Finding a number of publications made in 2017 by the Guyana Chronicle against proprietor of the SleepIn International Hotel Clifton Bacchus, Pasha Global Inc. and Yokohama Trading Guyana Inc to have been defamatory, Justice Sandil Kissoon yesterday awarded a total of $52.5 million in damages to the three.
According to a press release from Bacchus’ attorneys Manoj Narayan, Rajendra Jaigobin and Anuradha Deodasingh, the court found that the articles were maliciously published.
It said the court also found that the articles sought to give the impression that Bacchus had no independent legitimate source of income.
Counsel for the claimants, according to the release, said the court found that the articles lowered Bacchus’ reputation, discredited his company in its trade and business and destroyed its financial standing in the business community.
In the action filed by Bacchus against Guyana National Newspapers Limited, which is the publisher of the Guyana Chronicle, and the editor, Justice Kissoon awarded $25 million as general damages and an additional $2.5 million as exemplary damages.
Meanwhile, in the matter of Pasha and Yokohama, the judge awarded $12.5 million to each company.
The Court is said to have also granted permanent injunctions restraining the Chronicle from publishing any statement whatsoever of and concerning the claimants which suggests or tend to suggests that their business are associated with or funded by criminal conduct.
Further, the state-owned newspaper has been ordered to remove the offending articles from its website within 48 hours from yesterday.
Attorneys for the claimants outlined in the press release that the award of compensation was motivated by aggravating factors such as “the defendant’s despicable conduct, malice on the part of the defendant— willful and express, the publication of false statements as facts knowing that the facts in the articles were not true, failure to apologize to the claimants or publish a retraction and failure to take cognizance of the documents in their possession—that is—Clifton Bacchus’s Casino Licence Application.”
According to the lawyers, the Chronicle had in its possession at the time of publication financial statements which the court found established that Bacchus had registered financial charges secured on his assets for almost one billion dollars yet the Chronicle portrayed him as being without legitimate income among other things.
The attorneys said the court found that first publication was made a day before the Gaming Authority was expected to visit SleepIn for an inspection pursuant to an application for a casino licence and that the second publication was made a day after the Gaming Authority’s visit and was done “maliciously” to influence the process and/or to ensure that Bacchus was refused a casino licence.
The lawyers in their release said the court found that the Chronicle failed to verify the facts and that they were aware that Bacchus had issued a statement on the 15th August, 2017, after the first publication and nevertheless went on to publish a more elaborate and malicious article on the 17th August, 2017 while failing to carry Bacchus’ statement.
The lawyers said that the court found that the publications “were beyond libelous and were reckless, baseless and irresponsible and that the defendants were motivated by expressed malice for an improper purpose.”
On the 21st August, 2017, Bacchus, Pasha Global Inc. and Yokohama Trading instituted legal proceedings against the Chronicle for defamation resulting from the publication of two articles published on the front page and on page 3 of the newspaper on the 15th August, 2017.
