Following reports by former Auditor General Anand Goolsarran that eight futile attempts had been made to serve court papers on Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo for a libel case brought against him, Jagdeo said on Thursday that he was not aware of the number of attempts but said that the documents can be delivered to either the Attorney General or his attorney.
“I won’t know, because I read it in the Stabroek News that it was eight times [he is saying]. Nobody told me that [he came eight times],” Jagdeo said when asked at Thursday’s press conference hosted at Freedom House, Robb Street.
“I am in the public domain. People know my schedule. I was in Linden. They could have come and see me in the public or drop it off by the AG [Attorney General] or my lawyer,” he added.
Jagdeo also added that he was not aware that Court Marshals had visited the PPP/C’s Freedom House office and again suggested that he only learned about those visits when he read about it in the newspapers.
“My lawyer urged them to file this… Just drop it off at the AG Chambers, Anil Nandlall will accept it and I will consider it being served. That is all they have to do. Drop it off there or drop it off at my lawyer,” he added.
Jagdeo said that he is also prepared and ready for the court hearings as he will repeat everything that he said about Goolsarran.
The Vice President said that Goolsarran served as Auditor General when he was President, so when he speaks, it is from a place of knowing what happened and as an authority on events that happened during that period.
“There are lots of things that will be in the affidavit because I was President,” he contended.
The former Auditor General’s lawyers are preparing to return to the court for advice on alternative action to be taken following Wednesday’s eighth unsuccessful attempt to serve 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, had told this newspaper.
“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 had pointed out 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 is suing Jagdeo for over $30 million for alleged slanderous statements Jagdeo made against him at a press conference and at a public rally in March of this year. 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 alleged slander, or restraining same from being printed or published.
