PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Justice Kevin Ramcharan has indicated that his ruling in the matter between Finance Minister Colm Imbert and the former governor of the Central Bank of Trinidad and Tobago (CBTT), Jwala Rambarra, will be known on or before three months from the date he receives final submissions from their attorneys.
The judge reserved his ruling Monday in the case in which the Finance Minister has filed a lawsuit against the former government, claiming that an article posted on Rambarran’s blog on June 9, 2019, is defamatory.
Imbert alleges that the words in Rambarran’s blog meant or inferred he abused his power as a minister, wanted to destroy the former governor by ensuring he remained unemployed, and intervened and blocked his appointment to the G-24 Secretariat.
Imbert also claimed that the publication brought him into public scandal, hostility, and contempt, severely injuring his character and reputation. As a result, he is seeking compensation for the general tone of the article and the inflammatory and denigratory language used, especially since, he said, Rambarran did not verify any of the information he wrote about.
The post on June 9, 2019, relates to a judge’s ruling on Rambarran’s freedom of information challenge to get information on the minister’s alleged communication with the director of the G-24 Secretariat on International Monetary Affairs and Development in Washington, DC.
Rambarran was seeking a position as a senior advisor at the G-24 Secretariat.
During his cross-examination by Imbert’s lawyers on Monday, Rambarran said the contents of the blog article were “less my view but the view of Justice Seepersad in his ruling.”
Rambarran maintained the blog was not for “publicity” but to let the public know what “role Minister Imbert played” in his G-24 appointment.
“I think this was a critical view that the public should know so people would understand what had transpired.”
Rambarran also said a media release issued by the minister when his appointment as governor was revoked in December 2015 gave the impression he was guilty of something. However, he was “never found guilty by a court.”
Rambarran was appointed Central Bank governor in July 2012, and his contract was terminated in December 2015.
Last year, a High Court judge ruled he
was wrongfully dismissed. But the government has since appealed the decision, and last week, the Appeal Court reserved its ruling.
and then 