US$15M for legal fees
Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge
Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge

— Minister Greenidge says remainder of Exxon bonus for urgent technical training

THE David Granger Administration has set aside US$15M, from the US$18M Singing Bonus, for legal fees in the event the Guyana/Venezuela Border Controversy is referred to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
This announcement was made by Vice President and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carl Greenidge, in the National Assembly Thursday while presenting the facts on the bonus received from US-oil giant Exxon Mobil in 2016.
He told the House that approval of the negotiated deal that was made with the oil giant was discussed at Cabinet, but the granting of approval for the deposit of the US$18 million signing bonus in an escrow account at Bank of Guyana (BoG) was not done involving the entire Cabinet.

Technicians directly involved in the process, the minister stressed, were informed of the intended purpose of the money, due to national security implications.
Addressing the august House, amid mild heckling from the Opposition benches, the foreign affairs minister said Guyana negotiated and received US$18M in connection with the signing of a contract for renewal of a petroleum licence, based on a recommendation to Cabinet by Natural Resources Minister, Raphael Trotman.
“The sum in question was not US$20M or US$25M, but US$18M,” he emphasised while putting to rest claims by sections of the media that the administration had “secretly” received US$20M.

Minister Greenidge said out of concern that adequate funds may not be available in the Consolidated Fund for the payment of critical services in the event the Guyana/Venezuela Border Controversy is placed before the ICJ, he as minister of foreign affairs, advised President David Granger to set aside sufficient funds to make payment when needed.
To be exact, he requested US$15M of the sum received by the Government from ExxonMobil be earmarked for that purpose.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs had an eye on events due in 2018 and, in particular, the need for funds to pay the enlarged team of lawyers that would be required should the UN SG [secretary general] honour his commitment to refer the Guyana case to the ICJ without further procrastination after December 2017,” he posited while pointing out that the cost of a similar United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) case involving Suriname was over US$10M.

It was agreed that the remaining US$3M will be set aside for the funding of urgent training of Guyanese in needed skills such as engineering and petroleum geology.
The ministry of foreign affairs had also advised that the money be held separately and securely, based on the fact that the United Nations Secretary General, António Guterres, has not yet referred the case to the ICJ.
“The background against which this decision was taken is instructive. As we all know, since we have been in office, the Guyana Government has found itself in a very tight fiscal situation, in that its need for funding far exceeds the total cost of the goods and services for which it has to pay.

“At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was participating in discussions under the aegis of the UN Secretary-General’s Personal Representative (UNSGPR) in relation to a resolution of the territorial controversy. There have been times in 2016 and 2017 when we were unable to make timely payments to the legal team advising the Government,” the foreign affairs minister explained.

NOT UNUSUAL
The earmarking of funds is not unusual in Westminster-type systems, Minister Greenidge said while alluding to monies collected by the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) and the Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) that are not placed into the Consolidated Fund in the first instance, if at all.
Since information has surfaced that Government had received and instructed that the signing bonus be placed in a separate account and not the Consolidated Fund, there have been claims of illegality and deception, but Minister Greenidge told the House there was nothing illegal about Government’s action.
“Monies received are sent to the Central Bank, the Central Government’s banker, and located in accounts held there. Those accounts can then be kept separate, separately managed and separately audited in keeping with the rules of those agencies which member states embrace, either when we join the agency or when signing the loan agreement. By contrast, the monies so deposited will be converted into Guyana dollars and transferred to the Consolidated Fund,” he explained.

NO BREACH OF CONSTITUTION
Pointing to Article 216 of the Constitution, Minister Greenidge stated that it is not mandated that payment be deposited into the Consolidated Fund immediately, as he rubbished claims by Chartered Accountant Christopher Ram that the decision to put the bonus into a separate account is a “flagrant breach” of the Constitution.
It was pointed out that Section 37 (2) of the Financial Management and Accountability Act provides for public monies to be held in Extra-Budgetary Funds and Deposit Funds, among others, until they are credited to the Consolidated Fund.
The foreign affairs minister did not spare the media on their reporting on the matter, contending that some actions have been irresponsible, primarily with respect to the border controversy.

“Given the purpose for which the funds were to be used and its implications for national security, neither the President nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saw any merit in advertising the matter. In fact, so great was the concern that only those who needed to know were informed as to the purpose of the deposit,” he told the House.
He reiterated that only those Cabinet ministers integrally involved and the relevant technicians were informed.

“The fact that those who were investigating this matter could have stumbled on the reason for the holding of the funds and still feel it necessary to make it both public and use it for sensational headlines is testimony to the sense of responsibility in certain sections of our media,” Minister Greenidge said.
Alluding to Ghana, he pointed out that the West African country recently won a case at the ICJ in which they had found it necessary to retain no less than 48 international specialist lawyers.

“They never broadcast how they were funding those services. Today, some in the Ivory Coast rue the fact that they had not realised the scale of the Ghanaian mobilisation for the ICJ. Obviously, forewarned they would have taken this into account in their strategy,” he posited.

With a bit of sarcasm, Minister Greenidge said “let there be no doubt that those who will challenge us in the Court will be very pleased at the airing of this controversy in Guyana by Guyanese themselves,” as he bashed the media.

“More disturbingly, the sensational, often misleading disclosures being passed off as exposés in the public interest follow closely on attacks on international companies operating here. Some of these companies have broken no laws here; they owe us no taxes or imposts. They are operating in neighbouring states where they are welcome, but in Guyana some sections of the media demonise them,” he added.
Indirectly, the foreign affairs minister called on the media and public commentators to be responsible in their reporting on the matters at hand.

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