Minister of the People and Social Development Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh intends to take legal action against interim political leader of the Independent Liberal Party (ILP), Jack Warner, for defamation over claims Warner made during a political meeting on Tuesday night. Warner was given 14 days to respond or face legal action from Ramadharsingh. Ramadharsingh is demanding an “unqualified apology” on terms to be agreed by Queen’s Counsel.
He is also asking Warner not to repeat the allegations or any similar allegations and wants monetary compensation for damage to his reputation. In a seven-page pre-action protocol letter sent to Warner, Ramadharsingh’s attorney, Kelvin Ramkisoon, described the claims made by Warner on Tuesday as “baseless.” Warner had claimed during an ILP meeting at New Settlement that a minister owned six multi-million-dollar palatial homes and properties as well as several bank accounts abroad.
“This minister could not even buy two doubles before the May 2010 general elections,” Warner told the audience. He produced photos of what he claimed to be the homes belonging to the minister. One house in central Trinidad was said to belong to a brother of the minister. Another property in central Trinidad, Warner said, was purchased for the minister by a United National Congress contractor in exchange for a $36 million contract.
Warner also claimed another house, also in central Trinidad, was purchased for the minister by a Tunapuna businessman, who in exchange had some of his properties rented by the minister’s ministry at exorbitant rents. “I took this information to the Minister of Gender, Youth and Child Development, Marlene Coudray, and have showed her documents of several crooked land deals involving this same minister,” Warner claimed.
The letter said Warner’s claims suggested Ramadharsingh was the minister to whom the former national security minister was referring. “It is therefore clear to the reasonable-minded listener that the said words were and did relate to our client as the purported owner of the said properties. “The general knowledge in the public domain at the time of making these statements was that Dr Ramadharsingh’s brother worked as an adviser to the Minister of Energy, ” the letter said.
It added that Warner’s claims also inferred that Ramadharsingh was dishonest and/or unethical and thus unfit to hold public office. It said it also was inferred that Ramadharsingh was motivated by self-gain or reward and his actions and conduct were designed to facilitate that objective.
Ramadharsingh’s attorney said Warner’s statements also could be inferred to mean that Ramadharsingh corruptly solicited and received funds from businessmen in exchange for lucrative state contracts and in so doing he had unjustly and corruptly acquired money for the purchase of palatial, high-priced property.
It was also inferred that Ramadharsingh’s choice of contractors to undertake and perform state work was guided and motivated by his personal relationships or connections with them with the objective of receiving monetary kick-backs, the letter added.