Shelly Dass upset as news of diplomatic scandal hits TnT
FORMER television news presenter Shelley Dass has slammed the TnT Mirror for reporting on the diplomatic disturbance in which she is embroiled in Washington DC and says she and her husband are still together and doing fine.
After attempting, unsuccessfully, to contact her last week, Mirror was finally able to contact Dass this week at her office, where she currently functions as an advisor to Assistant Secretary General of the Organisation of American States, Suriname-born Ambassador Albert Ramdin.
She denied reports (not from the Mirror) that her journalist husband had been “jailed” and said she was too busy working hard for this country to have such filth reported about her.
The TnT Mirror reported last week that Robert Clarke, Dass’ husband, had been found guilty in a Washington District of Columbia court, of attempted threats on the life of Charmaine Baksh-Ramdin, who is also from Trinidad and is the estranged wife of Ramdin, in what has turned into a bitter divorce.
An extremely angry-sounding Dass accused the Mirror of “twisting things”, saying that she was “disgusted” by what had been written in the newspaper.
The Mirror’s factual reports on the matter were based on the documents filed in the District of Columbia courts of the US capital.
Without being asked, she offered, “My husband is not in jail,” which was never a claim made by the Mirror.
“We are quite happy,” she said, adding that if the Mirror “persisted in writing garbage about me and my husband, you will be dealt with.”
Despite efforts by someone in the background to restrain her, Dass questioned whether the Mirror had “nothing better to do than to write disgusting things about me and my husband.”
“I have only been gone two years or so … and nobody seems to appreciate the fact that I am up here (Washington DC) working my tail off, for such things to be said about us.”
At one point she became extremely agitated and personal in her attack on Mirror, even as the editor sought to explain to her that efforts had been made to contact her before the article was published.
“You all have no decency. You disgust me,” she fumed, before hanging up the call.
Mirror reported on December 16 issue that Clarke made news two weeks ago in Washington DC, when Clarke appeared before District of Columbia Judge Harold Cushenberry Jr. on the misdemeanour charge of “attempted threats to do bodily harm” to Charmaine Baksh-Ramdin, the wife of the OAS Assistant Secretary General.
Clarke, a print and broadcast journalist attached with several local media houses, worked at the Guardian, TV6 and Gayelle.
He was found guilty of the misdemeanor charge two weeks ago and sentenced to 180 days in jail with the sentence suspended on condition that he avoids contact with Baksh-Ramdin, the complainant in the matter.
The matter has become extremely bitter, with Ambassador Ramdin filing for divorce after moving out of the marital home following the dispute. The couple’s US $$1,101,470 home has now been listed for sale. Someone has also created a blog where derogatory comments have been posted about Baksh-Ramdin, her relationship with her children and her previous marriage.
The high-profile diplomatic row was first reported in the Mirror’s Media Watch column last September 30. Ramdin departed the marital home after a dispute with his wife over the nature of e-mails and other correspondence between him and his advisor Dass.
Upset by the fact that Dass was being implicated in the marital mess by Baksh-Ramdin, Clarke is said to have accosted the diplomat’s wife in the street, accusing her of slandering Dass and in several heated altercations threatened her.
The matter was referred to the police and Clarke was charged on June 14 this year, with the police also serving a restraining order preventing Clarke from coming into contact with Baksh-Ramdin. During the trial Dass and her boss, Ambassador Ramdin, both testified in the matter on Clarke’s behalf.
Today 26th March 2012, assistant secretary general of the O.A.S. Albert Ramchand Ramdin arranged for a car and chauffeur provided by the O.A.S. to deliver him to a Maryland courthouse accompanied by his "special" advisor Shelly Dass Ramdin was there trying to get a speedy divorce from his wife of 17 years. Shelly Dass was there at the request of her Albert Ramdin to give her love and support to her "special" BOSS. She slithered to the back of the court room looking after her meal ticket. Where was her "loving husband"? Ramdin through counsel stated that he is willing to ONLY support the biological child for whom he donated sperm and not the daughter whom he claimed as his when he slept in the same bed with her mother. Ramdin also asked the court to not provide any support for his wife.
