(Trinidad Express) Minister of Works and former Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation special adviser Jack Warner announced yesterday that he has “initiated legal proceedings to sue Trinidadian journalist Lasana Liburd, who resorted to completely unacceptable defamation and libel” in reporting on funds intended for the Haiti Football Association in the wake of the devastating earthquake in 2010.
Warner has retained the services of English QC William McCormick.
According to Warner: “The message (posted by Liburd) was re-tweeted by numbers of equally deranged and malicious persons who never checked Liburd’s claim for its veracity, nor did they research independently whether there was any truth whatsoever in the nasty allegation…
“I shall take advice on which other persons shall be joined to the suit and categorically state that not only did I never misappropriate aid money destined for Haiti, but have personally made additional funds available to the 30-plus victims and their families who were buried under the collapsed Haitian Football Association building,” Warner claimed.
“I am thoroughly disgusted by the level of malice and nastiness some persons resort to and have decided that I can no longer tolerate the continued lies and wrongful allegations permanently levied against me by people who consider themselves to be above the law. I am appalled that persons whom I have known to be quality journalists in the past, are now jumping on the ‘destroy Warner’ bandwagon and thoughtlessly, if not senselessly, take any lie for granted that they come across these days and which further maligns and defames me.”