A hearing of the legal challenge regarding a loan agreement inked between the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Government of Guyana has been scheduled for April 1 in the High Court.The undertaking has been dubbed by Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall as an abuse of the judicial process by A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Executive, Carl Greenidge. “It is my hope and expectation that the court will express its displeasure at its process being abused by Mr. Greenidge by the filing of such frivolity and will penalise him in costs,” he said.
According to him, it is an equally “officious and vexatious” move.
“I feel compelled to remark that it is these types of officious and vexatious litigants who contribute to the backlog of cases in our court system which result in genuine and just cases not being heard in a timely manner. The judiciary must take a firm stand against such abuses of its process,” the Attorney General said.
The IDB, in the latter part of February, approved two loan agreements for Guyana valued at US$32.16 (G$4.4B), one aimed at supporting Government’s security and the other aimed at supporting the country’s environmental initiatives.
The challenge seeks to have proceeds of the sums of money under the loan agreement between the Government of Guyana and the Inter-American Development Bank be paid into the Consolidated Fund and for those moneys not to be withdrawn without the authority of an Appropriation Act. It further seeks a Conservatory Order restraining the Minister of Finance from spending the proceeds of the said loan until the substantive matter is heard and determined.
UNWARRANTED
Nandlall argued that the proceedings are unwarranted and explained that Greenidge’s calls, aside from the Conservatory Order, reflect what is already being done.
He said, “It is axiomatic and indeed, common knowledge that all moneys that are the proceeds of loans to Guyana must be paid into and form one Consolidated Fund (unless an Act of Parliament otherwise directs) as mandated by Article 216 of the Constitution of Guyana.
“It is equally common knowledge that these moneys can only be withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund in accordance with provisions of the Constitution which sets out when, in what circumstance and for what purpose those moneys can be withdrawn from the Consolidated Fund and spent.”
The Attorney General stressed that the current Administration is “well acquainted” with the provisions of the Constitution, as well as the attendant financial procedures, regulating public spending.
“In 22 years in Government, the People’s Progressive Party/ Civic (PPP/C) Administration has never violated them,” he said.
As such he charged that Greenidge’s actions are unmeritorious.
“These proceedings are wholly unwarranted, absolutely without merit and will constitute a colossal waste of valuable judicial time and energy,” he said.
IGNORANCE OF PROCESSES
The Attorney General added that Greenidge’s action also reflects an ignorance of the status quo, regarding public funds.
“Perhaps, in the Government of which Mr. Greenidge was a part, as Finance Minister, loans from International Financial Institutions were deposited in a place other than the Consolidated Fund and syphoned off to fund dubious and unauthorised ventures,” he posited.
Nandlall underscored the fact that during Greenidge’s tenure as Finance Minister, not a single Auditor General’s Report was laid in the National Assembly.
“At that time, the Auditor General Office was a department in the Ministry of Finance without the regime of autonomy and functional independence which it now enjoys. Indeed, the then Auditor General, after 1992, publicly stated that he was instructed by the then Minister of Finance not to do audits of certain Government departments,” he said.
The Attorney General added that, “Mr. Greenidge seems to be mentally locked in a time machine of that period or has simply become delusional. How else can one rationalise Mr. Greenidge’s belief and bizarre apprehension that an International Financial Institution will deposit the proceeds of a loan in a place otherwise than in the Consolidated Fund and will sit idly by, while a Government spends it for a purpose other than that for which the loan was granted.”
Greenidge formally filed the proceedings on March 20. Nandlall and the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ashni Singh, are named as the defendants in the matter.