Guyana’s High Commissioner to India, Charrandas Persaud, has won what was originally a $30 million lawsuit against Alliance For Change Leader Khemraj Ramjattan, albeit with a reduced award of $7 million.
Back in March 2019, Persaud filed a $30 million lawsuit against then Public Security Minister Ramjattan for libel committed after the passage of the No-Confidence Motion on December 21, 2018. In the wake of his vote, Ramjattan would go on to be quoted in various news outlets making the defamatory statements against Persaud cited in the case.
There was one statement in a December 2018 edition of the Guyana Chronicle, titled “Cops closing in on Charrandas”. The court documents also included examples from the Stabroek News edition of January 2019, “Ramjattan: Charrandas Persaud is a villain not a hero”. There is even slander claimed from the visual medium of a Globespan live programme.
“The claimant contended that these published statements were intended to and had the effect of “lowering his reputation, character, morality and honesty as an attorney at law in the eyes of right-thinking members of the public.” The claimant further contended that all of the publications were blatantly false assertions. He claimed that both in their natural and ordinary meaning and by innuendo and implication are understood to mean that the claimant was dishonest and accepted monetary or other inducements or benefits for his yes vote in favour of a motion of no confidence against the Government,” the court document states.
In his defence, Ramjattan had claimed fair comment, as well as claiming that the assertions were of a political nature and that he did not, in fact, have anything to do with the newspaper articles. However, Puisne Judge Joy-Ann Barlow found in favour of Persaud.
One of the court’s assertions was that Ramjattan’s referral to Persaud and 30 pieces of silver, could only be taken to mean that Ramjattan was accusing the former AFC MP of taking a bribe, which was designed to slander him.
“This court in assessing this matter found that an award of $7,000,000 (seven million dollars) is appropriate in the circumstances of this case. The court further orders that the defendant do refrain from making statements that suggest that the claimant was in any way compensated financially for his role in the No-Confidence Motion. The defendant shall pay to the claimant costs in the sum of $150,000 (one hundred fifty thousand dollars) on or before 25th August 2022.”
Persaud had voted in favour of the no-confidence vote brought by then Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo which led to the toppling of the then A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) Government in December 2018.
Following Persaud’s vote against the APNU/AFC, Ramjattan had admitted in January 2019 that there was an ongoing probe against Persaud, who by then had been expelled from the AFC party.
Persaud had responded to the Minister’s accusations by pointing out that he took the conscious vote to eliminate the sufferings of persons in Region Six after the Government unilaterally closed down several sugar estates.
Hours after his historic vote, Persaud boarded a plane at the Eugene F Correia Airport, where he left the country for Canada.
In an interview with Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) following the vote, Persaud had said he made the move to leave Guyana since he was fearful for his own safety because of Guyana’s history of political assassinations.
The CBC reported that Persaud added that the feeling only got stronger after the vote when he said another MP told him he would be dead that night.
“It was not an idle threat I entertained…Thank God for the advent of cell phones. Too many people were watching internationally and locally,” he told CBC.
Persaud added that he did not take any chances and after the sitting, he went directly to the Canadian High Commission in Georgetown where he flew to Barbados and then Toronto.
