Attorney General Garvin Nicholas says $30.5 million in duplicated entries for local attorneys was the source of what were described as inflated fees paid out to attorneys working for the Office of the Attorney General.
But while this sum has been removed from the record books, the actual figure for legal fees between 2010 and 2014 for the AG’s office has now jumped by $65 million to $408,260,340.48 million, after an investigation by the permanent secretary.
A statement issued by Nicholas yesterday said that some $80 million in foreign payments had been omitted from the initial report presented to Parliament, of which $45.3 million was paid to Deloitte and Touche and $7.7 million to T&T’s long-standing Privy Council agents, Charles Russell.
On March 24, former attorneys general John Jeremie (PNM) and Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj (UNC) called for an investigation into the spending of $343 million on private lawyers to represent the State during Ramlogan’s four and a half-year tenure, after several lawyers queried the payments to them quoted in the figures released in Parliament.
They also proposed to send letters to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams and the Integrity Commission requesting an investigation, aided by forensic expertise, into the matter.
However, Nicholas subsequently noted that after protests from some lawyers, it was realised that there was an error in the figures and he ordered the permanent secretary to look into it.
Some of the lawyers named in the report claimed they had been double invoiced in the figures they saw presented in the House and were threatening legal action.
In the statement yesterday, Nicholas said, “these errors arose as a result of using two recording systems for attorneys’ fees—an official fees register and an excel spreadsheet which is meant to be updated on a regular basis.”
“I am assured that no overpayments have actually been made,” he said.
“Consistent with the normal accounting process in the public service, these payments are reconciled with the records of the Treasury Division and also audited by the Auditor General’s Department to eliminate any room for doubt.”
He also said there was no payment of $408,000 for the preparation of a pre-action protocol letter.
When this figure was quoted in the press, Jeremie had said he was aware of the individual involved in the matter. He said this individual had sent a pre-action protocol letter to the AG’s office, which cost a mere $2,500, so he could not understand how a reply to this letter could cost as much as $408,000.
Yesterday, however, Nicholas said that this sum ($408,000) was paid for a number of matters, including trial fees and the pre-action protocol letter.
“The fees paid to Tiger Capital, total $1,750,000, were for services rendered in conjunction with senior counsel for the extensive analysis of many complex financial documents in the exercise of mutual assistance obligations with the United States of America and the Central Authority,” Nicholas said.
He said the investigation was ongoing and the ministry would have to continue to budget for fees in this regard.
“It is to be borne in mind that the litigation portfolio of the State has grown tremendously in recent years and the country has faced an onslaught of international litigation and commercial arbitrations.
“Fortunately, the State has been extremely successful in the last five years. I am advised that it has won over 95 per cent of the cases for which external counsel was retained. Costs would usually be awarded in favour of the State in these matters,” Nicholas said.
Breakdown of fees
He said he was also further advised of the following:
• Forensic audits and probes account for approximately $95 million
•Inherited legal fees from the PNM administration and Privy Council fees account for approximately $80.7 million
•Fees paid for the DPP’s Office account for approximately $67.4 million.
Nicholas said preliminary checks at the ministry indicated that legal fees paid by the ministry during the period 2002 to 2010 amounted to $372,000,000. This represented an average of $41 million per year.
He said the ministry, in accordance with the directive of Cabinet, retained lawyers and other non-legal professionals, such as accountants, to conduct 16 forensic probes.
Probes were conducted for:
•TTEC Street Lighting Implementation Unit
•eTeck (6 separate investigations: Medical Transcription Services and Training Project; UniBio A/S Protein Production Plant in TT Project; Tamana Intech Park; Alutech Research and Development Facility; Bamboo Networks Limited; and Reynald Associates Limited (RAL) Consortia);
• Petrotrin (three separate investigations: World GTL Ltd; Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel Project; and Gasoline Optimisation Programme);
• Estate Management Business Development Company
• Sports Company of T&T
• University of Trinidad and Tobago;
• Udecott (Brian Lara Cricket Academy)
•Scarborough General Hospital
•The purchase of the ill-fated MV Su