AG sues Volney

Anand Ramlogan is suing his former cabinet colleague, Herbert Volney. The Attorney General is claiming that the former MP for St Joseph made defamatory statements in an internet email blog. He said Volney acted out of malice and was motivated by a desire to rehabilitate his own reputation on being fired from Government.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessasr fired Volney on September 20, 2012, for misleading Cabinet and Government in respect of the early proclamation of provisions of Section 34 of the Administration of Justice (Indictable Proceedings) Act 2011. She told the nation Volney misinformed the Cabinet and the Government on the matter.

In detailing the events leading to the proclamation, Persad-Bissessar had said Volney gave the cabinet the clear impression that the chief justice and DPP were supportive of the legislation. It turns out, she said, that the minister misled his cabinet colleagues.

She said there are two issues that govern the way the cabinet works - the individual responsibility of the minister and the collective responsibility of the cabinet. What happened in the case of Section 34 is that the minister failed in his individual responsibility by what she called "serious misrepresentations".

Persad-Bissessar apologised to the nation. "To the people of Trinidad and Tobago, to His Excellency the President of Trinidad and Tobago, to the Parliament of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, to the Chief Justice and the DPP, on behalf of my government I express my sincerest apology," she said.

Read the story (and full statement from the PM): 
Kamla fires Volney, offers apology to nation
    
Ramlogan's lawyers are seeking aggravated and exemplary damages for the libel, which they claim was published on the internet chat forum on Yahoo via herbvol52@hotmail.com, which the lawsuit contends belongs to Volney.

They claim that Volney's statements on the chat forum allege impropriety on Ramlogan’s part in relation to Section 34 and allege that the AG abused his office by coercing Chief Justice Ivor Archie and DPP Roger Gaspard, to join in a conspiracy to get rid of the former minister.