Tonight, the possibility of a governance crisis is deepening for the Prime Minister. Three more Ministers, who are also members of the Public Finance Committee have come forward to say they knew nothing of the Prime Minister's December 2004 guarantee.
This morning, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Eamon Courtenay was very direct. We asked him if he knew about he guarantee, he said, "absolutely not." We then asked him, if he had known, would he have supported it in Cabinet. His reply was again, "absolutely not."
Courtenay added that as far as a strategy to move forward, government first has to satisfy itself that the guarantee was legal and if it was not, then government as guarantor is excused from liability. He added though that if it does turn out that government is liable, it must then enter into negotiations to pay over a period of time.
But Courtenay says that before that happens, there needs to be a full discussion in Cabinet with full disclosure and, "if government has to pay it needs to be approved by Cabinet and taken to the National Assembly. "
Health Minister Jose Coye was not so direct or expansive - but he did also disavow knowledge of the signing. Speaking with us this afternoon, he said that, "at the time of the signing of the guarantee, we were not aware." About the principle of issuing an unlimited guarantee for a private company, he said, "maybe the judgment calls would have been different if it had the benefit of Cabinet input."
Sports and Defense Minister Cordel Hyde, said of the guarantee, "we had no idea about that." He added that if he had known about it, he certainly wouldn't have supported it.
So there you have it, for this week, that makes 5 Ministers of government, all members of the Public Finance Committee and all former G-7'ers who have said that they didn't know about the document and also said that they wouldn't have supported it if they had known.
