Rowley wins. Court orders Annisette to pay half a million dollars.

Michael Annisette

A judge in Trinidad on Wednesday ordered former Senator Michael Annisette to pay Opposition Leader Keith Rowley $475,000 and another $160,000 in costs to settle a defamation lawsuit.

Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh made the order in a 28-page judgment.
 
In 2009 Annisette stated in the Senate that Rowley was involved in corruption with respect to the Landate Project in Tobago and the Urban Development Corporation of Trinidad and Tobago (UDeCOTT). He made the accusations under the protection of parliamentary privilege.

However he later told Newsday reporter Clint Chan Tack that he had documents to prove the charges that he made were true. The newspaper published an article based on the interview, although Annisette did not repeat the specific accusations. Rowley sued Annisette based on the story.

The judge acknowledged that Annisette did not repeat the allegations made in the Senate during the interview. However he said there "would have been a sufficient temporal and substantive connection made by the public between the words spoken in the Parliament and the comments made by him in the subsequent interview".

Read related story:
Elias demands Annisette's dismissal from Senate

Related archival story:  
Rowley acted without discretion

RIA TAITT Sunday, October 16 2005