“Patently fabricated, concocted and malicious” – AG in $100M lawsuit against Melly Mel

…says judgement could be passed in absentia

Attorney General (AG) and Legal Affairs Minister, Anil Nandlall has slapped Melissa Ann Atwell, also known as “Melly Mel,” with a $100 million lawsuit, becoming the second Government Minister in a matter of three months, to sue the overseas based Guyanese.
The AG filed the lawsuit in the High Court on Friday. According to the legal documents, the AG is seeking over $100 million in damages for libel. He is also seeking an injunction against Melly Mel to prevent her from continuing to publish these defamatory posts, as well as an order for her to remove the existing posts from her Facebook page.
In a statement, the AG noted that he was giving ‘Melly Mel’, who is resident in the United States of America (USA), an opportunity to return to Guyana to defend the case. This is particularly important since judgement could be passed in her absence if she doesn’t return.

“I am hereby providing Melissa Atwell with a glorious opportunity to appear before and establish to the satisfaction of an independent and impartial tribunal, the veracity of the many false and fabricated allegations she has made against me.”
“After all, it is the least I can do and Atwell deserves no less. I am attaching legal proceedings which I have filed today against Melissa Atwell in the High Court. Let the truth prevail,” Nandlall said in his statement.
In the statement of claim, Nandlall pointed out that Melly Mel has over 130,000 followers on her Facebook page. He also noted that the defendant has previously published defamatory statements that “are racist, inflammatory and incite racial violence amounting to criminal offences in Guyana.” Further, the AG noted that she has libeled persons from the Government and public officers and even private sector individuals.
“As a result, the Government of Guyana, through its legal representative, the Claimant, in his capacity as Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, has informed the nation that the Government of Guyana is working with the United States of America law enforcement agencies, and with law firms in America retained for the purpose of taking action against persons residing in the United States of America who publish similar and such statements that can and are intended to cause public injury.”
According to the statement of claim, Nandlall had only recently concluded a retainer contract on behalf of the Government, with a US law firm. Nandlall intimated in the statement of claim that this was the catalyst for the defamatory statements she began to make against him on her Facebook page.
The statements, according to Nandlall, portrayed him as a thief, a murderer, and someone unfit to hold public office or practice law. These statements, Nandlall noted, were “patently fabricated, concocted and malicious”.
“The Claimant has never met the Defendant, never interacted with her, does not know her, and has no relationship whatsoever with the Defendant. His only knowledge of her is of her presence and her posts on Facebook, and accordingly, the entire smear campaign launched against the claimant is based upon manufactured allegations, maliciously intended to destroy the claimant’s reputation and professional standing, and to lower his status in the estimation of his Cabinet colleagues, his political peers and indeed all right-thinking members of society,” Nandlall said in the statement of claim.
“The nine (9) publications made by the defendant that have been complained about in these proceedings have seriously and irreparably damaged and are likely to continue to seriously and irreparably damage, the reputation and standing of the Claimant 2024/68-HC-SOC-DEM-CIV 2024/11/22 17:42 Page 25 of 27 26 among his Cabinet colleagues, his political peers and indeed all right-thinking members of society in Guyana, the Caribbean and throughout the world.”
Only in August, Minister within the Public Works Ministry, Deodat Indar, had filed a $50 million lawsuit against Melissa Atwell, and Alliance For Change (AFC) Parliamentarian Sherod Duncan over defamatory statements made during a Facebook live programme, ‘Credible Sources’, on August 2, 2024.
Back in 2019, Atwell also had a $100 million lawsuit filed against her by the Dr Balwant Singh Hospital for tarnishing the hospital’s reputation via social media posts. And reports had emerged last year that several cybercrime charges had been filed against her with the Guyana Police Force (GPF) over her social media publications. The complainants had reportedly included politicians and senior police officers.