Housing Minister files libel suit against Jagdeo, Guyana Times

Jan 23, 2020 News

Junior Minister of Communities with the responsibility for Housing, Annette Ferguson, has filed a lawsuit against Opposition Leader, Bharrat Jagdeo, and the Guyana Times claiming in excess of $10 M in damages for libel.

Minister of Communities, Annette Ferguson

The lawsuit stems from the publication of an article by the news outlet that Ferguson used her office as Minister to acquire more than one parcel of lands at Eccles.
The article is based on statements made by Jagdeo at during a press conference.
In the civil action, Ferguson is asking for in excessive of $10 M in damages from Jagdeo and the publication entity for the statements which she said are slanderous and untrue and have caused irreparable damage to her character and reputation.
As such, the Minister has asked the court to consider granting her an injunction which will prevent further publication of reports.
The injunction is to restrain the defendants, their servants, agents and assigns from further publishing, disseminating and circulating to the public and electronically publishing on the World Wide Web words similar to those listed in an article written under the caption of the Guyana Times dated Wednesday, December 11, 2019, titled ‘Opposition Calls Out Minister For Lying About House Lots Allocation.
The matter came up before Justice Gino Persaud at the Georgetown High Court on Tuesday.
Lawyer representing the newspapers, Devindra Kissoon, has since opposed application for an injunction on the grounds that the newspaper is protected by the qualified privilege.
He noted that the Guyana Times was just reporting on statements made by the holder of a public office.
Kissoon is expected to file a defence by January 29.
Meanwhile statement of claim drafted by Ferguson’s attorney, Lyndon Amsterdam, states that on December 11, 2019, an article of the newspaper reported that Jagdeo made allegations against Minister Ferguson, claiming that she has had a swift rise in wealth within two years of becoming a Minister.
He insinuated that she used her office to acquire three plots of land in Eccles on which she is building a sprawling house.
The applicant (Ferguson) is asking Jagdeo and Guyana Times to prove to the court, with evidence, that claims made about misappropriation, rise in wealth, and the Minister’s ownership of three house lots at Eccles, East Bank Demerara (EBD) are true.
She is contending that the tenor and contents of the article suggest that as a Minister in Government, she acquired unexplained wealth by dishonest means.
She is also contending that contents of the article were deliberately written and circulated by the newspaper to tarnish her reputation as a Minister of Government and cause right thinking person’s to think that she is a corrupt and dishonest person.
Ferguson noted that the newspaper also used an aerial picture in support of the article to create the impression to the public that the claims were true that she has more than one parcel of land whilst that is not true.