CGX payment of legal fees should have been recorded in public accounts – Finance Minister

Winston Jordan

Finance Minister, Winston Jordan says the US$10M purportedly paid by Canadian oil company, CGX Energy, to lawyers for the state in the maritime boundary dispute between Guyana and Suriname, under the PPP/C administration, should have been recorded in the public accounts.

Speaking with the Department of Public Information (DPI) yesterday, Jordan said that this money should have been reflected under foreign inflows and current expenditure, when it was expended as payment to the lawyers, which is recorded as payment for consultancy services.

His statement comes as the current government is under pressure over the acceptance of a US$18m signing bonus from ExxonMobil which is intended to pay fees for legal matters surrounding the Guyana-Venezuela border controversy.