AG Williams unschooled in financial laws – Opposition Leader
Signing bonus case
In the matter relating to the signing bonus, an affidavit submitted to the court by Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Basil Williams has been described as shameful.
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Opposition Leader Dr Bharrat Jagdeo, who had a look at the document — which explains why the Government has kept the US$18 million signing bonus outside of the Consolidated Fund – has described it as nonsensical.
“It is shameful that an Attorney General would be so unschooled in the financial laws of the country that he would subscribe to such an affidavit, or have his office send in an affidavit like that,” Jagdeo opined.
Jagdeo, an economist and former Finance Minister, said he finds the explanation, which is filled with meaningless legal jargon, to be atrocious, and doing more damage than repair to the AG’s argument.
He said, “It goes off in fairyland about definitions of the Consolidated Fund, and confuses it with Deposit Fund; and it makes absolutely no sense, based on what I read there.”
The Opposition Leader has said he would like to see a specialist is hired to testify and clarify the issue.
Jagdeo reiterated that his party feels there was a specific reason why the money was not placed into the Consolidated Fund. That reason is: so that the money is not audited by the Auditor General, and it could possibly get stolen.
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