Miami Herald posted on Sunday June 16th 2002 Antigua Leader files libel suit over videotape
Anthony Astaphan, Q.C. Attorney at Law :
Official response to articles published in online media about Hon. Asot A
Michael MP
Miami Herald posted on
Sunday June 16th 2002 Antigua Leader files libel suit over
videotape
Denounces interview with
teenage girl by Charles D. Sherman
Monique
Barua
The calculated onslaught continued after Asot Michael joined
the Government of Antigua and Barbuda. Allegations emanating from the
politically engineered tape recording of a series of lies made by one Monique
Barua formed another platform for unfounded allegations against Asot Michael.
Barua was 13 years of age and the allegations concerned sex and drug
trafficking. On their face, the allegations made no sense and appeared
distinctively concocted except perhaps to a politically depraved mind. Mr. Colin Warburton was appointed by the
Attorney General to conduct an investigation. Mr.Warburton was a former senior
officer of the Metropolitan Police Force in the United Kingdom and Senior
Investigating Officer at the Office of National Drug and Money Laundering
Control Policy. He was given the fullest authority to conduct the
investigations.
The investigations conducted into the allegations by Colin
Warburton from the United Kingdom, and also by the Attorneys at Law for Mr. Asot
Michael and then Prime Minister Mr. Lester B Bird, showed that the allegations
made against them by the said Monique Barua were totally and absolutely baseless
and false. Some of the relevant facts discovered are that the entire affair
appeared to have been engineered by Winston Derrick[1], a bitter political foe of Mr. Michael. Employees of
Observer who had absolutely no knowledge of the allegations conducted the
recording at Winston Derrick’s request. From all appearances they went through
the charade of a “deposition.” No adult or person in authority was present
during the “interview.” Barua spent a
great deal of time with Winston and Fergie Derrick. After the recording was
done, Winston Derrick rented or owned a house in which the minor stayed without
adult supervision for several months. Winston Derrick made several copies of the
tape notwithstanding a commitment to his employees not to do so. And, he paid
for airline tickets for Barua and her male adult companion to leave Antigua and
Barbuda.
The investigations conducted by Mr. Colin Warburton were
very extensive. Several persons including Lester B Bird and Asot Michael were
interviewed under caution. Bank statements and phone records were obtained and
reviewed by Mr. Colin Warburton. A number of regional enforcement agencies
including officers of the United States Embassy and DEA were contacted for
information. The information received particularly from the United States
Embassy and DEA established that the allegation made by Barua that the United
States government was investigating Mr. Bird was false. Most if not all of the
persons mentioned by Barua on the tape recording were interviewed and gave
dramatically different accounts of the facts. The only persons who refused to
cooperate were those involved such as Winston Derrick or others who sought to
profit politically from the allegations. It was also discovered that Barua had a
history of running away from home and making similar allegations against other
persons such as a teacher in Guyana. Notwithstanding the great political uproar
not one single person ever came forward to state that they ever saw Monique
Barua anywhere with Asot Michael or Lester B Bird.
In short, there was not a shred of evidence capable, even
remotely, of showing that the allegations against Lester B Bird or Asot Michael
were true. A comprehensive report of the evidence and findings with dozens of
exhibits and transcripts of the several interviews (about 3 or more volumes) was
prepared and submitted to the Attorney General by Mr. Colin Warburton. Copies
can surely be obtained from the Office of the Attorney General or the exhibits
filed on behalf of the former Prime Minister in the High Court on payment of the
relevant fees. The report is extensive and Mr. Warburton disclosed several
findings. At page 42 of his Report, Mr. Colin Warburton recommended, amongst
others, that “no further action is deemed necessary with regard to any of the
allegations made against Asot Michael.”
Additionally, the Government of Antigua and Barbuda
requested assistance from a number of foreign governments including the British.
All of the Governments declined to provide assistance on the basis that they saw
no merit in the allegations. On the
26th July 2002 the Charge d’Affairs of the United States Embassy in
Bridgetown, Barbados wrote Mr. Colin Warburton and informed him that “The Department of State has conducted an
internal investigation regarding the comments. Barua made on video tape and has
found that there is no substance to her allegations.” And by letter dated
July 23rd 2002 the DEA
Attaché at the Embassy wrote
“ The Drug Enforcement Administration is not and has
not initiated any investigation on Prime Minister Lester Bird, of St.Johns,
Antigua. DEA has not made inquiries into the public or private life of Prime
Minister Bird or his finances as well. In addition the Drug Enforcement
Administration has not linked any known drug traffickers or drug trafficking
organizations from the Caribbean as well North and South America to Prime
Minister Bird.”
