Faris Dismisses Claim Of $1B In Legal Fees At AG’s Office
Speaking in his capacity as former Attorney General, Minister Faris Al Rawi has responded to a weekend article which alleged the PNM racked up one billion in legal fees since 2015, saying the figures were misrepresented.
Referencing a document laid in Parliament last July, while he was AG, Al Rawi said over the period 2015 to June 2021, payment of legal fees had amounted to $410.5million.
“The article is completely inaccurate in material aspects as it fails to separate legal fees from sums paid in settlement to litigants thereby causing a deeply troubling inflation of alleged payment in fees,” he said.
Al Rawi, who led the Attorney General’s office from 2015 until March of this year when he was reassigned to the Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government, provided a breakdown of legal fees:
Mr. Al Rawi questioned the credibility of the sources of the newspaper article.
“The article springs from sources attributed to Ravi Balgobin Maharaj and a team of lawyers led by former Attorney General Anand Ramlogan SC allegedly pursuing Freedom of Information requests over the last 6 months.”
“Quite regrettably I state in summary: the article assumes the material provided is accurate and is based on sources who have a more than apparent conflict of interest insofar as the former Attorney General Mr. Anand Ramlogan SC is now before the criminal courts facing allegations of corruption and misbehaviour in public office in relation to the payment of legal fees to Attorneys whilst he was the sitting Attorney General,” he said.