Roget seeks apology, compensation from Moonilal

In a pre-action protocol letter from Roget’s lawyers dated November 9, the union leader claimed that he “suffered much inconvenience, embarrassment, emotional hurt, distress, ridicule and damage to his reputation.” Roget is demanding a “written and public apology within 14 days of the date of this letter” and compensation in the sum of $500,000.

The letter stated that on November 26 and November 30, 2015 respectively, at two political meetings in San Fernando, Moonilal mentioned Roget, together with other union leaders by name, in which he implied that Roget had “corruptly failed to address and/or advocate any issue concerning the working class or actions of the People’s National Movement (PNM) government affecting the working class because he was part of an alliance with the PNM government.” The letter also claimed that Moonilal accused Roget of lacking integrity and honour because he had “hypocritically” accepted $15 Million “to remain silent on matters affecting the working class.” In the 2015/2016 budget presentation, Finance Minister Colm Imbert announced that Government would allocate $15 Million in 2016 to assist the Labour Movement in building capacity and for providing technical and training support.