Jagdeo slams false claims he failed to declare assets

Integrity Commission declarations

Opposition Leader Bharrat Jagdeo has come out swinging against reports by State-owned Guyana Chronicle that he and other party leaders failed to file their declarations with the Integrity Commission, making it clear that the reports are false and intended to distract from the Government’s noncompliance.

During a rally over the weekend at Stewartville, West Coast Demerara, Jagdeo made it clear that both he and People’s Progressive Party (PPP) Presidential Candidate Irfaan Ali have consistently been filing their declarations.
“Their rallies are spent cussing Irfaan Ali and myself, or the PPP. They have nothing to talk about and no plans for the future. This is why they go on ad hominem attacks. And they have Chronicle carrying the lead.”
“Twenty of them were gazette for failure to submit their reports. You can go to jail for one year. So, guess what Chronicle has; that Jagdeo and Irfaan did not submit their (declarations) in 2018. A total lie. We have submitted all the years, from 2000 when we passed that law.”
It has since been revealed that Jagdeo and Ali will both be instituting legal proceedings against the Guyana National Newspaper Limited, the publisher of the Guyana Chronicle and its Editor-in-Chief, Nigel Williams, in his personal capacity for libel.
They are suing the Guyana Chronicle for an article that was published in its February 9, 2020, edition under the headline “Do the right thing and resign… Jagdeo, Ali, among public officials who fail to file 2018 asset declarations”.
The lawyer for Jagdeo and Ali, former Attorney General Anil Nandlall, on Sunday said that the publication was designed to defame and damage his clients’ reputation and tarnish their character.
“The said publications are blatant and gross untruths intended to tarnish the character and reputation of my clients and to cause their status to be lowered in the estimation of right-thinking members of society,” Nandlall said.
According to the Attorney, the malicious political publicity “gimmick is clearly intended to detract attention from a long list of Government’s Ministers and officials, including the Attorney General, for committing the criminal act of failing to file the relevant declarations with the Integrity Commission, in accordance with the Integrity Commissions Act.”
According to the attorney, the legal proceedings which will be filed will certainly be pursued to the end, “even after APNU/AFC loses the Government at the coming elections”.
Earlier in the month, the Integrity Commission published a list of a number of public officials who failed to declare their assets last year and among those are a number of Ministers and former Government parliamentarians.
According to the gazetted list, as of January 2020, a total of eight Ministers failed to declare their assets between July 2018 and June 2019.