– hints at being misguided
In a bid to overturn a default judgment, which could see him paying Opposition Member of Parliament, Annette Ferguson $20M for libelous statements he made back in 2019, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo told the High Court that his Legal Counsel at the time, the current Attorney General, Anil Nandlall had advised him that the defence was filed.
“I made several inquiries about the filing of a defence, and at all times was under the mistaken impression that the matter had been attended to. I had no reason to believe otherwise and had I known that the defence was not filed, I would have immediately taken steps to ensure that the proper application was made to the Court,” Jagdeo said in his Affidavit to the Court.
On March 11, High Court Judge, Justice Sandra Kurtzious ordered the Vice President to pay Ferguson, the former Minister within the Ministry of Communities, $20M for libelous statements he made against her, which suggested that she used her office as a Minister of Government, to acquire large portions of lands at Eccles on the East Bank of Demerara. Jagdeo had failed to file his defence, and a default judgement was handed down in response to an application by Ferguson.
However, the Vice President, in a Notice of Application, filed on April 1, 2020 asked the Court to set aside the order for default judgment, as well as the Statement of Claim. Through his Legal Counsel Devindra Kissoon, Jagdeo laid down 49 grounds to support his application.
In his Affidavit, while admitting that the Defence was not filed though drafted on January 27, 2020, Jagdeo said both he and his then attorney (Nandlall) were engrossed in the 2020 General and Regional Elections, and court cases that stemmed from the Elections. Nandlall, Jagdeo said, was his Legal Advisor.
“As a result of his responsibilities, I am aware that Mr Nandlall was required to work on elections related matters for more than 20 hours a day during the month of February, 2020, through to the March 2, 2020 elections, as was I.
After the conclusion of the elections, Mr Nandlall continued to be extensively and exclusively engaged in matters relating to elections, including acting as lead counsel to elections related litigations, as well as matters involving a recount of votes which continuously ensued through to August 3, 2020 and thereafter,” Jagdeo explained.
He is now of the belief that Nandlall’s tasks resulted in him inadvertently failing to file the Defence though drafted.
That aside, Jagdeo’s newly assigned Counsel, Devindra Kissoon, told the Court that once Ferguson filed the lawsuit in January, 2020, the Defence was expected to be filed on February 25, 2020. However, he said that was approximately one week before the March 2 General Elections.
“Between January 9, 2020 and February 24, 2021, no action was taken by the Respondent, and accordingly, the matter ought to have been dismissed for delay in accordance with the mandatory provisions of CPR Part 13, and accordingly, in the circumstances, the issuance of the Order was improper and irregular,” Kissoon told the Court.
He added: “For this reason alone, it is respectfully submitted that the Order ought to be set aside and the Statement of Claim dismissed.”
Further, he claimed that Ferguson failed to inform the court that there was an “identical parallel proceeding involving the Guyana Times Newspaper, for which claims are being made based on the same facts and circumstances. “Not only [that the] matter would have been relevant to the Court concerning the assessment of damages, but as a matter of law, the filing of two defamation matters arising out of the same facts and circumstances is improper and impermissible,” the Attorney argued in his application.
It was submitted that the default judgement should not have been granted since the claim against Jagdeo could not have been properly dealt with separately from the case involving Guyana Times.
Kissoon told the Court that his client could prove that Ferguson was granted a house lot under irregular circumstances. Jagdeo alleges that the former Minister with responsibility of Housing had commenced construction of a building within a year of her application for the lot, almost immediately after taking office.
“…the lot that was issued was triple the size of a usual house lot granted to citizens…the price paid for the house lot was less than 20% of the price of house lots that size, [and she] was granted a preferential corner house lot skipping the queue of entitled applicants,” the Attorney submitted.
