Signing bonus belongs in consolidated fund…TIGI experiences “temporary setback” with litigation against govt.

Jan 17, 2018 News

By Abena Rockcliffe-Campbell

Litigation that Transparency Initiative Guyana Inc. (TIGI) brought against the government of Guyana was on Monday deemed procedurally flawed by Chief Justice Roxanne George.
TIGI took the government to court over the US$18M signing bonus that Government collected from ExxonMobil in 2016.
The matter was supposed to have been heard on Monday but this newspaper understands that the requisite court documents were not served on the named respondents -Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan and Attorney General, Basil Williams.
The Chief Justice advised TIGI’s lawyer, Christopher Ram, to withdraw the case or risk her striking it out. Ram chose to withdraw.
Yesterday, TIGI President Dr. Troy Thomas said that the spirit of the watchdog body has not been daunted and that its lawyer is preparing to re-file the case.
Dr. Thomas said that the government should not be allowed to blatantly ignore the rule of law.
“The law says that money coming to the government must go to the consolidated fund and there is good reason for that. Once the money goes to the consolidated fund, there will be parliamentary oversight,” said Dr. Thomas.
He added that if the government wanted to set up a special account, this should have been guided by an act of parliament “so at least we know that the money is there and it would not be just members of the APNU or AFC parties deciding whatever they want to do with it.”
Dr. Thomas continued, “The next thing is that the Coalition promised specifically to use the consolidated fund appropriately. It was one of the key things that they criticised the PPP/C government about. Now, to see them go back on their promise is simply worrying.

IGI President, Dr. Troy Thomas

“I feel like we are losing whatever ground we gained by voting the way the nation did. We will definitely lose that ground if we allow the very people who promise to use the fund appropriately to violate the laws governing the fund and get away with it.”
Dr. Thomas said that there was much talk about the way Government handled the signing bonus in the press.
He noted that the government came under severe criticism for keeping the bonus a secret, for lying to the public and for not depositing the money into the consolidated fund.
“There were many letters and articles and still they have not budged from that position (not to deposit the money). One of the things I remember the President (David Granger) said is that if there is a court order or something to that effect then he will follow. So for me, going to the court seemed like the best thing to do. It is the natural thing to do if you really believe that this is the level of accountability you want to ensure we have.”
Dr. Thomas said that events on Monday last are nothing more than a “temporary setback.”
TIGI moved to the court on January 5. Its main concern is that the money has not been deposited into the consolidated fund but remain instead in a special purpose account at the Bank of Guyana.
In, the original court document, Dr. Thomas called on the Courts to compel Minister Jordan to immediately deposit the US$18M into the consolidated fund.
Dr. Thomas in an affidavit contends that the deposit into the Bank of Guyana account is “unconstitutional, arbitrary, capricious, unreasonable, irrational, unlawful, illegal, erroneous, done in bad faith, improper, unfair, and an improvident expression of discretion”.
He contends, too, that at no point in time did the Cabinet of Guyana or the Minister of Finance disclose the existence of the signing bonus and in fact concealed its existence. This, Dr. Thomas said, was an act of intentionally deceiving the citizens of Guyana.
Dr. Thomas wants the court to rule the government’s actions unlawful, unconstitutional, and in breach of Article 216 of the Constitution of Guyana and the FMAA Cap.
Article 216 of the Constitution states: “all revenues or other moneys raised or received by Guyana (not being revenues or other moneys that are payable, by or under an act of Parliament, into some other fund established for any specific purpose or that may, by or under such an act be retained by the authority that received them for the purpose of defraying the expenses of that authority) shall be paid into the consolidated fund.
Section 38 of the FMAA requires that: (1) all public moneys raised shall be credited fully and promptly into the Consolidated Fund, except- (a) moneys credited to an extra budgetary fund as stipulated in the enabling legislation establishing that fund; (b) moneys credited to a deposit fund; and (c) as stipulated in the constitution.