Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal intends to launch a “defence in democracy fund” in his constituency in order to raise money to pay legal fees in his court battle with Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley.
In the coming days, Moonilal said QC Richard Clayton, who he has retained from the United Kingdom, will arrive here to begin preparing his case. Clayton handles human rights and constitutional court matters.
Moonilal made the disclosure during yesterday’s tea break in Parliament, hours after Rowley called on him to apologise, shut up and retract the statement he made in last Tuesday’s Budget debate, where he allegedly linked Rowley to transaction at a Miami bank account involving A&V Drilling.
Rowley has described the allegation as a monstrous lie and through his attorney, Michael Quamina is now seeking damages apart from an apology. But Moonilal said he had no intention of doing any of this.
“We will not shut up. You have discovered that there is no apology and there is no retraction of anything because the matter is now heading to the court,” Moonilal said.
Moonilal assured the PM that “this matter will not go away” nor will he be gagged, silenced or muzzled.
He said when Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar unearthed the alleged $100 million fake oil scandal with A&V Drilling and Petrotrin, she was also served with a lawsuit of defamation.
“It’s a strategy that when you raise these issues the first thing they all do is try to use the court as a weapon to shut you up.”
Having held discussions with attorney Anand Ramlogan (former attorney general) and Clayton, Moonilal said they are eager to respond in court. Moonilal said he hoped the court hearing would be dealt with swiftly since he was eager to hear Rowley under cross-examination by his legal team.
“A key objective of this is not to get justice... is really to shut you up.”
Moonilal said his constituents have indicated they are prepared to establish “a defence in democracy fund, where we will embark on a weekly programme of raising funds for our defence because lawyers have to be paid, of course.”
As for the limit he intends to raise to cover his legal fee, Moonilal did not give a figure.
Asked if he has a strong case against Rowley, a smiling Moonilal said he has been sleeping very comfortably at nights after speaking to Ramlogan.