KINGSTON, Jamaica — Leader of the Opposition Andrew Holness this morning, through his lawyers, demanded an apology from Dr Peter Phillips for “defamatory” statements made against him. He also requested that a donation be made to a charity of his choosing to settle the matter.

If those request are not met, the matter will be taken to court, the letter said.

Following is the contents of a letter to Dr Phillips from Holness’ legal representative George Soutar.

Dear Mr Phillips,

I act for Mr Andrew Holness, Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Jamaica Labour Party.

On the 12th February 2016 you and the People’s National Party caused to be published in the Gleaner, statements concerning my client which, in my view, are in plain words, by implication and / or innuendo, defamatory to my client.

The entire statement is defamatory, but for the purpose of this letter one aspect will be highlighted. Under the heading “Constructions of House” you made certain statements concerning the purchase of land and the construction of a dwelling house thereon.

These statements sought to suggest or impute that Mr. Holness purchased the land and is carrying out construction thereon using funds that were obtained dishonestly, illicitly, illegally and corruptly.

These statements will tend to have the effect of lowering Mr. Holness’ character in the eyes of well-thinking people. The damage has been made worse because you have repeated these statements in a press conference held on the said 12th day of February, 2016 and repeated subsequently in several editions of the Gleaner and Observer newspapers.

This letter serves to demand that:

a) within three (3)days of the receipt of this letter, you publish a suitably worded apology giving it prominence equal to that of the defamatory statements, to be approved by my client;

b) you pay an agreed sum to a children’s charity chosen by my client. This payment will be treated as a compensation for the loss and damage suffered by my client. 

If I do not receive a positive response from you, I have instructions to file action against you, seeking damages and other vindicatory reliefs as may be ordered by the Court.