Prime Minister Patrick Manning has denied he has requested a write-off of an estimated $1 million in personal debt owed for legal action in 1997 while in office...
Prime Minister Patrick Manning has denied he has requested a write-off of an estimated $1 million in personal debt owed for legal action in 1997 while in office.
Manning said it was while he was Opposition Leader, in 1998, that he applied for forgiveness for the $1,072,018.82, the outstanding balance on his debt incurred after losing a constitutional motion when he challenged the crossing of the floor of former MPs Vincent Lasse and Rupert Griffith.
He was ordered to pay costs of $1.1 million, plus interest at six per cent from the date of judgment ? April 28, 1997.
Manning said he has already paid half a million.
It was acting Attorney General Camille Robinson-Regis who disclosed in Parliament on Friday that the PM had asked the Chief State Solicitor for a waiver.
But Manning said it was done while he was Opposition Leader and not as Prime Minister.
He also said the former UNC Government, in seeking to pursue the matter, drafted guidelines but took no further action on the issue.
In 1997, a spokesman from the Ministry of Legal Affairs said the Ministry found it difficult to accept that the award of costs in favour of the State in a constitutional motion was a threat to a person?s constitutional rights.
The spokesman also said the Ministry would be willing to consider the application as the Ministry has discretion over such issues.
However, it was said that Manning?s letter to the Solicitor General lacked cogent reasons for the Ministry to consider the request. ?JL
