By Prior Beharry
ATTORNEY General Reginald Armour, SC, says he undertook to pay the legal fees of Auditor General Jaiwantie Ramdass for independent counsel on a specific matter.
Speaking at the post-Cabinet news conference on Thursday, Armour said that Ramdass’s attorneys Freedom Law Chambers, headed by former Attorney General Anand Ramlogan, SC, wants him to pay more than that.
He said, “I reiterate my commitment to pay legal fees for that which the Auditor General had requested and beyond that, I’m not prepared to commit the public purse to any more fees.”
Ramdass has taken the AG to court claiming among other things that her rights have been breached and she was seeking protection under the law and also the payment of legal fees in the legal matter.
The issue stems from the Ministry of Finance refusal to present her 2023 Financial Report to the Parliament. The Government then amended Sections 24 and 25 of the Exchequer and Audit Act to extend the time to send information on the 2023 accounts to the Auditor General by four months.
The Auditor General’s 2023 report didn’t include a $2.6 billion sum that was sent in amended statements by Finance Ministry division officials after the 2023 accounts statements were delivered to her at the January 31, 2024 deadline, stipulated in the law.
The $2.6 billion discovered in February, was understated due to difficulties with the Central Bank’s new electronic cheque-clearing system, Finance Minister Colm Imbert has said.
On Thursday, Armour said, “I was very clear throughout my correspondence regarding my willingness to pay the reasonable legal costs concerning retention of counsel for the advice sought by the Auditor General and any reports to the contrary are erroneous and I fear, deliberately to mislead.”
He said, “I told her I was advising the Finance Minister (and) I couldn’t advise her. I encouraged her in very clear language to proceed urgently to retain independent legal counsel from whom she could take advice on the specific matter she’d sought my advice. I gave the undertaking I’d be prepared to pay her legal fees for retention of such advice.
“Since then, I’ve received correspondence from Mr Ramlogan’s chambers requiring me to do more than that and I’ve made it very clear I have a duty to make sure the public purse is managed responsibly.
“I reiterated my commitment to pay legal fees for that which the Auditor General requested an opinion on the true constructions of Sections 24-25 of the Exchequer and Audit Act and beyond that I’m not prepared to commit the public purse to any more fees.”
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