Supplementary requested to meet costs of ICJ case

DPI, GUYANA, Saturday, April 28, 2018

Three firms have been recruited to assist in relation to the Guyana/Venezuela border controversy case presently before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Minister of Foreign Affairs Carl Greenidge speaking on the sidelines of the National Assembly on Thursday said that the possibility exists for the inclusion of several other firms in defence of the case in the future.

A supplementary amount of $788,049,000 has been requested by the Ministry of Finance to meet the estimated costs of retaining lawyers and offset other expenses in relation to the case.

Financial paper No. 2 of 2018 which totals $2,526,563,240 representing supplementary estimates for current and capital expenditure was tabled in the National Assembly by Minister of Finance, Winston Jordan.

Minister Greenidge said the exact cost of meeting the expenses of the case is not yet known and is dependent on the court process. “It depends in part on what the court requires. They may look at it and decide to do a number of things… So, it is a little difficult to say what will be required that’s why it is an estimate,” he explained.

According to the Minister the amount requested may be less or more that what may be required.

Government had announced that some US$15M of the US$18M signing bonus received from ExxonMobil in 2016 will be used as payment for services relative to the ICJ case.

This signing bonus Minister Jordan had said will at some point be transferred into the Consolidated Fund and applications will be made to the National Assembly for identified sums to be approved for payment for services.

 

By: Stacy Carmichael.