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KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, Feb. 27, IWN – An application was made to the Supreme Court on Friday to seize the Save Nice Radio Appeal account at RBTT as Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves moved in to collect the $206,000 the station owed him for defamation.

Gonsalves received two cheques for the money on Monday but he told a press conference that day of the steps he and his lawyer had taken on Friday to collect the money.

The account was set up by social activist Junior Bacchus, lawyer Kay Bacchus-Browne, and pharmacist Matthew Thomas, who led the effort to raise the money on behalf of BDS Ltd., owners of Nice Radio.

The trustees of the account had said that the money was collected to prevent the appointment of a receiver and that the receiver, having been appointed, should raise the money.

Two receivers, Peter Alexander and Trevor Edwards, were appointed and Gonsalves said that the station was cooperating with one of them.

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He further spoke of the steps he took on Friday to collect the money in the account.

“Up to Friday, when they didn’t pay the money, … I said, ‘Bollers, is this money which is set up not a constructive trust in favour of BDS to pay for a particular purpose to pay the judgment creditor, Ralph Gonsalves?’ He said, ‘Yes, that is the legal position.’ I said, ‘Well, why don’t you garnish the account? Seize the account,’” Gonsalves said as he recounted a conversation with his lawyer, Grahame Bollers.

Gonsalves said he signed and filed on Friday an affidavit as the basis for an ex parte application to garnish the account.

“So, I don’t know if somebody at the Supreme Court told them about that; because I was going to seize the account,” Gonsalves further said.

“You see, fellows who want to play games, I am absolutely fed up with all these games and they feel they can jerk you around and laughing in their little circles, ‘Oh, we defame him but he will going catch his hell to get his money,’” Gonsalves said.

Read: Full $206,122.37 paid in PM-Nice Radio case

He further said that on Saturday, Peter Alexander, the receiver for the judgement creditor (Gonsalves) went to Nice Radio “because they were cooperating with the other joint receiver…

“So I don’t know if those factors concentrated fellows minds and they say they will give me my money,” Gonsalves said.

Gonsalves further reiterated that the money will go to charity.

He, however, said that if this country had a $1 bill, he would have signed it and kept it as a souvenir.

“I know there is a five [dollar bill] so I may yet do it so in my old age I can watch it,” Gonsalves said.

He said he was on Sunday making up a list of charities to which he will donate the money.