Granger court action against unapproved spending … Finance Minister acted constitutionally in spending monies unapproved by Parliament – Nandlall
January 15, 2015 | By KNews | Filed Under News, Source - Kaieteur News
Attorney General Anil Nandlall
Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, continued to argue yesterday, that a Conservatory Order to stay all spending and/or any further spending by Finance Minister Ashni Singh, or other Ministers is not necessary.
The Minister was within his constitutional rights to do so, said Minister Nandlall.
Yesterday before Chief Justice, Ian Chang, Nandlall responded to an application for a Conservatory Order to stay all spending and/or any further spending by Finance Minister Ashni Singh, or other Ministers designated by the President on programmes disapproved by Parliament.
The application for a Conservatory Order was filed by Opposition Leader, David Granger in wake of statements of excess presented to the National Assembly by the Finance Minister.
Granger is seeking a Conservatory Order to stay all Government’s spending until the court matter has been heard and determined.
Last year, some $36.75B was disapproved by the Opposition-controlled National Assembly.
The disapproved monies included some $1.3B from Office of the President (OP) under its Administrative Services programme; $3.8B also from Office of the President for capital estimates also under Administrative Services; some $22B from Ministry of Finance; $1.1B from Ministry of Amerindian Affairs’ Development Fund; $6.78B from Ministry of Public Works capital works and $1.3B from the Ministry of Health’s Regional and Clinic.
However, the Finance Minister admitted that some $4.5B had been spent for the period ended June 16, 2014. As such, Granger is asking the court to declare that the National Assembly, in keeping with Article 218 (2) of the Constitution, lawfully disapproved in the annual estimates of Revenue and Expenditure of 2014.
The application presented before the Acting Chief Justice named Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, the Attorney General and Speaker of the National Assembly, Raphael Trotman, as the defendants.
Yesterday, Nandlall advanced submissions, maintaining that the Finance Minister was well within his legal boundaries to spend, since he followed procedures outlined in Article 218 of the Constitution.
He said that assuming the court had jurisdiction to grant the order, it ought not to be granted since particularly Article 218:3 the Constitution allows for Minister of finance to lay a statement of excess in the parliament after expending monies for which no appropriation has been made in the appropriation act of any given year.
Nandlall argued that the Minister of Finance has faithfully complied with the procedure outlined in the constitution.
“He has done so in the years 2012 and 2013. Similarly he has lain before the National Assembly statements of excesses, and those statements of excess were approved by Parliament. The contention is now being advanced that the Minister of Finance in identical circumstances has committed some constitutional violation.”
“In any event, most of the monies that have restored under the budget for 2014, if not all, have already been expended. So you cannot grant an order to restrain an act which has already been committed,” he stated.
The AG further expressed that Article 219:1 of the Constitution and the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act, provides that in any given financial year “whether there is a prorogation or not, is immaterial. A Government is intended to spend money for the provision of services for the public to the tune of 1/12 of what constituted the budget for the year preceding.
“I don’t know if the court can determine anything else than that,” he added
Attorney-at–Law, Basil Williams, stated that the AG’s statement were at best erroneous. Williams is part of Granger’s team of legal representatives. He noted that the Attorney General is yet to provide the court with evidence to support spending of unapproved monies.
“The Minister must present the court with evidence to support that the government can spend where Parliament has not authorized and approved.” Williams held that he is very confident that there is no law anywhere in the region or Caribbean to support such spending.