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Ramjattan complaint against Finance Minister…Crime Chief awaits direction on procedure

Jul 25, 2014 News

Crime Chief Leslie James says that his office is still to receive direction on proceeding with the criminal complaint that has been filed with the Police against Finance Minister, Dr Ashni Singh by Leader of the Alliance for Change (AFC), Khemraj Ramjattan.
In a brief comment to this newspaper, James explained that he is awaiting word from either the Commissioner of Police or the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on the way forward. He promised to follow-up on the matter.
Last Friday, Ramjattan made good on a threat to lodge an official complaint against the Minister along with officials across the various ministries who would have expended monies that the National Assembly had disapproved in the 2014 Budget.
Ramjattan is contending that $4.5B that the Finance Minister spent without such approval was a criminal act.
“I make formal complaint and report that the Minster and other officials in his Ministry have committed a violation of the provisions of the FMA (Fiscal Management and Accountability) Act 2003…He has spent monies without having obtained legislative authorization.”
Ramjattan is adamant that the expenditure constitutes misuse, misapplication, or improper disposal of public monies for a period up to 16th June, 2014.
According to the AFC leader, such a violation contravenes section 46 and Section 85 of the FMA Act, by virtue of knowingly permitting other persons to contravene the provisions of the law.
“From every indication this criminal violation will continue up to 31st December 2014.”
Ramjattan notes that the Finance Minster has pointed out that he does not need to get legislative authorisation first, or any appropriation before he spends public monies on these programmes and asserts that he can spend without appropriation because he has Article 218 3 (b) which comes to his aid in permitting him to do so.
“This however flies in the face of the explicit, unequivocal language of article 217 and section 16 of the FMA Act 2003.”
According to Ramjattan, the Finance Minister, feels that Article 218 3 (b) of the Constitution has given him a blank cheque to spend money without prior appropriation, but it does not.
He argues that it is merely a provision as it relates to a Statement of Excess which is prescriptive of what must be done to bring to the attention of the National Assembly what was misspent in any financial year for purposes of signing off the accounts for that year.
Ramjattan asserts that the article that Dr Singh is relying on does not and must never be read to be providing carte blanche.
“It is only for the purpose of bringing transparency to the National Assembly as to the financial excesses of the Executive arm of the State and its excessive spending over a period of that financial year…So that in this case of a Statement of Excess, the elected officials will be made aware of how much more was spent and by which Agencies or Departments, as against what was appropriated in the Annual Appropriation Act. And in the case of this Statement of Excess, after having seen what the nature of these extra or excess spending is, the Assembly may proceed to legislatively validate them, hence signing off them as a State must do having discovered misspending.”
According to Ramjattan, “this certainly does not mean that the Minister and his officials who would have created and caused these unauthorised spending to the tune here in excess of $4.533B are to be let off the criminal hook!”

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