‘I was defamed’: Former Speaker consults lawyer after Antigua PM publishes her private information on Facebook

Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister Gaston Browne’s recent publication of personal information of  United Progressive Party (UPP) Chairman D. Gisele Isaac has not gone unnoticed.

On Friday the UPP Chairman said she has already responded to Browne, adding that there’s more to come as the matter is now in the hands of her lawyer.

“The prime minister has said a lot of things in that particular post. I consider that I was defamed. He’s made some terrible untruths in that statement and I have consulted my lawyer,” Isaac said on Observer radio’s OBSERVER AM programme. 

“The matter is in my lawyer’s hands. He has exposed me to harm by publishing my private information, my social security number, my medical benefits number, my bank account number.”

In the post on Facebook, Browne accused Isaac of collecting multiple checks from the Treasury for the past two years.

Along with the post, the prime minister published a letter from the Office of the Leader of the Opposition Jamal Pringle. That letter, which was addressed to the Treasury, contained the personal information of Isaac and three other employees of the Opposition Leader.

“I know that the prime minister as the minister of finance knows better, so I think he intends to harm me out of malice and probably frustration. But I am not the kind of person who would take something as this sitting down,” Isaac said.

“I am going to answer him. I have in fact answered him in a letter and that matter is right now with my lawyer, Jutin Simon, QC.”

‘It has to be politics’

Asked why she thought the prime minister did it, Isaac replied: “It has to be politics, it can’t be personal anymore. We’re not friends and he is not a person with whom I come into contact or have any kind of relationship or interaction.

“I think what he did last Friday was a direct attempt to divert attention from what had happened in the parliament the prominence that it gave to brother Jamal Pringle; the siding with brother Jamal of a lot of young people. I think he wanted to just divert attention and throw another red herring on the path so to speak. Maybe he saw brother Jamal star rising and he said ‘OK, what can I do to derail this process?’

“I guess because I work with Jamal. I certainly was not in parliament, I certainly am not running for anything but I guess he figures maybe collateral damage will slow them down a bit, so I just have to assume that’s why he came up with this nonsense,” Isaac added.

Antigua and Barbuda Opposition Leader Jamal Pringle.

Additionally, Isaac said what the prime minister is purporting now not to know, he does know. 

“I have heard him on his radio station made fun of me, ridicule me the little salary that I’m making now you know, how far I’ve come down in the world and this is what has made me bitter I’ve heard it,” she said.

“This is just a red herring across the trail. Brother Jamal star will continue to rise regardless of what he throws at me,” the UPP Chairman added. (268 TODAY)