Nandlall mounts legal challenge against Exxon Signing Bonus

Former Attorney General, Anil Nandlall has moved to obtain an order directing Finance Minister, Winston Jordan to deposit the US$18M signing bonus it received from ExxonMobil into the Consolidated Fund.

His application follows a similar one that was filed by Head of the Transparency Institute of Guyana Inc. (TIGI), Troy Thomas – represented by Attorney Christopher Ram.

Thomas approached the court for an order to the Finance Minister to deposit the money into the Consolidated Fund and for the court to declare that failure to do so is unlawful.

However, because of some technical issues, Thomas and his legal team will have to reframe its documents and filed a new application.

Thomas, when contacted by News Room on Monday, said he is in the process of filing the new application.

Meanwhile, Nandlall is similarly asking the High Court to declare that the deposition of the signing bonus into an account within the Bank of Guyana is contrary to and in violation of the letter and spirit of Article 216 of the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana and Section 38 (i) of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act, Chapter 73:02, Laws of Guyana.

The matter is fixed for hearing before the Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George-Wiltshire on March 13, 2018.

The signing bonus was received in September 2016 but was only disclosed on December 08, 2017 after a letter from the Ministry of Finance, directing the Governor of the Bank of Guyana to open an account for the sum was leaked to the media. The exact sum was subsequently confirmed by Exxon’s Country Manager, Rod Henson on December 10, 2017.

The Government received tremendous backlash for keeping the public in the dark about the receipt of this money.

Ministers subsequently confirmed that majority of the US$18M will be used to fund Guyana’s legal expenses of the border controversy with Venezuela at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Former Attorney General, Anil Nandlall has moved to obtain an order directing Finance Minister, Winston Jordan to deposit the US$18M signing bonus it received from ExxonMobil into the Consolidated Fund.

His application follows a similar one that was filed by Head of the Transparency Institute of Guyana Inc. (TIGI), Troy Thomas – represented by Attorney Christopher Ram.

Thomas approached the court for an order to the Finance Minister to deposit the money into the Consolidated Fund and for the court to declare that failure to do so is unlawful.

However, because of some technical issues, Thomas and his legal team will have to reframe its documents and filed a new application.

Thomas, when contacted by News Room on Monday, said he is in the process of filing the new application.

Meanwhile, Nandlall is similarly asking the High Court to declare that the deposition of the signing bonus into an account within the Bank of Guyana is contrary to and in violation of the letter and spirit of Article 216 of the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana and Section 38 (i) of the Fiscal Management and Accountability Act, Chapter 73:02, Laws of Guyana.

The matter is fixed for hearing before the Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George-Wiltshire on March 13, 2018.

The signing bonus was received in September 2016 but was only disclosed on December 08, 2017 after a letter from the Ministry of Finance, directing the Governor of the Bank of Guyana to open an account for the sum was leaked to the media. The exact sum was subsequently confirmed by Exxon’s Country Manager, Rod Henson on December 10, 2017.

The Government received tremendous backlash for keeping the public in the dark about the receipt of this money.

Ministers subsequently confirmed that majority of the US$18M will be used to fund Guyana’s legal expenses of the border controversy with Venezuela at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).