00:00A total of $4,982 million has been approved for the Auditor General's Department to take it through the rest of the fiscal year.
00:11...required to meet the unanticipated costs being the payment of arrears of salary owed to holders of public offices arising out of the implementation of the 128th report of the Salaries Review Commission,
00:26as well as for expenses to be incurred under goods and services, such as an unprecedented multi-million dollar legal bill due to the recklessness of the former Minister of Finance.
00:42But that legal bill totals $2 million, and former Prime Minister Stuart Young today challenged government asking why the fees are being paid by the Auditor General's Department and not the Attorney General's Office.
00:57Is this the payment of fees or is it the payment of costs? Because, of course, as I said, the costs that would have been awarded for the action that you referred to should be paid by the Office of the Attorney General.
01:10I can't see how it would be that the Office of Auditor General would be paying the fees of the individual involved who was then in litigation with the then Minister of Finance.
01:23Can I get some clarity as to whether it is her fees being paid?
01:26Finance Minister Devindranath-Tanku referenced the explanatory notes.
01:31Fees, $2 million, to meet the cost of reimbursement stemming from a judgment in favor of the Auditor General.
01:40As per the Privy Councilor Appeal No. 0057 of 2024, Auditor General, Cruz's Minister of Finance. So, I think that is self-explanatory.
01:53Young, a senior counsel, however, maintains fees as outlined are not a ward of costs and is usually not for the state to reimburse fees incurred by an individual in that manner.
02:05The arrangement ought to have been agreed to by the Attorney General at that time, but that did not happen, he says.
02:13The public service and the Office of the Auditor General cannot pay the fees for the individual, for the Auditor General.
02:21I understand if, as you said, it is as a result of being successful in litigation that the Privy Council costs have been awarded and costs totaled $2 million, which is why I asked for a breakdown.
02:31The chairman would be well aware of the process. If it is, in fact, that costs were awarded, there would be a process for taxation, or maybe there's been an agreement as to the costs, but then it would be cost awarded, and that should be paid by the Office of the Attorney General.
02:46It is not usual, I'm not sure if it's proper, for the Auditor General, it was an individual in this case, for those fees to be paid, which is what it says here, by the state, as opposed to the process I've just outlined.
03:01The chairman of the Standing Finance Committee and Speaker of the House attempted to add clarity.
03:07Can I advise the member that there was some litigation recently that I know of, that a consent order was entered into?
03:17I'm simply for the public record.
03:21I'm not entering the debate.
03:23You can't, Chair, with great respect, Honourable Speaker, you are not supposed to intervene and clarify anything that the government needs to clarify.
03:32I don't entirely agree with you, member.
03:38Well, no, you see, because the proceedings, the accuracy of the public record and the context of contextual accuracy is extremely important.
03:47With the greatest of respect, it is not in your place to make that kind of statement.
03:54You are here to chair the proceedings.
03:55During the initial to and fro between the Auditor General Jaywanti Ramdas and then Finance Minister Qom Imbert,
04:03it was made public through correspondences that Ramdas went to the Attorney General Reginald Amour for legal advice, as is prescribed by law.
04:12At that point, the Attorney General instructed her to seek her own legal representation,
04:18as he was already advising the Finance Minister on the matter.
04:21The question as to who would pay those fees arose, but the state at that time did not commit to paying those fees.
04:30Arvishita Wari, Rupnerain, TV6 News.
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