Derek Achong
Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
Finance Minister Colm Imbert has recorded another legal victory in his defamation lawsuit against Progressive Empowerment Party (PEP) political leader Phillip Edward Alexander.
Delivering an oral judgment after hearing submissions at the Hall of Justice in Port-of-Spain this morning, appellate judges Mark Mohammed, Ronnie Boodoosingh, and Geoffrey Henderson rejected Alexander’s appeal challenging the decision of a judge to uphold the case and order $525,000 in compensation.
The appeal panel ruled that High Court Judge Jacqueline Wilson could not be criticised for her handling of the case.
Justice Mohammed rejected complaints from Alexander’s lawyer Gregory Armorer over Justice Wilson’s failure to individually consider the series of statements made by Alexander.
Justice Mohammed said that there was compelling justification for dealing with the seven statements cumulatively.
He pointed out that the posts were made over a 24-hour period, on the same medium, and were related.
Justice Mohammed and his colleagues also agreed with their colleague’s assessment of the compensation for Imbert.
“Having regard to the nature of the defamation in this case, the judge’s award was not inordinately high,” he said.
As part of their decision, the judges ordered Alexander to pay Imbert’s legal costs for the case.
Imbert confirmed the outcome of the appeal in a post on his X (formerly Twitter) account.
“The decision of the High Court was AFFIRMED,” he said.
The lawsuit pertained to Alexander’s posts on his Facebook page over several hours between 29 February 2020 and 1 March 2020.
Alexander alleged that Imbert had purchased an exotic Swedish sports car for US$2 million by using foreign exchange he obtained by corrupt means or by abusing his office as Minister of Finance.
Imbert denied any wrongdoing and filed the case, which was upheld by Justice Wilson in October 2023.
In the judgment, Justice Wilson said Alexander’s statements did not meet the criteria of fair comment. She found Alexander failed to “establish that the steps he had taken to gather and publish the information were responsible and fair.”
“Although there is a significant public interest in determining that foreign exchange reserves are distributed in a fair and transparent manner, the defendant has failed to demonstrate that he took reasonable steps to verify that the allegations made against the claimant were true,” she said.
“The tone of the publications was neither measured nor circumspect but may be labelled as cavalier or even dramatic,” she added.
Justice Wilson based the award of damages on several similar judgments including another defamation case Alexander lost against businessman Andrew Gabriel.
Presenting submissions in the appeal, Imbert’s lawyer Russell Martineau, SC, stated that all but one of the seven statements was clearly defamatory.
“That is not no joke lie. This is more than picong,” Martineau said.
“It is the man’s reputation that is being tarnished in a very serious way,” he added.
Imbert was also represented by Jason Mootoo, SC, and Romney Thomas. Alexander was represented by Gregory Armorer.