FORMER Commissioner of Police Francis Forbes and the attorney general have filed an appeal against the $35-million jury verdict made in favour of ex-deputy commissioner of police, Owen Clunie in his defamation lawsuit.

The suit was filed last month in the Court of Appeal.

Clunie sued his former boss over statements Forbes made on CVM-TV regarding him in December 2002 and in 2005 during the current affairs programme Impact.

According to Clunie, who was a member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force for close to four decades before his resignation in 2004, the statements destroyed his reputation, causing him to be sidelined by the force and led to him resigning out of frustration.

In March, a panel of jurors in the Supreme Court returned a verdict in Clunie's favour and awarded him the $35-million in damages against Forbes and the attorney general.

Clunie, however, failed to win a verdict against third defendant CVM-TV, which got off on the defence of qualified privilege.