Senator Jean, citing alleged defamatory remarks about her involvement in corruption during her time as a public servant, has given Joseph ten days to retract his statements and issue an apology, or face legal action.

Speaking on an opposition-aligned radio programme, Joseph confirmed that he had been formally served with the legal notice.

“Some days ago, I was served by a police officer. I received the letter, I read the letter, I took it to my lawyer, and everybody’s confused about the letter that was received. I could write a better letter than that.”

Joseph, former Minister for Infrastructure, dismissed the claims as misdirected, arguing that his public statements never directly implicated Senator Jean in corrupt activities.

“The letter states that I made that statement in October of 2024. The allegations of corruption they are claiming I made are in relation to the clearing of equipment belonging to Tony Leon. And what I said on the platform is that my PS was sent on leave, and somebody was sent from the Ministry of Finance, which means that Allison was never implicated.”

Addressing Jean’s earlier claim that her name was never mentioned in the Lindquist Report, Joseph countered, “To say that her name does not appear anywhere in the Lindquist Report, I can show you more than 20 times. Allison Jean was the PS of the Ministry of Communications and Works. The period under scrutiny was when I was Minister and she was PS. How could her name not feature?”

Senator Jean, for her part, has described Joseph’s claims as defamatory and entirely baseless. She has stated that the accusations damage her reputation and integrity and insists her name was not linked to wrongdoing in any official report.