(Trinidad Express) FIRED minister of the people and social development Dr Glenn Ramadharsingh yesterday said he would be taking all steps necessary to prevent the further publication of any article that may be “injurious” to his reputation. Ramadharsingh made the statement following an exclusive article published in the Sunday Express entitled “Glenn in Sex Probe”.
In the article, it was stated that police are currently investigating claims made by 47-year-old mother Patricia Singh that Ramadharsingh forced her to perform sex acts in order to fast track a Housing Development Corporation (HDC) application. Ramadharsingh “categorically and unequivocally” refuted all of Singh’s allegations. “I refer to allegations published/printed/raised in a daily newspaper dated Sunday April 06, 2014 headlined ‘GLENN IN SEX PROBE’,” Ramadharsingh said in a release. “I wish to categorically and unequivocally refute all allegations contained in the aforementioned article, and to further state that such a report is misleading, baseless and without any merit whatsoever,” he stated. Ramadharsingh, whose wife Arlene is pregnant, said the issue has caused “personal hurt, pain and psychological suffering” to his family and he will be referring the issue to his attorneys.
“As such, given the gravity of the matter, and the personal hurt, pain, and psychological suffering it has brought to me and my family, I have now referred this matter to my legal counsel/attorneys for their immediate attention and will take all necessary steps to stop the publication of any further article, electronic, printed, or otherwise, which may be injurious to my reputation, and in addition to restore my personal and that of my family’s identity and reputation,” he said.
The allegations made by Singh come on the heels of Ramadharsingh being axed from the People’s Partnership Cabinet by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar. On March 25, Persad-Bissessar advised President Anthony Carmona to revoke Ramadharsingh’s appointment as Minister of the People and Social Development. Persad-Bissessar’s action came 11 days after the Express exclusively reported, in a story by investigative journalist Denyse Renne, that police were investigating a report of disorderly behaviour by Ramadharsingh on board a domestic flight from Tobago to Trinidad on March 16. Caribbean Airlines Ltd (CAL) flight attendant Ronelle Laidlow, 25, filed a complaint that the minister’s hand touched her breast when he reached for her ID badge, which was pinned to her blouse, and threatened to have her fired. Two official reports were made by the flight attendant—to the security department of the Airports Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (AATT) and Piarco police sub-station. Ramadharsingh subsequently apologised for his behaviour, saying he was suffering from “severe fatigue”, but denied touching Laidlow or threatening to have her fired.
