Now, to a matter of much public excitement, did former Attorney General Francis Fonseca sign the original accommodation agreement? Indeed, as you saw in the story, he did not. Former Prime Minister Said Musa and Former BTL Chairman Keith Arnold did. End of story, right? Not quite; it’s not that simple. Fonseca did sign two subsequent and directly related agreements. Those are called the first settlement and the second settlement. These refine and in some cases amplify and in others, attenuate the terms of the original document. But to be clear they form part of a bundle of documents collectively called the Accommodation Agreement.
While not distancing himself from the original document, Fonseca today told us that he only came into the picture after the Accommodation Agreement was entered into. He says that created a number of problems and the subsequent settlement documents were simply trying to settle those problems. He says the settlement one and settlement two were agreed to in view of serious high risk litigation being threatened by the BTL ownership group.
The Prime Minister today told us that while Fonseca didn’t sign the original the subsequent settlements which Fonseca did sign do form a fundamental part of the accommodation agreement package so he considers Fonseca to be a signatory to the agreement. As the PM put it, the first Musa agreement put the government in the coffin and the settlement one and two, nailed it shut.
You can judge for yourself now the document are available online at the government website.
