Last Updated on February 27, 2020, 5:44 AM AST by Anthony Morris
The Law Offices of Sylvester Anthony is threatening to take legal action against St Kitts and Nevis’ Minister of Tourism and International Trade, Hon Lindsay Grant and Ambassador of Youth and Culture, Jonel Powell, over statements made arising out of a civil suit in which a judge ordered an assessment of damage involving breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty and failure to account or misappropriation of US$460,000.
Lawyers Sylvester Anthony and Angelina Gracy Sookoo-Bobb alleged that Grant and Powell, who are both members of the Timothy Harris-led Team Unity Government, during the Issues programme on Freedom 106.5 FM made statements “replete with deliberate and calculated, false, and malicious defamatory statements and insinuations of us as professionals and our firm for the sole purpose of doing political damage control emanating out of proceedings brought against you by one of our clients, Mr Tanzil.”
“Despite the gravity of your claims, which you know are untrue or which you could have easily checked with us before publication, you proceeded to make statements posed as ‘facts’. That is no defence to an action for defamation to rely on ‘hurt political feelings’ or ‘desperate attempts to salvage political image.’ Your decision to malign us as Counsel for representing our client while upholding our duty to the Court and to the public without feat or favour and to the best of our abilities was the wrong choice,” Anthony and Sooko-Bobb said to Lindsay Grant and Jonel Powell.
The Law Offices of Sylvester Anthony challenged the remarks made by Grant and Powell during the popular radio programme on February 13, 2020 and pointed directly to several statements in the eight-page letter now in the public domain.
Anthony and Sookoo-Bobb documented the facts of the case in detail and made reference to communications between Grant and Powell, the Law Offices of Sylvester Anthony and the Vendor since 2017 .
Reference was made to a June 5, 2018 letter, in which the Vendor confirmed that a payment made by Grant and Powell on 13th December 2017 was not honoured by the Bank and that letter was provided to Grant and Powell and the Police.
Anthony and Sookoo-Bobb noted the 11th February 2019 Order of Justice Eddy Ventose which stated: “And Upon the Court accepting the pleadings as being truthful to the fact that the Defendants breached their fiduciary duty and/or their duty of trust owed to the Claimant as his Solicitor or escrow agents and/or acted fraudulently in receiving and or misappropriated funds in using and/or failing to account for the sum of US$460,000 which was transferred to the Defendant’s bank ….in or about May 13 2013 for a specific purpose, namely, to purchase a condominium unit under the Citizenship By Investment Programme and secure title to the property, It is hereby ordered and directed that the defendants are to pay the Claimant damages to be assessed by the Court.”
“It is therefore wholly incorrect to say there is no Order or judgment which speaks to misappropriation of funds. It is also incorrect to suggest, that the repayment or pay out of funds two years and seven months aftyer you were required to, somehow meant that it was not misappropriated in the first place. Curing a tort does not mean it did not happen! It only goes to mitigation after a finding of liability,” the lawyers pointed out in the letter.
Anthony and Sooko-Bobb have demanded that Grant and Powell make a public apology, confirm in writing that they will not repeat the allegations about Anthony and Sookoo-Bobb or similar libels, agree to publish a correction and apology in terms and with prominence to be agreed.
“Your failure to accede to our demands will result in us taking appropriate legal action against you without delay. We trust that good sense will now prevail and there would be no need for judicial intervention,” the letter said.
Anthony Morris covers stories related to politics and regional developments. His in-depth reporting about governance and reforms makes him stand out in regional journalism, with a deep analysis of political trends and their impact on Caribbean communities.
