Judge gives ex-Pres. Donald Ramotar’s $ 20M Judgment Against Kaieteur News
Kaieteur / Canje Oil Blocks signing case….
Kaieteur News Publisher Glenn Lall.
Former president, Donald Ramotar.
Kaieteur News – Justice Navindra Singh yesterday issued a ruling in favor of former President Donald Ramotar in the libel suit that brought him against Kaieteur News and his publisher, Glenn Lall, over announcements related to the signing of Kaieteur Oil Blocks and Canje.
The decision, which was transferred to Ramotar’s defamation claims, assessed the damages in the amount of $ 20M, which includes an assessment of aggravated damages.
The Court also granted interest on the said judgment at a rate of 6% per annum between June 26th, 2019 and March 12th, 2021 and 4% per annum thereafter, until fully paid. The Court awarded the Claimant (Ramotar) the Defendants (Kaieteur News and Glenn Lall) the amount of $ 2.4M as prescribed costs, jointly and severally.
It was also pointed out that if the newspaper and its owner failed to comply with a High Court order, the publisher would be found in contempt of court and potentially liable to imprisonment or its assets confiscated. Lall has already stated his intention to appeal the ruling. The libel suit is the result of several announcements, which claimed that Ramotar “signed the Oil Blocks to four companies that know nothing about oil.”
The full verdict released yesterday, outlined that the newspaper had several publications in June 2019, some of which contained images of robbers and alleged that Ramotar had secretly handed over oil blocks to unknown persons. Other articles gave the impression that the former Head of State and others had taken all the good oil blocks and signed them to individuals who had no experience in the industry.
The newspaper had compared Ramotar’s approved transaction with the corrupt bargains of Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade. This piece carried the heading “Wake up cat GUYANA eating yuh din-naa !!”
It was on those grounds that Ramotar complained to the Court that he was being maliciously targeted and defamated through the newspaper, which enjoys national and international circulation by physical distribution and electronic means via the World Wide Web. Wide.
In addition, the claimant noted that Kaieteur News had called on its readers to tune in to Radio Kaieteur to learn more about the comparison being developed.
The radio broadcasts on Kaieteur Radio discussed the meaning of the published articles [intended for any reasonable person to conclude that reference was being made to the ex-President].
Kaieteur News and its publisher, Glenn Lall, had pleaded to begin defending fair coverage.
During the course of the case, however, the Court found that the newspaper, through its attorney, Nigel Hughes, failed inter alia, to prove its allegations. He noted that there was no evidence to show that the former President acted in a corrupt manner when he granted the license or that he was actually affiliated with the entities that received the licenses.
The document highlighted that Ramotar had admitted that, as President of Guyana, he had signed two (2) agreements granting two (2) Petroleum Search Licenses for the purpose of carrying out search operations in the so-called Kaieteur and Canje Blocks.
Ramotar testified that the discovery of commercial petroleum was not confirmed in those blocks at the time of signing the agreements.
He explained the various reasons and thought processes that informed the signing of the agreement, such as the fact that Venezuela had a territorial dispute over the area, the historical difficulty in getting oil companies in the area, and the fact that the agreements were signed following applications from those companies approved by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC).
On the other hand, the ruling stated that Kaieteur News Publisher disagreed with Ramotar’s assertion that “no oil was found at the time of signing the agreements but did not lead to any evidence to show otherwise.”
Lall testified that the two agreements signed by Ramotar gave contracting companies “exclusive rights to exploration, development and production of petroleum in an area of Guyana described in it as Canje Block and Kaieteur Block.”
Among other things, the Court document stated that Mr Lall testified that the images in the publications were intended to be images of robbers and / or thieves and that he intended to convey that Ramotar had participated in “US $ 100M,” and that he secretly collected money in corrupt bargains.
Further, it was pointed out that Lall had used his evidence in Court to continue casting aspirations on the claimant’s character, knowing that there was no evidence in his possession to substantiate the same.
In its judgment, the Court found that “The defendants have not apologized or expressed any remorse for announcing the libel, in fact Mr Glenn Lall… further used the witness box to make statements attacking the Claimant’s character, to wit , ‘I I say Donald is a corrupt man,’ and ‘I call for Ramotar to be investigated for corruption and crime against the people of Guyana’. ”
As such, in processing the appropriate quantum of damages in this case, the Court took into account that the libel was attacking Ramotar’s personal integrity and professional reputation; that he was and is a very public figure who served in the highest public office of the land; that the nature of the libel is bound to cause distress; hurt and humiliate him; and of course it is a well-established fact that material published on the world wide web is available for public consumption for eternity.