Opposition Chief Whip Gail Teixeira has been threatened with legal action by Minister of Public Telecommunications, Cathy Hughes.
The legal notice is in relation to revelations made by Teixeira that Minister Hughes’ company, VideoMega Production, has received a government contract from the Ministry of the Presidency’s Department of Energy.
Teixeira told Inews that the letter is an attempt to muzzle transparency and her freedom of expression.
“This is all…muzzling transparency. Why must these things be hidden? Why must these things not come to the public’s attention? That’s the truth and the truth must come out,” she stated.
The PPP Executive Member explained that the letter, dated April 16, was only delivered to Freedom House today.
Further, she said the letter asked for a public apology and $10M compensation. But according to Teixeira, she will not comply with those demands.
“Well I’m not going to apologise and I’m not going to pay ten million dollars compensation. Let’s go to court and let the court decide…. They admitted to the contracts, they admitted to what I said,” Teixeira said.
In addition to Teixeira, Minister Hughes has also sued Stabroek News and columnist, former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran, $20M over publications which says that she was in breach of the Integrity Commission Act.
After receiving widespread criticism when it was revealed that her multimedia company, Videomega Production, has received a contract from the Energy Department, Minister Hughes had said that she relinquished her duties on the day-to-day operations of the company since 2015.
However, Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo on Wednesday disclosed that this is not true. He revealed that the minister has been signing cheques to suppliers as recent as late last year.
To this end, Jagdeo called for a thorough probe into the issue.
