The High Court has ruled against Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo in a long-standing defamation lawsuit brought by businessman Charles Ceres. Justice Fidela Corbin-Lincoln ordered the Vice President to pay $15 million in damages for defamatory statements, plus an additional $2.1 million in legal costs.
The litigation arose from comments made by Jagdeo in 2019, while he was serving as the Leader of the Opposition. During that period, he publicly accused Ceres of acquiring state lands through political corruption, insider dealings, and improper influence.
In her judgment, Justice Corbin-Lincoln determined that the statements made by Jagdeo were indeed defamatory. She found that his words were capable of lowering Ceres’ reputation in the eyes of society by implying that the businessman used corrupt connections to gain state assets.
Crucially, the Court found no evidentiary basis for the accusations. The Judge explicitly stated that:
There is no evidence that Ceres obtained 1,297.12 acres of land in Canji Creek or 112 acres in Bohemia in 2018.
There is no evidence that Ceres was personally allocated another 5,000 acres of land or a specific plot in Liliendaal. The Court noted that the land in Liliendaal was actually allocated to a company in which Ceres holds shares, not to him personally.
Consequently, the Court struck out Jagdeo’s defenses of justification and fair comment.
While the ruling was in favor of Ceres regarding his claim against Jagdeo, the Court dismissed separate lawsuits he had filed against Kaieteur News and Guyana Times, both of which had reported on the initial statements. As a result of those dismissals, Ceres has been ordered to pay costs to those media houses.
Ceres’ attorney, Darren Wade, has indicated he intends to appeal the portion of the judgment that favored the media outlets.
