More than $2m spent to recover CL Financial $15b

MORE than $2.2 million was spent on legal fees to recover more than $15 billion owed to the State by CL Financial Group of Companies, reported Minister in the Ministry of Finance Allyson West.

She was responding to a question in Senate on Tuesday from Opposition Senator Gerald Ramdeen.

West said for the period September 8, 2015 to September 30, 2018 Government commissioned legal services in the amount of $2,270,113.66 to secure more than $15 billion in debt owed to the State by CL Financial.

Ramdeen asked who were the attorneys to which the $2.2 million was paid. West said she did not have those details but could provide them in writing subsequently. Ramdeen also asked if the figure included contentious and non-contentious fees and West said the figure covered total fees.

Ramdeen also asked Energy Minister Franklin Khan to provide the total amount of legal fees paid by Petrotrin to Gaffney Cline and Associates for the report on the alleged discrepancies with oil receipts from private operators and more particularly A&V Oil and Gas Ltd.

Khan responded no legal fees were paid because Gaffney Cline and Associates is an engineering company. Ramdeen then asked what were the fees paid by Petrotrin to the company for the report.

Khan said: “If the goodly senator had asked that question I would obviously had the answer with me. He didn’t and I encourage him to so do.”