Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar says the “slanderous” claims by ILP leader Jack Warner that he funded her and the UNC’s 2010 general election campaign have been referred to her attorneys.
Speaking to reporters after the annual Indian Arrival Day celebration at the Parvati Girl’s Hindu College yesterday, Persad-Bissessar also denied that her party went to contractors around the country on a campaign financing drive in 2010.
“I did get a copy of what he actually said. I have placed his slanderous statements in the hands of my lawyers. There is absolutely no truth in the words I heard him speak in a press interview and from his platform.
“It is in the hands of my lawyers. The statements are totally untrue and go beyond being untrue but slanderous and defamatory. This matter is not about me. The predicament he has found himself in has nothing to do with me and, therefore, he should concentrate his defence with respect to the matters being brought against him.”
During an ILP meeting in Chaguanas on Thursday, Warner told supporters that as a consequence of Government having him jailed, he would record four videotapes detailing their wrongdoings. However, Persad-Bissessar said she was not worried as he was accustomed to making threats.
“I am not worried at all. If you recall every single year and even before I became Prime Minister, the gentleman has threatened. I don’t see it as threats, I see them as ranting and raving. He has always threatened about having files. He then comes and says he has no files and now he says he has more files. I am not concerned about those.
“I am not concerned because his allegations are not true, but should he become slanderous in his manner, I will place it in the hands of my lawyers.”
Asked if Warner’s charges of bribery and corruption by the US Justice Department were an indictment of her Government, she said even Jesus’ disciples betrayed him.
Although she acknowledged that allegations of corruption surrounded Warner even before he joined the UNC, she said there was no evidence to support the allegations.
However, she said, when a Concacaf ethics committee report by Sir David Simmons found Warner guilty of “gross impropriety” with regard to millions of US dollars, she requested and received his resignation.