Chronicle article libelled Clifton Bacchus and damaged his business

I act on behalf of Clifton Bacchus, personally, and in his capacity as the majority shareholder of Sleepin International Hotel& Casino Inc of Lot 289 Church Street, Queenstown, Georgetown.

I refer to the bold and sensational headline published in the Guyana Chronicle on the 17th of August, 2017, viz: ‘The Dutch Connection… Sleepin Casino Surinamese partner was jailed for money laundering… Bacchus quizzed about permission to import slot machines, pgs 2 & 4.’ Page 2 bears a similarly bold and sensational caption and the article which covers that entire, page contains a photograph of Mr Bacchus and a photograph of the Sleepin Hotel owned by his aforementioned company. The article continues and concludes at the bottom of page 8.

This article intentionally and maliciously publishes a series of libels of and concerning Mr Bacchus. In fact, the entire tenor, purport and intent of the article is to convey to the reader that Mr Bacchus, his company and their operations are funded and financed from criminal proceeds, more specifically, drug trafficking, money laundering and forgery.

The said article also falsely and maliciously publishes that Mr Bacchus, his company and its operation are being funded by Bhagwandath ‘Bidjay’ Parmasar, whom the article describes as “the owner of Yokohoma Trading Company, the parent company of Pasha Global Group… and one of the main players in the setup of the Clifton Bacchus owned Carnival Casino.”

The article then proceeds to recite, in extravagant detail, certain criminal legal proceedings which were instituted against Mr Bhagwandath ‘Bidjay’ Parmasar, detailing matters in relation to Mr Parmasar’s trial, the investigation launched against him and elements of the evidence adduced against him. The article then, maliciously and libellously refers to an alleged SOCU probe involving Mr Bacchus, clearly trying