VICE PRESIDENT, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo has filed a $50 million lawsuit against Chinese businessman Su Zhi Rong for what he said are defamatory statements made against him by Su in a report published by United States-based VICE Media.

The Guyana Chronicle has seen the document. In it, Dr. Jagdeo, through his attorneys, moved to the Demerara High Court and filed a Statement of Claim against Su for damages in excess of $50 million for “slanderous and defamatory” statements.

The Vice President is also asking the court to grant an injunction to restrain Su, whether by himself, his servants, his agents or employees, from further speaking or publishing the same or any similar defamatory statements.

According to the Court document, Jagdeo claimed that Su expressed and uttered a series of recorded conversations during the month of January to VICE Media reporter, Isobel Yeung, and a person referred to as “Mr. Chan”.

The referenced utterances were aired on VICE Media’s current affairs arm, VICE News, under the title “Guyana For Sale”. An additional publication, called “Undercover in Guyana: Exposing Chinese Business in South America”, was later released.

In previous media reports, it was noted that Su visited the Vice President’s residence in the company of a person identified as a potential investor, and another person who was later revealed to be an undercover VICE News reporter. Additionally, when the VICE News’ reports were published, it was evident that one of the visitors was wearing a surveillance camera.

Dr. Jagdeo, in previous reports, had said that while only a short clip from an interview with him was used in the documentary, the actual sit down lasted approximately 15-20 minutes.

The Vice President had also noted that during the sit down, several attempts were made to implicate him in cases of corruption, but nothing could be found since none existed. Instead, VP Jagdeo consistently maintained that as a member of government, he was not involved in these processes.

According to Dr. Jagdeo in his Court submission, the statements are not only false, but are also aimed at tarnishing his reputation. He believes those statements have caused him to suffer considerable hurt, distress and embarrassment.

He is arguing that the statements were also published with the intention to lower his character, morality and honesty in the eyes of right-thinking members of the public. The contentious content referenced are in electronic circulation on social media.

“The defendant [Su] at the time of making the slanderous and defamatory statements of the Claimant [Jagdeo] acted in a reckless and indifferent manner as regards the possibility of the statements being recorded and/or repeated and/or published to others.

“As a consequence of the slanderous and defamatory statements made, expressed and uttered by the Defendant, the Claimant’s reputation and character as a respected public figure have been seriously injured, and his political reputation and standing, both locally and internationally, has been tarnished and immeasurably damaged,” the Court action read.

Among other things, Dr. Jagdeo is claiming that during February, Su, in aggravation of the damages, released a statement and falsely denied uttering any false and defamatory statements about him.

Due to what he said are false statements, the Vice President is claiming that there have been numerous public statements from members of the parliamentary opposition, and other prominent personalities and civil society groups calling for him to be investigated and dismissed from public office.