Oops! Ramesh apologizes to former UNC MP's

Tabaquite MP Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj facing a possible lawsuit over statements he made at a public meeting has clarified his statement and apologized to former opposition MPs.

Last week attorney Robin Montano wrote to Maharaj threatening to take legal action on behalf of former UNC MPs Gerald Yetming, Ganga Singh and Manohar Ramsaran for saying that Jack Warner had paid their salaries during the 18-18 tied Parliament when opposition members did not get paid.

Other former MP's have also expressed alarm at Maharaj's statements, which they have said is not true.

Maharaj is now saying that his comments were directed at current MP's not former members. And he offered an apology saying, "to the remote extent that any such inference can be drawn from any such statement I made, it is regretted and I withdraw them."

Speaking at a public meeting in Fyzabad, the Tabaquite MP said: "The context in which my statements were made clearly show that I was not referring to former Opposition Members of Parliament. I was referring to certain existing Opposition Members of Parliament who were launching attacks on Mr Jack Warner."

With reference to the comments in Freeport, which have become the subject of a threatened lawsuit Maharaj said, "It is also clear to me that any reasonable listener to the meeting would not have concluded that my statements were directed towards any former Opposition Members of Parliament."

He phrased his comments carefully: "Although the statement I made at the public meeting on this matter were not directed to any of the past Opposition Members of Parliament and were also not directed to all of the existing Opposition Members of Parliament, I wish to say that to the extent that it could be said that any reference was made to them or could be regarded as being directed to them, this was neither my intention nor a reasonable conclusion to draw from the words I used in my speech and the context in which they were said."

Maharaj said Warner has made public statements that he provided financial help to certain former Opposition Members of Parliament and to certain existing Opposition Members of Parliament that was equivalent to their salaries during the period of the 18-18 tie.