…says AG Nandlall enjoys PPP’s confidence
General Secretary of the Peoples Progressive Party (PPP), Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, on Thursday said the social media accusations made against Attorney General Anil Nandlall are unsubstantiated, and that he does not “pay too much attention” to “unverified allegations”.
US-based Guyanese Melissa Atwell, popularly known as ‘Melly Mel’, used her social media page to allege that Nandlall has been a government mole. Nandlall has since denied the allegations and filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit against Atwell.
Asked to comment on the situation during his press conference on Thursday, Jagdeo explained that he also has been a victim of unverified allegations.
“I don’t pay too much attention to unverified allegations. I myself have been subjected to this for years,” Jagdeo outlined, adding that “for the past 20 years, I’ve had to fight off all sorts of things. It has been a long haul for me, so when I get verified info — and we have our means of verifying information, too — that’s when we act on them. But so far, I’ve not dealt with any unverified information,” Jagdeo, who is also the country’s Vice President, added.
According to the PPP GS, “If there’s solid proof, that’s a different matter; but as of now, Anil Nandlall enjoys my confidence as general secretary of the party.”
Nandlall recently dismissed concerns that the allegations would have an impact on his political career by stating, “It’s absolute nonsense! It has no credibility, and I challenge her and anyone else to prove me wrong!”
Defamation lawsuit
The attorney general had also challenged Atwell to present her case before the courts.
“She will hopefully come to the court, or be represented, and produce whatever evidence she has. You have seen days have passed, and where is this volume of evidence that she has that connects me to her?”
Nandlall has maintained that, “I don’t know the woman. I don’t speak to the woman. I’ve never met the woman.”
In addition to $100 million in damages being sought by the suit, which was filed last Friday, Nandlall is seeking an injunction against Melly Mel to prevent future publication of defamatory posts; and is also seeking an order for Melly Mel to remove the existing posts from her Facebook page.
Minister within the Public Works Ministry, Deodat Indar, had only in August filed a $50 million lawsuit against Atwell and against the Alliance For Change (AFC) Parliamentarian Sherod Duncan over defamatory statements made during a Facebook live programme, ‘Credible Sources’, on August 2, 2024.
Back in 2019, Atwell also had a $100 million lawsuit filed against her by the Dr Balwant Singh Hospital, for tarnishing the hospital’s reputation via social media posts. And reports emerged last year that several cybercrime charges have been filed against her with the Guyana Police Force (GPF) over her social media publications. The complainants had reportedly included politicians and senior police officers.
Government has announced its intention to revise the Cyber Crime Act of 2018 to clamp down on the use of social media as a weapon that causes damage to people’s reputation, people’s character, and that of their families.
In announcing the revision of the Act a few months ago, the Attorney General had explained that the amendments will be tailored according to the United Nations (UN) Convention relative to the use of cyberspace – a convention that is currently being drafted with Guyana’s input. In making the announcement, Nandlall had said, “Something has to be done about the use of the social media as a weapon against the citizens of this country…A government cannot stand idly by in the face of such onslaught on its citizens.”
Jagdeo has already dismissed concerns that the revision will infringe on citizens’ freedom of speech, explaining that the new law is intended to target criminals. Criminals he referred to includes “people who like to extort [others] using cyber space…or people who like exploiting people [like] taking a photo and blackmailing people for all sorts of reasons. People who exploit our children like child pornography and those things.” (G11)
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