Former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran’s lawyers are preparing to return to the court for advice on alternative action to be taken, following yesterday’s eighth unsuccessful attempt to serve Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo with papers relating to the slander lawsuit brought against him.
“This is the eighth attempt to serve Mr. Jagdeo [with] court papers, and again the marshals were told that he was not in and no one wanted to sign and collect it. It is clear he is trying to avoid service of the proceeding,” attorney for Goolsarran, Khemraj Ramjattan, told Stabroek News yesterday.
“Today, I understand, they went again and Mr. Jagdeo’s secretary, that is the secretary to the General Secretary of the PPP, said he was not in. And when she was told that she can accept service because she is an agent or officer to the General Secretary, she refused to accept it and said she would not. So having exhausted trying to serve, and knowing there are other methods a lawyer can use, we are going to utilise the rules of court in lieu of his avoidance and be so guided,” he added.
Ramjattan said that his client was frustrated and could not understand why Jagdeo, a public figure, would want to avoid accepting a court document.
He said that what is also mind-boggling is that persons working with the vice president were also reluctant to accept the document.
“The Secretary and his personal security and so forth, they are agents or officers of the General Secretary and Vice President, yet they refuse to accept [the documents]. People are served like this every day,” Ramjattan stressed.
“As a Vice President, he has secretarial staff and at OP [Office of the President] they are not allowing the marshals to even go past security,” he added.
Goolsarran is suing the Vice President for over $30 million for allegedly slanderous statements he said Jagdeo made against him at a press conference and a public rally back in March of this year.
He has pointed out before that although having filed his statement of claim with the court on September 22, various attempts to serve papers on Jagdeo have been fruitless.
Goolsarran informed that accompanied by a marshal, he has visited Jagdeo’s residence, his Robb Street Freedom House office and the Office of the President on seven occasions, all to no avail.
The former auditor general noted that at the two offices, they are always being told that Jagdeo is not there.
He said that at the final visit to the Office of the President on September 29, the guard contacted Jagdeo’s Secretary, who then enquired whether the visit had anything to do with the action filed by Goolsarran.
Goolsarran said the marshal informed the Secretary that she “was not in a position to discuss it on the phone.” The next response the marshal got, he said, was that Jagdeo was not there.
Meanwhile, during the visit to Jagdeo’s Goedverwagting, East Coast Demerara residence, Goolsarran said they were informed that “he was sleeping and could not be disturbed.”
In his multimillion-dollar suit, Goolsarran said that the statements made by Jagdeo have besmirched his character as they make certain false allegations against him when he served as Auditor General.
He said that they hit at the very core of his integrity and standing both in local and international circles where he is well-known and respected.
Against this background, he is asking the Court to grant a permanent injunction restraining Jagdeo (the defendant) from repeating the slander he alleges, or from causing it to be printed or published.
Goolsarran said that following the utterance of the defamatory statements, he had his attorney write Jagdeo, specifically pointing out the defamation; requesting they be withdrawn and an apology made.
He said that through his lawyer, Jagdeo responded by letter, refusing to withdraw or apologize, contending that “the statements represented fair comment and matters of public interest.”
Goolsarran said that the Vice President then went on to make further defamatory and untrue statements about him in that same response.
One of the claims made against him by Jagdeo, was that he had failed to produce audits for the country for almost a decade, Goolsarran pointed out what he submitted was the reason for this; but was keener in underscoring that he was not even the Auditor General during the period Jagdeo spoke.
