From 2015 to March of this year, the State spent $387,985,199.67 million in legal fees through the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs. Of that sum, $147,931,556.22 was spent on behalf of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The figures were provided by Attorney General Faris Al Rawi, who dismissed a newspaper report which claims he refused to disclose legal fees for attorneys employed by the State.

Meanwhile, pointing fingers at the Opposition, the Attorney General said Covid-19 related litigation brought by the Opposition has cost the State “millions of dollars”. 

“I have done a rough, back of the envelope calculation. The COVID litigation has so far to date from last year March – even before that – to today’s date, cost us somewhere close to $14.5 million. That has been across hundreds of matters.”

“Litigation is not cheap. Litigation has been extremely expensive and the UNC COVID-led litigation – which has been lost – every single matter that has been lost has cost us millions of dollars.”

The AG further stated his Ministry is committed to transparency, and assured that all of these matters have been made referred to the Auditor General for review.