FORMER Mayor of Port Maria Richard Creary has been awarded $10 million by the Supreme Court in his defamation battle with The Gleaner Company (Media) Limited.

In a judgment handed down on Wednesday, Supreme Court Judge Sonya Wint-Blair found that the media house defamed Creary in its reporting on a 2020 report from the Integrity Commission (IC) on allegations of acts of irregularity and/or conflict of interest, corruption, nepotism, cronyism and favouritism at the State-owned oil refinery Petrojam.

In two reports tabled in Parliament in July 2020, the IC said Creary, a deputy general secretary of the governing Jamaica Labour Party (JLP), was part of the panel that selected Floyd Grindley as Petrojam’s general manager.

In a correction tabled in Parliament two weeks later, the IC said Creary was not on the panel.

In an apology to Creary, the IC said it sincerely regretted its error and also said sorry for any distress, embarrassment or inconvenience it may have caused him.

However The Gleaner, using the initial report from the IC, published an article which Creary claimed sought to link him to corruption at Petrojam even though he was not a member of the panel at Petrojam at the time and referred to him as one of the “key enablers” of corruption as part of a “Web of Corruption”, which was the headline of the story.

Creary also charged that the media house published the article without first contacting him or making any reasonable attempts to verify the information used in the story.

He further charged that The Gleaner refused to offer him an apology despite his requests and his statement correcting the article.

In its defence, The Gleaner argued that the article relied on the reports of the IC and that the words complained of by Creary were fair comment on the questions raised and the conclusion set down in the IC report.

But in her ruling Justice Wint-Blair said, having considered “the authorities, the circumstances and evidence in the case, the position and standing of the claimant… and the absence of an apology… The court awards the claimant $10 million as adequate compensation, given the nature of the damage”.

The judge also issued an injunction preventing The Gleaner or its agents from publishing or causing to publish Creary’s name in articles related to the one at the centre of the case.

Costs were also awarded to Creary to be taxed if not agreed. Up to press time on Wednesday there was no indication from lawyers representing The Gleaner that the judgment will be appealed.

But in a quick response Creary told the Jamaica Observer that he was pleased with the ruling.

“I am sure that I was never involved in any corruption and the Integrity Commission apologised but the
Gleaner held its ground. I welcome the court’s ruling,” said Creary.