PM Gonsalves demands apology, compensation from London, BDS Ltd

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves is demanding apologies and compensation from talk show host Margaret London and the proprietors of BDS Ltd for slanderous statements which he alleges were made against him.{{more}}

Lawyer for the Prime Minister Grahame Bollers on November 10, 2014, wrote to BDS Ltd, the company which owns Nice Radio, and also to London, claiming that during a broadcast of the “Night Nurse” programme on Nice Radio on October 29, London spoke words which meant and were understood to mean that Gonsalves had committed the criminal offence of bribery, as well as the offence of misbehaviour in public office, both of which are punishable by imprisonment.

Bollers said the words spoken “constitute a grave and malicious slander upon the character and reputation of [his] client.”

He said his client was therefore demanding a “full and unequivocal withdrawal and apology of the slander be published in one issue of each of the local weekly newspapers,” with the text of the apology being approved by Gonsalves and Bollers.

Gonsalves also demanded that London and BDS Ltd undertake not to publish “any or any similar defamatory statement against him and that an agreed amount of compensation be paid.”

Bollers said if a response is not received within seven days, a Claim Form will be issued in the High Court to “compel [them] to justify [their] slander.”