Some of the $51 million allocated to the Attorney General’s office to pay off legal fees will go to pay off debt owed to lawyers from since the United National Congress (UNC) held office over a decade ago.
Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi made that claim during his contribution to the Finance (Supplementation and Variation of Appropriation Bill in Senate yesterday.
Al-Rawi specifically addressed several issues raised in a previous contribution by UNC senator Jyanti Lutchmedial.
Al-Rawi said that over $141 million was left owing after the handling of matters by two former UNC attorneys general, Anand Ramlogan and Garvin Nicholas.
“That is in addition to the $444 odd million. I am able to indicate now that as a result of the factoring down of bills that were left for payment by another Government that this Government, we are now paying arrears, part of this money, to settle monies due to and owing based on a previous attorney general,” Al-Rawi said.
H explained, “In that period of six years, the quantum, relative to this debate today, total amount of legal affairs paid is $387 million-odd,” he said.
“That is, compared to the $600 million incurred by attorneys general Ramlogan and Nicholas,” he said.
Al-Rawi said of the $387 million bill, $141 million is for arrears.
“And that is the amount that we are paying in this current final year,” he said.
“Let me put on public record now that the legal fees include the payment of legal fees by the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) and that stands at approximately $147 million,” he said.
Al-Rawi said that of his $600 million spend over the past six years, the DPP office accounted for $147 million in that same period and another $141 million was used in that same period to pay off monies owed.
Al-Rawi said that he was obliged to disclose the names of all the lawyers being paid.
“It is this Government’s intention, having gone through this exercise that we will of course be making disclosure in respect to every single person,” he said.
The only caveat, he said, was that matters in which there was “significant risk” to criminal prosecution and anti-terrorism work or civil matters used for criminal prosecution.
Al-Rawi said there was no attempt to hide anything.
In her contribution earlier, Lutchmedial said there was an expensive witchhunt with foreign attorneys.