It is a sad situation indeed.Sources revealed that Ramdin is hounding his wife to sell her car and their house or else….He even demands that his staff have no communication with his wife. The staff of course in a time where jobs are hard to come by has to begrudgingly obey in fear that they lose their jobs. Some even make up stories to keep their jobs. What a sad situation.!! He is making sure that they do not disclose any information about his wherabouts, especially when as he frequently travels with his "special advisor" He even asks them to report every time his wife contacts them. Ramdin is making a fool of himself. His wife has supported him and even advised him on the hiring of his previous staff. He is rushing the divorce. He creates stories that his wife is crazy and jealous and has the guards of the OAS following her whenever she attends meetings at the OAS. He went so far to try to get her out of the "Women of the Americas", a women's group she has been a member of since 1997 the year that he was first accredited as permanent representative to the OAS. He walks around like the :Boss" of the OAS and tells lies. He has given all of his first class upgrades to Dass to travel with him while his wife and kids have to pay for their own. He spends thousands of dollars on her and has cut spending for his family. He has even blocked her from getting invitations to functions. Someone spilled the beans when a green spineless "Johnny come lately" diplomat started to shun the wife as he was promised a HUGE job by Ramdin. The wife and children have been getting help from medical professionals to deal with this bizarre situation. Some of the couple's friends are scared to voice their opinion. They want to be "politically" correct by keeping silent. Other true friends still support the wife. He has even threatened taking away their daughter from her. Dass continues to travel with Ramdin masqueraded as his advisor. What is the OAS doing about this cronyism?
In September the Mirror had already reported on the situation. Here is a part of that article:
"The reporter who, along with her husband, suddenly dashed off to take up office at the institution, ran into immediate difficulty when staff at the organisation began questioning her qualifications and her imperious attitude to long-standing employees. To make matters worse, questions were also being raised about the manner of her recruitment and her closeness with the senior diplomat who recruited her. Now this would be normal inter-company gossip were it not for the fact that the wife of the senior international diplomat also began to question the relationship between her husband and the Trinidadian reporter. She is said to have confronted the diplomat with correspondence which she considered of an intimate nature between her diplomat husband and the TT reporter. Matters came to a head which led to the departure of the diplomat from the marital home and the initiation of divorce proceedings."
If you can have a politically vulnerable diplomatic in an ELECTED position testify against the mother of his children, it makes one indeed wonder. Picture this: a newscaster, uneducated in politics, economy, sociology or anything related to international relations, 32 years old – is singlehandedly employed as the ADVISOR(!!!!!!!!!!!) by the SECOND MAN of an organization responsible for the entire “New World” (read Canada, the USA, all of South America and the Caribbean), and he testifies against his own wife for her. So two men got on the bandwagon for Shelly Dass. Her own husband received a jail sentence and her boss Albert Ramdin of the OAS is jeopardising his career by landing himself in a diplomatic club sandwich. It is indeed a stinking situation. I did the math. Good on you, Mirror for exposing this stink. For it does smell rancid to say the least. Good luck to you, Mrs Ramdin. It is indeed terrible to lose your family to a no-brain career hunter. But Albert Ramdin and Shelly Dass of the OAS have much more to lose and that, my dear, is their credibility.
It seems highly surprising and remarkable that Ambassador Albert Ramdin will testify against his own wife and mother of his children. This says it all to me. It seems like a new level to the game Shelly Dass won in Trinidad where she literally sold herself to the highest bidder: Single, Sexy, Sold. Only now the price is much higher in all senses. If I am to understand the news correctly, Ramdin's wife found inappropraite emails between Shelly Dass and Albert Ramdint/ When confronted, he filed for a divorce. It seems that for the past two years much was being said about this on the internet by people who seemed to know about this stinking situation. From the Mirror reports it seemd that Shelly Dass got her obviously doting husband to accuse the OAS wife as being the responsible for the comments in the media and subsequently threatened to do her bodily harm.
I have read the comments above and looked at several stories on the internet circulating about how the position was appropriated. It amazes me that the OAS board of directors have not yet looked into the matter. The whole affair is sordid. Big, bold, brash. OAS, this is taxpayers' moneys. I urge you to wake up to this shameless situation.
One would think that someone holding such a position like Shelley Dass does at the OAS is savvy enough and know how to deal with the media in such a situation. The world is a global village and information is circulated. The mere fact that both she and Ambassador Ramdin may have had their immunity in DC waived to appear in civil court means that the media has done its job. This matter could have been handled privately. Shelley Dass is clearly becoming an embarrassment to the OAS. She is not an elected official like her boss and she should have some modicum of class and self respect and request that she be reassigned other duties or resign under the circumstances. It is also alarming that the gov't of T&T has so far turned a blind eye on this matter especially since she may be holding a position of trust during the tenure of Amb. Ramdin and flying T&T's flag at the OAS. The OAS on the other hand has a code of conduct. It would be interesting to see how the OAS Ethics Office and Human Resources Departments handle this matter. Then again, given the cronyism for which the organization is well known, absolutely nothing may come out of these embarrassing public tirades on the part of its senior officials and their dependents.