Monique Barua was persuaded to file a civil case against
Lester B Bird in which the allegations were repeated. A legal opinion was
obtained from eminent Queens Counsel from London England who expressed the view
that the case had no merit. The case was vigorously defended, and after
sustained opposition and preemptive applications by Mr. Lester B Bird’s
Attorneys At Law in Court Barua’s lawyers were eventually obliged, on the eve
of trial, to withdraw the case against
him. Requests for further information and particulars were requested but no
relevant information or particulars were supplied. And, no witness gave any
witness statement was capable of establishing, supported or corroborated any of
the allegations made against Mr. Michael or Bird by Monique Barua. In fact
Monique Barua herself did not submit a witness statement. What her lawyers did
in order to avoid embarrassment was file a full transcript of her allegations
recorded on the videotape. No case was
ever filed against Asot Michael. Simply put the case was exposed as a fraud!
However, the defamation cases against the Derricks and Mr. Baldwin Spencer and
other members of the United Progressive Party filed by Mr. Bird are still
pending. The Defences filed show that the Derricks and Mr. Spencer have no
reasonable prospect of defending the cases at trial.
The Apology and Compensation from the BBC
Sometime after the Commission of Inquiry the British
Broadcasting Corporation (hereinafter “the BBC”) published a report on the
5th and 6th July 2002 in which it accused the then Prime
Minister Mr. Lester B Bird of fraud in relation to the Medical Benefits Scheme,
involvement in drug trafficking, gun running, and Monique Barua. Solicitors in
the United Kingdom acting for Mr. Bird Messers Charles Russell & Co
instituted proceedings for defamation against the BBC. The proceedings are
numbered HQ02X02696 in the Supreme Court of England and Wales. After
negotiations with Mr. Bird’s Solicitors the BBC agreed to issue, and issued, a
public apology and paid approximately PDS 50.000,00 (sterling) in compensation
to Mr. Bird plus legal costs. The terms of the settlement are contained in an
Order dated 31st Day of October 2002. The apology was broadcast in a 7.00am news
bulletin broadcast on Radio 4 Today programme on in a news bulletin broadcast
between 12.00 noon and approximately 1.00pm GMT in the BBC World Service News
hour radio receivable in Antigua & Barbuda, Anguilla, the Bahamas, Barbados,
the BVI, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Monsterrat, St.Kitts & Nevis, Sty.
Lucia, Trinidad & Tobago.
Additionally,
in a Statement In Court the
BBC admitted and accepted the following:
“ …the Inquiry did not find that Mr. Bird has
misappropriated any sums from his country’s health care system, whether to spend
on parties, presents or foreign trips for friends or colleagues or anything
else. Nor did the Commission of Inquiry make any finding that he was guilty of
any such conduct. Indeed, no allegation to this or any similar effect was made
in the course of that Inquiry’s
investigations.
The BBC also withdraws its statement that Mr. Bird has
been involved in gun-running or drug trafficking. Contrary to what was said on
the Today programme the British or American authorities have never accused him
of being involved in such activities.
…..the BBC does now recognize these reports were
inaccurate and so conveyed a misleading impression of the Commission’s findings
and the conduct of Mr. Bird. The BBC is therefore here today by its Solicitors
to apologize publicly to Mr. Bird.”
The apology broadcast by the BBC was in the following
terms:
“ The BBC has apologized in Open Court to the Prime
Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Mr. Lester Bird, over reports carried in early
July concerning a Commission of Inquiry which subsequently found that
allegations of serious malpractice in relation to the Country’s health fund were
substantiated. The BBC reports that the Commission had found that Mr. Bird had
spent more than 200 million dollars from
the country’s health fund on parties, presents, and foreign trips and cosmetic
surgery for friends and colleagues. The reports also inaccurately stated that
Mr. Bird had previously survived allegations of gun-running or drug trafficking.
The BBC has agreed to pay Mr. Bird damages and legal costs.
In
fact, no allegations were made in the course of the Inquiry’s investigations
against Mr. Bird. The Commission made no findings against him and he did not
feature personally in the Inquiry.”
[1] At one
time Asot and the Derricks were very close but appeared to have fallen out over
a fight for duty free concessions.
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