The government was not preempting the Commission of Inquiry into the Mahdia dorm fire which claimed the lives of 20 children when it made an agreement to pay each of the victims’ families $5 million, but is just putting in place its paper trail for future auditing purposes, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo yesterday said.
“The families are getting the assistance but if the auditors [come]… we have to have a paper trail too because it is public funds. That is what they are doing. The Attorney General’s office has to protect the fiduciary interest of the government,” Jagdeo yesterday said though he did not address the part of the agreement which stated that accepting the funds absolves government of any liability.
According the Jagdeo, some of the families had approached government for help.
