She made the statement on the Unity Labour Party’s Facebook page on Wednesday.

Gonsalves said, “Now they’re lying about us. Here’s the truth, while I love St Vincent and the Grenadines with all my heart, I was born in Trinidad, and I am Trinidadian with roots in Dominica.”

Her remarks followed Minister in the Ministry of Housing Anil Roberts’ questions over the Gonsalves’ purchase of apartments at the HDCs’ Victoria Keyes complex in Diego Martin.

She said, “After my then 90-year-old mother’s property was destroyed in hurricane Maria, we as a family, invested in property in Trinidad, where two of my mother’s sons, my brothers and her grandchildren reside,” she said. “We bought the apartments at market rate after our family suffered a tragedy.”

Gonsalves claimed that “power-hungry people” aimed to sabotage St Vincent’s progress, even jeopardising the modern hospital project to target her family and harm the nation’s reputation.

During his Doubles and Coffee segment, Roberts revealed that Gonsalves and her son and daughter had properties at Victoria Keyes.

Responding to Roberts, Prime Minister dr Ralph Gonsalves said that his family’s investment in Trinidad and Tobago was legal and transparent.

In a Facebook post on Tuesday, his son Storm Gonsalves threatened legal action following Roberts’ remarks.

He said, “When I sue who I have to sue, and win, I will just buy more bitcoin,” expecting compensation in multiple currencies.

Storm Gonsalves has also been associated with a US$547,000 condominium in Miami, located at 300 S Biscayne Blvd.

When questioned by the St Vincent Times, he would “neither confirm nor deny” the ownership.

PNM Senator Randall Mitchell also criticised Roberts’ allegations against the Gonsalves.

Mitchell said that the Victoria Keyes story highlights how the PNM “saved Trinidad and Tobago tax payers from a $400M UNC Housing Scam in 2010.”

He also said that Roberts may have breached Section 28 of the Integrity in Public Life Act.