UDP Party Leader Preparing Lawsuit Against Shyne Barrow

The United Democratic Party (UDP) Leader Tracy Taegar-Panton has told Love News that she is preparing to take legal action against former party leader Moses “Shyne” Barrow over what she describes as defamatory statements made against her on social media.  The threatened lawsuit stems from a lengthy Facebook post published by Barrow on June 24, in which he accused Panton of being part of what he called an “alliance for corruption.” In the post, Barrow alleged that Panton lacked the moral authority to criticize former Minister of Home Affairs Oscar Mira, pointing to her role in the sale of the national Boledo contract while she served in government. He also accused her of protecting former UDP standard bearer John Saldivar following his 2022 designation by the United States for significant corruption and alleged that she later aligned herself with former Belmopan Mayor Khalid Belisle, whom Barrow also accused of corruption without presenting evidence to support several of his claims.  Barrow further alleged that Panton had sought to undermine his efforts to rid the UDP of corruption and ended his post with a series of personal attacks directed at the current UDP leader.  Love News spoke with Tracy Taegar-Panton yesterday where she confirmed that she has instructed her attorneys to pursue legal action against Barrow.  She went further to draw comparisons between the past actions of Saldivar and Patrick Faber and the current situation involving Oscar Mira.

Tracy Panton, Leader of the Opposition: “The remarks made by the former party leader of the UDP are defamatory and they are libelous and I am going to deal with those accordingly. And so I don’t think that we should venture there in this conversation save and except to say I am yet to see any evidence against Patrick Faber and I am yet to see any evidence against John Saldivar that comes close to mirroring what is now in the public domain with Oscar Mira.” 

Panton said political disagreements should never descend into character assassination, adding that while robust political debate is expected, she believes Barrow crossed the line by making allegations that she says are untrue and damaging to her reputation.