Anil suing media and his party chairman over false reports

Anil Roberts said on Thursday he was "stunned and shocked" at a newspaper report on Wednesday and a followup story Thursday by the Guardian newspaper that said he was under investigation by the director of Public Prosecution (DPP). 

He said the story was not not true since he was never under investigation by the Integrity Commission or the DPP. He added that his attorney, Shastri Roberts, who is his brother, has received a letter from the Integrity Commission confirming that he was not under investigation and that it had not sent any file for investigation to the DPP.

Roberts read from the letter from Martin Farrell, Registrar of the Integrity Commission. 

Anil Roberts displays the letter from the Integrity Commission

The letter to Sastri Roberts stated: "Please be advised that your client the Honourable Minister of Sport has not been referred to the DPP by the office of the Integrity Commission as was described in the stated article. The office of the IC will be issuing a public announcement to this effect.”

The Sports Minister said he has sent a pre-action protocol letter to the paper, the reporter in question, Anika Gumbs-Sandiford, and the editor-in-chief of the paper, Judy Raymond, demanding a complete retraction and financial compensation. He said the reporter and the editor should be "ashamed" for letting down their profession.

"I would not accept anything but a full resolution" of the matter, Roberts said, especially a front page retraction and financial compensation. Roberts added that he has also written the owners of Guardian media to complain about the breach of professionalism and ethics by the two people in question.

The sports minister also said he is suing other media, including I95.5 and the Express, as well as commentators for the false story which he said was designed to embarrass and ridicule him, his party, his government and the country. He said the reporter even fabricated a quote attributed to him and added that he never spoke to the reporter or any other media person on the matter.

The minister said he also plans to send legal letters to Reginald Dumas and Bishnu Ragoonath, whom he described as a men of integrity. He said be believes that both men were duped by the reporter and the Guardian in commenting on the matter and added that an apology alone from them would suffice.

Roberts also said he is also suing Carolyn Seepersad-Bachan, chair of the Congress of the People (COP), for taking issue with him without verifying the details. He said his issue is with the Seepersad-bachan, not the party of which he is a member.

With respect to a meeting to which he was summoned by the COP chair Roberts said he is not attending any such meeting since it was called on the basis of a falsehood.

Roberts expressed disappointment with the Seepersad-Bachan for acting against him without checking the facts. On the other hand he praised his political leader, Prakash Ramadhar, whom he said dealt with the matter professionally as did other Members of Parliament. 

Roberts said while all his colleagues were pleased to learn that the story was not true, Seepersad-Bachan still seemed to express alarm after reading the letter from the Integrity Commission verifying that there was no investigation and that no file was ever sent to the DPP.