Attorneys for the Business Monitor International Limited’s publications Latin American Monitor and Caribbean Forecast Report made an apology to Mr Christie this morning for the “distress and damage which Mr. Christie has suffered as a result of the article.”
A subdued Prime Minister, speaking largely through his attorney on Monday during a press conference at the Cabinet office in downtown Nassau, said he was not prepared to ignore an allegation of this kind.
“I instructed my attorneys to take legal action for the ultimate protection of my own reputation and integrity,” he said briefly before deferring to his attorney Michael Barnett for further comments.
The editor and author of the article have also said that they are sorry about the damning article.
The defendants have agreed to pay compensation, cover the Prime Minister’s legal costs and vowed not to repeat the offending allegations or make similar ones.
In September 2003, the publication ran an article in which it said that the Prime Minister was “tainted by previous allegations of misappropriating US $1 million in funds.”
But in an about face on Monday morning in the London High Court of Justice it was stated that the remarks were “untrue and without foundation.”
“The Prime Minister is pleased that the record has been set straight,” Mr. Barnett’s statement said. “He thought it important for the people of the Bahamas to get today’s corrective statement. Such a suggestion about him could not be left unchallenged.”
Days after the article was published, Mr. Christie hired the law firm of Graham Thompson and Co. and subsequently the firm of Richards Butler to pursue the action in the High Court of England.
Neither the Prime Minister nor his attorney would entertain questions following their brief remarks. The Latin American Monitor printed a retraction and an apology in a later issue.
“Business Monitor International Limited, Eileen Gavin and Catherine Thompson accept that contrary to the suggestion in the article, Mr Christie did not face allegations of misappropriating funds and that he did not and would not appropriate funds,” the publication’s lawyer John Rubenstein admitted in court.
Michael Skrein of Richards Butler painted Mr. Christie as a God-fearing, committed, family man who prides himself on integrity. Blasting the libellous claim, declaring that his client was determined to vindicate his reputation.
“If he is to continue to work for the people of the Bahamas as a respected senior politician, it is vital for him to maintain his excellent reputation with voters, fellow parliamentarians and civil servants, and with opinion formers in the United Kingdom, the Commonwealth and Caribbean,” Mr. Skrein said.
The Bahama Journal
