And we also asked the prime minister about the 145 thousand that the government must pay to former DPM, Hugo Patt - and the hundreds of thousands more they might have to pay to other members of the former government that we defamed during the Commission of Inquiry. And, then, on top of all that, the government's fees to pay its private defense attorneys.
While Briceno didn't speak about the money per se - that will be coming out of the public's purse - he mentioned that just because they lost the case, doesn't mean the claimant was not culpable. And, he says, they're waiting to see if an appeal is recommended.
Hon. John Briceno, Prime Minister
"As you know, after this case, the attorney general will come to us and make a recommendation, whether we should appeal the case, I believe it's excessive, but that's as far as I will go. And I think what we are forgetting here that these people are getting away, not because they're innocent but they're getting away because of a technical issue, a technical process that was not followed. They're not saying that they're not guilty, you know, they're saying, we will not given due process to come and represent ourselves. It is because of that technical error, they are being compensated. But again, unlike the previous government, I will not bash the courts. What we'll do, we'll follow the process and we'll listen to the advice of the attorney general and if the advice is for us to appeal that case, we will appeal it. I do hope that the recommendation is for us to appeal the case."
We stress that the Commission has made no finding of guilt of any official in the former government - there were allegations of wrongdoing, not supported by fact, which have been successfully challenged in court. As a result, the report will have to be edited to redact conclusions that unfairly injured the character of - for example - former DPM Hugo Patt, and others are expected to follow.
