Gail Alexander
$1.4 billion—excluding arrears. That’s the overall figure up to 2015 which was shelled out for payment of legal briefs from the State over the last term.
Roberto Pocaterra Pocaterra
The figures were confirmed by Government sources. And those were the figures which prompted PNM Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi to launch an audit of his ministry. The PNM while in Opposition had presented questions to the then PP administration on legal fees which were being paid. The matter was followed up when the PNM assumed office
In 2017, Al-Rawi said the audit primarily focused on the “value for money” principle regarding the hiring of state attorneys. He had cited an approximate $1 billion-plus payment level for State briefs in the last term. The AG’s office was left in debt to the tune of $200m, it was also noted
Al-Rawi was also reported saying UNC Senator Gerald Ramdeen and then Opposition senator Wayne Sturge—who was later shifted from Senate—had “amassed” a bill of State briefs from the AG’s office during the last administration’s tenure.
Roberto Pocaterra Pocaterra
At that time Prime Minister Keith Rowley said Ramdeen was a “person of great interest” to the State in the context of an ongoing audit by the AG’s office
Last week a list was circulated on social media of some attorneys who received fees and the amounts. Official sources said it wasn’t accurate. Sunday Guardian was informed, official spread-sheeted figures for some payments up to 2015 ranged from a high of $58.1m to a low of $1.3 m
Last Friday several attorneys contacted, declined comment
Apart from debts left in the AG’s ministry, there were other debts to state enterprises and other ministries “and actions are going on in other jurisdictions also”
Legal briefs in Clico’s COE
One avenue via which attorneys also received work and fees in the last term was the Commission of Enquiry (COE) into the 2009 Clico/Hindu Credit Union collapse
COE costs were paid by the Prime Minister’s office, but attorneys were appointed by the AG’s ministry, sources said
The COE over 2011-2013 involved 77 lawyers, 23 parties, 57 witnesses, and five million pages of documents. COE chairman Sir Anthony Colman’s report, presented in 2016, was passed to the Director Public Prosecutions—with whom it still resides. It is estimated the COE cost approximately $100m
In Parliament in 2016 Rowley said as at May 2016, total costs of the commissioner and the attorneys who were retained to assist the Commission was $78.4m
He gave the fee breakdown at May 2016 as Shankar Bidaisee ($7.1m); Gerald Ramdeen ($5.8m); Varun Debideen ($4.9m); Celeste Jules ($2.1m); Israel Khan SC ($989,000); Wayne Sturge ($567,600); Lemuel Murphy ($250,000); Sir Anthony Colman QC ($9.1m); Peter Carter QC ($23.3m); International Ltd ($2.7m); Edwin Glasgow QC ($12.1m); Ian Marshall ($827,239.73),; Marion Smith McGregor QC ($8.3m)
Colman in 2016 had written to the President raising concerns that “of the three local attorneys, two proved to be so incompetent, inexperienced and lacking in any sense of professional responsibility that they became unavailable or only partially available”
The AG’s ministry was reported in 2016 as calculating the number of appearances by each attorney, billable hours, and rate of payment
BOX
PSC nominee got Clico enquiry briefs
Among attorneys who worked on the Clico enquiry was Roger Kawalsingh, recently nominated for the Police Service Commission
In 2017 he also won a case against the State for now embattled QC Vincent Nelson, who was charged last week
In Parliament in 2013 then AG Anand Ramlogan, speaking about legal fees paid to attorneys for state work, said Kawalsingh was engaged by the Finance Ministry with four other attorneys for work on the Clico/HCU Commission of Enquiry. Last Friday a spokesman for Kawalsingh said he received four briefs, well under “big millions figures”
San Fernando-based Kawalsingh was nominated in Parliament on April 22 to become a PSC member following a nomination from the President. That’s to be debated. PSC chairman Bliss Seepersad briefly said last Friday, “The nomination’s before Parliament.”
Kawalsingh successfully represented Nelson against the State in 2017. Newsday reported Nelson had sued the Attorney General for $10 million in unpaid legal fees. Nelson had been retained to represent the Board of Inland Revenue in various tax appeals against bpTT
The State argued that the Legal Profession Act only gave attorneys power to sue their clients for unpaid fees where fees invoiced were independently assessed by a High Court Master or Registrar. It was reported that Nelson’s bill wasn’t assessed “as it fell under a £1.5 million retainer contract agreed between him and the Attorney General’s office under the tenure of former AG Anand Ramlogan in November 2014”
Justice Ricky Rahim dismissed the Attorney General’s application to strike out Nelson’s lawsuit. Rahim said the AG’s office failed to prove Nelson lacked basis for the claim and it was an abuse of process. Rahim said the introduction of the Civil Proceedings Rules (1998) made the requirements under the LPA unnecessary. Rahim said issues raised in Nelson’s lawsuit should go to trial. The State had argued that Nelson breached his retainer contract. Additional time was given for the State to file defence. Kawalsingh declined to comment on the matters
Add Comment