Prime Ministerial Candidate for the People’s Progressive Party, Elisabeth Harper is convinced that there have been attempts by a “known individual” who she does not name, to extort or blackmail her regarding a legal dispute involving her son and his former business partners.
News broke on Wednesday night that Harper’s 36-year-old son was at the centre of court proceedings over a US$3 Million investment made in his mining company by overseas investors who now want their money back after he reportedly converted the money to his own use.
Reports state that the investors may have made an arrangement for the money to be repaid but they have not been getting their money back despite the fact that Harper herself stands as the guarantor for what was later made into a loan agreement.
Now the Prime Ministerial Candidate in a statement on Wednesday said her son is engaged in his own business enterprise and she is aware that he and his former business partners have been in court in Guyana since November 2014 to settle a dispute that has arisen.
“I love my son dearly and am fully supportive of him. I also respect his business independence.In view of the fact that the matter is being addressed by the Court it is therefore sub judice.”
Ms Harper said the “several attempts of extortion and blackmail directed at me regarding this case are disturbing”. She did not say whether those attempts were made before or after she it was announced that she was going to be the PPP’s Prime Ministerial Candidate.
In her statement she also did not say whether she made any attempt to get the police involved in the “blackmail and extortion attempts” .
She noted however that she strongly rejects any attempt “to use my political appointment to resolve this matter extra judicially or to influence the legal direction of the court case.”
Harper served as Director General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs up until the end of March when she resigned to focus on her run as Prime Minister Candidate. She also served as the Guyana Ambassador to CARICOM and a number of CARICOM states.
Her son, Reagan Pollard is involved in the mining industry.
Filed: 9th April, 2015
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