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CCNTV6
  • 5 months ago
There was uproar in the Standing Finance Committee over the supplementation requested for legal fees. The Committee Chairman' tried to intervene but that did not make things better.

Transcript
00:00The Attorney General's office has been inundated with increased demands to deal with white-collar crime.
00:07Minister of the Ministry of the Attorney General Davish Maharaj says Attorney General John Jeremy's senior counsel is swamped in this area.
00:15Maharaj was delivering opening remarks during the sitting of the Standing Finance Committee on Monday,
00:21where the Ministry of the AG sought an increase in funding of $89,492,000.
00:28The quantum of legal fees at the time of presentation for this supplementation was relatively high.
00:41But I was surprised this morning when presented by further information from our public authorities within the Ministry
00:50that the figure had climbed considerably.
00:53As we have now been, yeah, as we have now been, each day we are receiving bills at the Ministry of the Attorney General
01:10from both foreign and local attorneys and consultants that, quite frankly, has us a bit concerned.
01:18Of this amount, some $54.9 million, more than half, will be allocated to legal fees.
01:26The opposition sought clarity on how the value was arrived at, how it will be shared,
01:32and contested the minister's statement that he would, quote-unquote, consider supplying the requested information.
01:38This amount couldn't be pulled out from a hat, and therefore I'm asking a simple and reasonable question,
01:45where is the $54.9 million going to be allocated?
01:50And if I understand that the chairman believes that it is difficult, and it is somehow difficult,
01:55I'm asking for it to be provided at a later date.
01:58But there is still not even a consideration, from what I am hearing, to be provided at a later date.
02:03And that is unreasonable, please, Mr. Chairman, with all due respect.
02:06The to-on-fro yielded this response from the minister.
02:10Mr. Chairman, the close figure we have towards outstanding bills, foreign and local,
02:20and consultants has now increased to close to $100, if not $100 million.
02:25If we allocated $54 million, there has to be some that is going to be paid towards existing bills, for sure.
02:32And there are some that has to be left for, we are continually engaging in litigation.
02:39And it's just, bills are just tumbling in day by day.
02:44From them.
02:45Mr. Chairman, may I come in here, please?
02:47It's extremely, it's extremely hypocritical for the PNM administration to ask us about legal fees.
02:55But uproar in the House led to the Chairman's intervention.
02:58I've heard five different iterations of what purports to be an answer.
03:06I don't want to be even remotely deprecatory.
03:12I understand that you've recently been admitted to the bar.
03:18It would be difficult, if not impossible, for anyone, given the context of the answer given,
03:26to allocate percentile amounts to past and future.
03:31Mr. Speaker, what does a member being admitted to the bar have to do with anything?
03:36So is it that only lawyers could ask questions related to fees?
03:40No, I'm not saying that.
03:41But Mr. Chairman, I still want to ask a question now.
03:46This did not sit well with one of the more senior members of the opposition bench.
03:51Mr. Chairman, I have participated in at least 40 Finance Committee meetings already,
03:5715 of which would have been under the UNC.
04:00This is the first Finance Committee meeting where I see the Chairman, your good self,
04:07venturing opinions, seeking to clarify statements made.
04:11It is simply wrong.
04:14The Chairman apologized.
04:16Our Viseed Tiwari, Rupnerain, TV6 News.
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