KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent, March 6, IWN — Lawyers for Opposition Leader Arnhim Eustace have written Prime Minister Dr. Ralph Gonsalves asking him to apologise and pay Eustace $140,001 or be sued for statements he made on radio on Feb. 17.
“I want to confirm that by letter dated Wednesday, February 27th, Dr. Gonsalves was informed by my lawyers of my intention to pursue legal action against him, if certain conditions are not met.
“I think I mentioned them before on a radio, including an apology, a sum of $140,001,” Eustace said on his weekly radio programme.
He said the sum is $1 more than the EC$140,000 the court ordered Nice Radio to pay Gonsalves for defamation.
Eustace’s lawyers are also asking Gonsalves to pay $30,000 in cost.
“I don’t know how long this is going to take and what interest could apply,” Eustace said.
“I just want to confirm that that has been sent to Mr. Gonsalves and I intend fully to pursue this matter. I just want to make that very clear,” he said.
The legal action stems from comments Gonsalves made while telling Vincentians about an encounter he had with two BBC journalists on a landed airplane in Barbados on Feb. 17.
Meanwhile, Gonsalves has said he will not apologise.
“He will be told that I do not think that I have defamed him, as alleged, or at all in my comments and thus, I will advise him that I cannot comply with his request for an apology and compensation, payment of cost and the like. I don’t think that the letter has legal merit,” Gonsalves said.