D.P.P. says media/ Opposition defamed his character
After weeks of criticism regarding his decision to stop giving advice to the Police Department, Director of Public Prosecutions Kirk Anderson is taking his detractors to court. Anderson today declined an on-camera interview with us but says he has instructed his attorney Kareem Musa to initiate legal proceedings against two media houses: Channel Seven News and the Reporter Press; and a local organization: the Association of Concerned Belizeans. Via phone Anderson says through the lawsuits, he is seeking compensation for defamation of character. The D.P.P.’s ire stems from the publication of photographs of himself and a female member of staff and editorial comments made about those pictures, as well as calls for his dismissal. Anderson says he has taken issue with A.C.B.’s position that he be removed for “misbehaviour because he only returned files to the police because the Commissioner of Police had not apologized to him”. But perhaps the D.P.P.’s strongest condemnation came from Leader of the Opposition, Dean Barrow who described him as “highly erratic” and according to Anderson, insinuated that there had been “problems with him from the beginning”. This afternoon Barrow says he stands by his statements.
Dean Barrow, Opposition Leader
?He has to be absolutely crazy to think that he will get any kind of apology. What I said was clearly a fair comment. I have a constitutional role to play in this country as the Leader of the Opposition. Mr. Anderson is the Director of Public Prosecutions. I will say again that I think his behaviour with respect to just packing up files and sending them to the police and initially refusing, declaring that he will no longer look at police files. I think that behaviour was atrocious and on that called into question his fitness for the office and as you know, I indicated that I had phoned the Prime Minister to suggest to him that something needs to be done about Mr. Anderson. It was in that context that I made my comments. I think those comments were in fact well placed, what the situation deserved and I have absolutely no apology to make and I suspect that if Mr. Anderson seeks to go through with this so called action for libel, he will find himself terribly embarrassed.?
In August, D.P.P. Anderson instructed his employees to ignore more than four hundred police files awaiting advice on charges. Anderson says he took that decision because his office’s directives were consistently ignored or altered. The situation was later resolved through mediation by Attorney General Francis Fonseca.
