposed the claimant to public scandal, ridicule and contempt and has caused his name, and office to be brought into odium and disrepute and further caused him humiliation, embarrassment and distress,” the lawsuit stated.
In addition to general and aggravated damages from Rowley for damage to his reputation, Ramlogan is also seeking more than $1.2 million in legal fees in defending the “reckless” allegation, including US$75,000 spent to sue Google to clarify the issue. The fee is still pending, with Ramlogan’s legal team in the United States still involved in a lawsuit filed by the Integrity Commission which is seeking similar information in its probe of the issue.
Ramlogan’s lawyers criticised Rowley’s handling of the situation as they questioned his admission of a six-month delay between receiving, sending them to the President and eventually revealing them in Parliament. “He could have, but did not, personally reported the matter directly to the Integrity Commission and/or the Commissioner of Police so that the matter could have been properly investigated,” the court documents said. They also accused Rowley of using the e-mails to exploit a political opportunity and of being “driven by purely selfish political ambition. “The defendant was reckless in making these false statements as he had ample time to verify the authenticity of the document containing the alleged e-mails which he claims was anonymously deposited in his mail box,” Ramlogan’s lawyers said.
In his documents to support his claim of the bogus nature of the e-mail thread, Ramlogan refered to an affidavit from Google’s custodian of records Chi Nguyen sent to him on the completion of his lawsuit in a California court on August 22. Ramlogan was careful to note that his request was not limited to the header information on the e-mail, which were already ruled questionable by two local information technology experts hired by him. “Google also searched the contents of the claimant’s e-mail account to determine whether the alleged e-mails were sent or received by him or the Honourable Prime Minister. “Every single e-mail that was sent by the claimant to the Honourable Prime Minister and vice-versa for the relevant period was in fact produced by Google to eliminate any doubt,” the lawsuit stated. Ramlogan is being represented by Senior Counsel Pamela Elder and attorneys Kelvin Ramkissoon, Gerald Ramdeen and Richard Jagai.
Ramlogan Speaks: Contacted yesterday, Ramlogan said he decided to file the lawsuit to protect the integrity of the Government. He said since assuming office in 2010 he was repeatedly hit with baseless attacks from Rowley. Ramlogan said the lawsuit was one of several he had filed against Rowley, including for accusations made against him in the Section 34 fiasco, pertaining to the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and for allegations that he awarded State briefs to his former law chambers.
While he admitted that all the cases are still pending in court, Ramlogan said: “It is interesting that he has been in default of several court directions and orders whereby he has failed to produce any evidence to substantiate his outrageous accusations.” Stating the PNM was in a “credibility crisis”, Ramlogan warned citizens to be cautious with that party’s criticism of the Government. “He is prepared to sacrifice the truth on the alter of political expediency when it suits him,” Ramlogan said.
History of E-mailgate: During a motion of no confidence in Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on May 20, last year, Rowley produced the list of 31 e-mails allegedly sent between Prime Minister, Attorney General, Local Government Minister and the National Security Minister as he accused them of “high crime” and “misbehaviour of public office”. The conspiracy involved harming a T&T Guardian journalist who had broken the Section 34 story, spying on the DPP’s office, leaning on Chief Justice Ivor Archie to appoint DPP Roger Gaspard as a judge and a plot to cover up the entire affair.
Rowley read out the e-mails in Parliament after waiting on then president George Maxwell Richards to act on the same information for some six months, having forwarded it to him in 2012. The parties implicated in the plot all denied any wrongdoing with the PM, asking acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams to launch an investigation into the incident, the result of which is still pending. In an effort to clear his name Ramlogan filed the lawsuit against Google earlier this year, with the internet giant acceding to the request last month. The Integrity Commission’s investigation is ongoing with their lawsuit still pending before the US court. Ramlogan has intervened in the lawsuit using his Google response which he said negated the need for further investigation.
