Some $636.2 million was spent in five years by the People’s Partnership administration on state legal fees while another $371. 8 million has been spent by the People’s National Movement administration in six years
And some big numbers were earned by some attorneys.
Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi, in a statement to Parliament last Friday, divulged details of payments the Office of the Attorney General and Ministry of Legal Affairs had paid out to deal with legal matters over the last 11 years, spanning the PP and PNM’s terms
Al-Rawi presented a list of attorneys who worked for the ministry during the 2010-2015 People's Partnership administration’s tenure and their legal fees, which totalled $636.2 million.
He presented a similar list of 125 attorneys who’ve worked for the AG’s office under the current PNM administration, with fees totalling $371.8m. He said there was a savings of $2.456 billion in expenditure by reorganising the three former PP ministries into two ministries in his tenure.
Among his statement on probes, he noted continuing investigations into CLICO, CIB, BATT and CLF in which the taxpayers contributed over $20 billion in bailout support.
For the period 2012-2021, the sum in excess of $181 million has been expended to Deloitte and Touche for legal and forensic services. To date, there’s an outstanding bill of almost $24 million payable to Deloitte and Touche. The investigation is in TTPS’ hands but the laying of charges is for the Office of the DPP.
Apart from individual attorneys, those working over the period spanning both administrations included former PNM minister Christine Sahadeo and attorneys Israel Khan, Avory Sinanan, Pamela Elder, Ravi Rajcoomar, Sophia Chote, Christlyn Moore, D Allison Prowell, Martin George, Sean Cazabon and Varun Debideeen. Several firms also worked for both administrations.
Al-Rawi said, “The Office of the AGLA has already put into the public domain the names of all attorneys who were retained by the Office of the AGLA for the period 2015-2021. The Office of the AGLA has also released the total payments collectively expended to them over the periods 2010-2015 and 2015-June 2021.
“The Office of the AGLA now wishes to further supplement this information by laying in this Honourable House the amount paid to each external attorney and forensic accountant for the period May 2010-June 2021 for the Office of the AGLA and its predecessor ministry and for and in respect of divisions and enterprises including the Board of Inland Revenue (the ‘BIR’), the Estate Management and Business Development Company (the ‘EMBD’), the Education Facilities Company (the ‘EFCL’), Service Commissions and the Judiciary.
He said the Office of the AGLA has not yet provided the particulars of every individual matter undertaken or invoice provided by each external attorney and forensic accountant but has provided the names and full sums earned by each professional.
The Office of the AGLA has been engaged in the digitisation and reconciliation of its record-keeping and is in the final stages of this task, Al-Rawi said. He said several professionals retained under the previous administration have not yet sought to recover monies billed to the Office of the AGLA and/or its predecessor.
“Accordingly, the Office of the AGLA reserves the right to provide further information and to factor further revisions upwards or downwards when this process is completed for all years under review.”
He also said the ministry must be careful that it does not release any information relating to the payment of fees in specific matters to named external professionals and with any accompanying information, which has the potential of affecting investigations that have been completed, or which are ongoing, or which are being prosecuted.
“Furthermore, it has the potential of affecting fair trial rights which the courts have repeatedly cautioned against. To this end, the Office of the AGLA has written to all attorneys asking them whether they consent to their fees being released. The Office of the AGLA has also written to the Director of Public Prosecutions, the Financial Investigation Branch, the BIR and the Central Authority.”
He added, "Firstly, contrary to the wishes of the vast majority of attorneys, the Office of the AGLA has taken a decision to release the information paid to each external professional for the period 2010-June 2021 in respect of matters in which they have provided services on behalf of the State.
"For the time being the Office of the AGLA has not taken a decision to release the names of these matters for reasons provided in this statement. The Office of the AGLA will certainly continue to provide disclosures as matters move out of any danger of being sabotaged."