APNU bill aims to penalize Finance Minister over budget cuts ‘breach’ -Greenidge

Carl Greenidge

Financial and economic point man of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) Carl Greenidge says that his party will soon be bringing to the House legislation seeking to enforce penalties upon Minister of Finance Dr. Ashni Singh for what he called breaches of the law with respect to expenditure without appropriations.

Speaking to this newspaper yesterday, Greenidge said, “We will be laying legislation in relation to this. Flagrant breaches of the law by Ministers must attract sanctions.” He pointed out that the law will also be dealing with Permanent Secretaries who commit acts of wrongdoing at the behest of the subject Minister to whom he or she reports.

Carl Greenidge
Carl Greenidge

“Dr. Singh gave an answer which suggested that he might have broken the law,” said Greenidge, adding that the law does not allow the Minister to pay out money without the authority of an Appropriation Act.

Greenidge had asked of the Finance Minister whether the funds cut from the 2012 budget and not approved by the House have been restored to the Ministries, and if so, what categories and sums have been involved, the legal basis for such payments and what advice was provided on this matter by the Attorney General.

Greenidge had also asked what section of the Chief Justice Ian Chang’s report/decision suggests that either the Chief Justice or the Ministry of Finance can restore cuts to the