Coalition used close to $50M tax dollars to pay for elections, other court cases

Aug 23, 2020 News

– Special audit to follow –AG

Former AG, Basil Williams

Attorney-at-law Neil Boston, SC

Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, says he has uncovered enormous spending of tax dollars by the previous administration on the elections and other court cases.
During a press conference yesterday, the Attorney General pointed to several receipts for close to $50M in tax dollars which the former Attorney General, Basil Williams, spent procuring lawyers to represent members of the A Partnership for National Unity Government +Alliance For Change government for the elections-related litigation and other political/personal matters.
The Coalition should have been paying for the cost out of party coffers.
There had been suspicions that the money was coming from the treasury.
Stressing the financial records in his possession only relates to some of the spending, the Attorney General announced he will be seeking the services of the Auditor General to conduct a special audit into the spending.
“These are spending on matters in the High Court, Court of Appeal and the Caribbean Court of Justice… I stress that this is only some of the records not all, so I may need the professional service of the Auditor General to get a complete picture of the entire bill in relation to those cases,” he said.

Attorney-at-law, Maxwell Edwards

Attorney-at-law Mayo Robertson

In the meantime, Nandlall outlined that for the case against the Coalition’s unilateral appointment of GECOM Chair, the former Attorney General retained two Barbadian Queens Counsels, Hal Gollop and Ralph Thorne. Together the two lawyers were paid approximately $10M for their services.
“This doesn’t include hotel and accommodation that are all in the retainer contract …that I will have released later,” he said
Further as it relates to Ralph Thorne, the AG said that again he was paid with state funds- $4.2M to represent the former AG in his private capacity in a case where was sued by the former Solicitor General, Prithima Kissoon.
In regards to the no-confidence motion cases, Nandlall pointed to a battery of lawyers who earned big bucks.
Among them, Nandlall said, was attorney-at-law Maxwell Edwards who was paid $4M for his participation in the no-

Attorney-at-law, Rosydale Forde, SC

confidence case; Senior Counsels, Rex McKay and Neil Boston who represented Compton Reid, a farmer from New Amsterdam who had challenged the no-confidence motion in his private capacity- they were paid $12 M by the Attorney General’s Office. Dr. Francis Alexis, Q.C from Barbados was paid $5M in the same case.
In another instance, Nandlall pointed to a case where attorney-at-law, Roysdale Forde, SC, appeared on behalf of the former Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan, in a private case.
In this case, the AG explained that Jordan had sued now Minister of Public Works, Juan Edghill in his private capacity, “but here again, a lawyer is being paid from the state‘s purse over $1.7M.”
Other invoices, Nandlall told the press, related the payments for attorney-at-law, Mayo Robertson, who also represented the Coalition’s interest in a number of recent elections’ cases.
“We have a long invoice here for the Robertson law firm. He was also paid for the no-confidence case $1.9M, an additional $1M in another case involving the AG and Anil Nandlall and the sum of $600, 000 in another matter,” he said.
As it regards the Eslyn David case, where that private citizen also challenged the results of the elections using the recount figures, Nandlall disclosed that the coalition through the Attorney General Chamber paid Maxwell Edwards again roughly $4M for legal services.
Nandlall emphasized there is need for an examination for what he believes were irregular spending of tax dollars in the personal interest of one political group.
“You must appreciate that these things have to be the subject of a special audit to determine whether these payments were properly made. And as I said this is just a work in progress I don’t think I was given everything,” Nandlall stated.

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