Works and Infrastructure Minister Fitzgerald Hinds yesterday accused former attorney general Anand Ramlogan of being "thin skinned" with regards to political criticism.
He made the suggestion yesterday as he mounted the witness stand at the Port-of-Spain High Court to defend against Ramlogan's defamation lawsuit related to a political speech he made in Sangre Grande in May last year.
"This is a rough business we are in. I have had worst said about me and I did not run to the court," Hinds said as he claimed he was still in shock that Ramlogan would sue him for statements made on a political platform.
Responding to Hinds' claim after he had completed his evidence, presiding Judge Vasheist Kokaram questioned whether a new defence for defamation by politicians should be introduced by the court.
"Political discussion is not a traditional defence. Is it not time that it is made one or is there a good reason for this?" Kokaram asked. He suggested that attorneys for both politicians file submissions on the issue, which would be considered by him in his eventual judgment in the case.
Ramlogan's claim centers around Hinds' speech in which he alleged of a rift between Ramlogan and former solicitor general Eleanor Donaldson-Honeywell over a letter she sent to the prime minister, in which she alleged of fraud and corruption in litigation against the State by prisoners who claimed to have been abused by prison officers.
Donaldson-Honeywell eventually resigned and has since taken up a post as a High Court Judge.Hinds yesterday repeatedly denied he intended to defame or malign Ramlogan in his speech.
"I did not act with any malice or to destroy anybody's reputation. I sought to address an issue so the public could make its own informed decision," Hinds said.
Quizzed by Ramlogan's lawyer Avory Sinanan, SC, over the basis of his speech, in which he claimed that Ramlogan misled the public on allegations allegedly leveled against him by Donaldson-Honeywell, Hinds stated that he relied on media reports and on information from key members of staff in the office of the AG.
Hinds admitted that when he made the statements, he only had Donaldson-Honeywell's initial letter to the prime minister from August 2013 and not a subsequent correspondence sent months later in which she said that the PM's office did not need to investigate the allegations commonly refered to as Prisongate, as investigations had been set up by the Inspector of Prisons, Law Association and the police by then.
Sinanan also interrogated Hinds on part of his speech in which he claimed that former Independent Senator Dana Seetahal, SC, was murdered days after she stated she had sight of Donaldson-Honeywell's correspondence in her weekly newspaper column.
"You linked her death with her sight of the letter and in so doing you were implicating Ramlogan in her murder," Sinanan said.
"Absolutely not! I was explaining that if she was still with us, I would have spoken to her to get information on this matter," Hinds said as he shook his head.
Kokaram is expected to deliver his judgment in the case next April 22.