The RJR Communications Group and the government-controlled Jamaica Mortgage Bank (JMB) have been slapped with a $180M lawsuit by banker Dalton Myrie.
Myrie — who’s a former loans officer at the entity tasked with financing safe and affordable housing for Jamaicans — is suing for defamation.
Myrie said in court documents that the “false and defamatory” information was provided to the media entity by the bank, where he worked for 20 years.
He’s also seeking an injunction preventing the media entity or its servants or agents from republishing the defamatory material that was first published in February 2016.
Documents filed in Supreme Court recently said that despite Myrie’s impeccable record, he was the subject of a sting operation and was wrongly charged for corrupt performance of his role as a loans officer with the JMB.
The suit claims that RJR inaccurately reported the circumstances of his arrest and charge.
Robert Collie — the attorney representing Myrie — stated in court documents that the former loans officer was forced to resign from the mortgage bank but was exonerated by the court due to lack of evidence.
Myrie has said in court documents that the reason for his arrest is that a senior JMB official had a vendetta against him due to his (Myrie’s) role in revealing to the JMB Board that the official had threatened a JMB client.
He said the official was sanctioned by the Board, which triggered the conspiracy that lead to his arrest. He claimed that a client of the bank was also forced to participate in the plot against him.
Myrie said he was “badgered and harassed” in a hostile work environment into resigning under “great duress”.
The Jamaica Mortgage Bank and RJR have submitted their defence to the court and insisted that they acted fairly and in an appropriate manner.
