US blogger and Dominica UWP supporters in ‘dirty tricks campaign’

Supporters of the opposition party in Dominica are stepping up their efforts to attack WIC News, seemingly joining forces with a rogue US blogger in a “campaign of dirty tricks”.

One source, who asked not be named, said he wasn’t surprised as “the people shouting their mouths off for the United Workers Party are unable to focus on the issues on the island” and instead just need to attack.

Last night a blog post from Kenneth Rijock – a former money launderer turned financial consultant – revealed that someone had been hiding behind a fake email address to contact this site.

A screenshot showed an email from an account supposedly belonging to Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, and a reply from WIC News editor Benjamin Parker.

The email – which used a deceptive address to message this site’s shared news mailbox – referenced a number of inaccurate and insulting Facebook posts, including the uploading of an audio recording without permission.

[caption id="attachment_561" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Kenneth Rijock.[/caption]

Parker replied that, having been a victim of UWP’s attacks himself, he could see how Skerrit must feel, and that he was doing his best to establish a company in the face of hostility.

“Of course I replied to the email, I thought it was from the prime minister. I was due to sit down and interview him in Roseau for the website, my first ever meeting with him or any members of the government,” Parker said.

“So of course I politely replied – admittedly showing frustration at the keyboard warriors trying to drag me into their games.”

Three additional emails were sent from the same deceptive email address but were ignored. An IT expert described the move as “underhand, like any cheap phishing scam.”

Refused to talk

The issue appears to have begun last week when WIC News ran a story about UWP activist Trevor “Tosser” Johnson.

He had been criticised by Petter Saint-Jean, MP for La Plaine, for spreading “heartless” comments about MP Ivor Stephenson, who is currently unwell and in hospital.

After Johnson approached WIC News to find out why he was labelled as an “activist”, the editor rang him to discuss the issue. It was agreed that the article could be updated to describe him as a supporter. [caption id="attachment_2971" align="alignright" width="320"] (image from Facebook)[/caption]

Despite an apparently cordial conversation, Johnson had in fact been surreptitious recording the conversation, which he then posted on social media along with screenshots of email threads.

He then refused to answer calls when an explanation for his behaviour was sought.

As well as posting the stealth recording, he also uploaded a telephone number to Facebook, which we have been advised are in breach of Facebook’s harassment guidelines.

In later posts he threatened to “destroy” Ben Parker.

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Dark clouds over a Caribbean safari | Benjamin Parker

It’s hardly scoop of the century is it? Journalist on a trip to the Caribbean – who has arranged to meet with the prime minister for an interview – replies politely to email but also lets a little frustration over personal attacks seep through.

Let’s be clear: If Rijock and whoever he is working with/for had done their homework they would have known that in fact I was visiting a number of different Caribbean islands. In all of them where I was meeting one side of the political spectrum I had also reached out to the other side to give them the same opportunity to talk.

In fact, outside of Dominica – where the opposition seem unable to give comment on stories when myself or colleagues reach out to the party and the leader by email – only one nation’s government were unable to meet.

But that doesn’t fit the right narrative, does it? I mean this comes in the same batch of attacks that expressed surprise on how much information we were able to find about Trevor Tossy-what’s-his-name. He apparently couldn’t believe we knew so much about him after only launching two months ago.

Guess what? A 15-minute Google search can throw up all the information needed – surely his lack of understanding is intentional ignorance rather than not being aware of the world’s biggest search engine…

Another ‘bright spark’ discovered WIC News Limited was only formed in February 2017. Despite being told explicitly by me that the company is new – and still finalising freelancers to give as complete coverage as possible – this revelation seems to have come as a shock to an internet sleuth and his cohorts.

(Hint: This is a public record held at Companies House in the UK).

Tossy seems keen to talk when he can screenshot and record; whatever else he might be, he certainly demonstrated his bad manners to leak audio of a conversation. If he had wanted to interview me, that would have been fine anyway! But he has certainly made any form of communication with the UWP difficult.

Isn’t it strange for Rijock to have published a story about a news website on a blog apparently for “analysis and commentary on money laundering and financial crime”? His reputation has been battered enough by multiple lawsuits and accusations of “fake news” that his grasp of the truth isn’t something to dwell on.

Seems that those throwing mud over what they perceive as “slanted” news are the ones with the experience in that field, and only seem interested in the truth if it benefits them.

And finally, for people who know nothing of my background, of my experience, here’s a piece of non-news that I’ve seen: I am a food and travel writer! CORRECT! But those posting are conveniently leaving out any other parts of my career, like jobs as a news reporter for various papers…

So from my hotel room in Dominica, let me give you the scoop: I’d take writing about the rich flavours of wood-fired cooking over pandering to political game-players any day of the week.

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‘Dangerous’

In the past Rijock’s blog posts have been accused of lacking evidence to support claims.

A UK-based Australian legal advisor told WIC News that in Rijock’s latest post regarding this site, the “use of the word ‘evidence’ is flimsy at best, and he appears to using it [the email] to prop up a story he wanted to tell.”

In Dominica, Anthony Astaphan – senior legal counsel to the government – said the behaviour of opposition supporters isn’t new.

“For many years they have been conducting a smear campaign, with people like Trevor Johnson, Lennox Linton and others soliciting overseas help from people who have perhaps been paid or have some sort of mercenary motive, like Kenneth Rijock.” he said.

“They lie freely but have never been confronted. They are incapable of producing any evidence to substantiate the allegations that they’re making.

[caption id="attachment_711" align="aligncenter" width="499"] Anthony Astaphan, senior counsel to the Dominica government.[/caption]

“They have created false Facebook accounts, they have cerated false email accounts. They have disingenuously and dishonestly taped and videotaped people. There have been allegations of hacking.

“These are a dangerous group of people. They have brought a very unfortunate and dire darkish to the politics of Dominica.”