Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley has demanded Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar immediately remove from her Facebook page statements he describes as libellous. He wants the Prime Minister to remove the posts made on May 11 and 12 and apologise, or face legal action.
The Prime Minister has until 4 pm next Monday to respond.
Rowley yesterday released a pre-action protocol letter through Al-Rawi and Company — headed by PNM Senator Faris Al-Rawi — to this effect. Al-Rawi had been removed from Rowley’s legal team in the case against former attorney general Anand Ramlogan earlier in the year, but is acting on this matter.
The letter noted the alleged emails which Rowley presented to the Parliament in May 2013. It pointed out what Rowley had said to the Parliament when he presented the emails and that he also called on the Director of Public Prosecutions to examine the issue and the Integrity Commission to investigate it.
The letter stated that Government filed a motion of suspension against Rowley, although nowhere in the motion or other matters on the issue was it alleged that Rowley was personally responsible for fabricating the emails.
With that in mind, the letter drew attention to a post on the PM’s Facebook page of May 11 concerning the emails.
The letter claimed that the post was authored and/or caused to be authored and/or authorised and/or published by Persad-Bissessar. It also noted another similar Facebook post on May 12.
Rowley’s attorney stated that Rowley had been very careful in his presentation to Parliament, and subsequent presentations and interviews, to set out how he came to be in possession of the emails. See pages A4 and A5
In light of the situation, the letter demanded that the PM immediately remove the offending words from her Facebook page, apologise immediately on the page — in terms to be approved by Rowley’s attorneys — and give an undertaking not to repeat the offending words or similar words. Also demanded by Rowley’s attorneys is a proposal with respect to the payment of a substantial sum in damages to compensate him for injury to his reputation.