Works and Transport Minister Jack Warner says he has had enough of those who consistently try bring his name into disrepute. The Fifa vice-president and Chaguanas West MP, who begins his acting appointment as Prime Minister today, said he was prepared "to go at the highest level" to protect his name and take action against those who were mischievous.
Warner was speaking to media personnel on the steps on the Hall of Justice, Knox Street in Port-of-Spain, yesterday, after his attorney British Queen's Counsel Ronald Thwaites' petition was presented by attorneys Om Lalla and his father Kenneth Lalla, SC. Warner said Thwaites was in T&T to represent him in the defamation case against former prime minister Basdeo Panday "where Panday said I am a $30 million man." That matter starts on Monday, he said.
Warner said he had initially sought Thwaites' representation against Panday and that "it was just fortuitous" his arrival in the country came at a time when an article appeared sullying his name. Warner said he intended to sue the newspaper and the reporter. The headline "Jack named Down Under" and the article appeared in the Trinidad Express on Wednesday, Warner said. He said he had "a very strong case" as told by his attorney and was going to sue the newspaper and the reporter who wrote the article. He said while he held no grudges against the newspaper, he was "tired" and "fed up" with the reporter.
Warner said: "The reporter and (Andrew) Jennings have tried their best to make my life miserable here and overseas and I think enough is enough. "And therefore Mr Thwaites shall sue both the Express and the reporter and fight Panday's case for me. Asked if he believed there was a personal matter among himself, Jennings and the reporter, Warner said it was indeed so. He said: "I wasn't suggesting that. I am telling you that. I was emphasising that." He added the men were using the newspaper for their attacks against him and he had enough.