Tax payers will be made to foot the more than $120,000 legal fee which was ordered by the Eastern Supreme High Court to be paid by Speaker of the House of Assembly Julian Willock, following a motion to be made by Premier Andrew Fahie to exempt the Speaker from paying such fee.
This was disclosed by Premier Fahie during the 12th Sitting of the 3rd Session of the 4th House of Assembly on Thursday October 28.
The Premier was rearranging the contents of the Order Paper when he made the revelation.
He said, “Number 7 remains the same on the Order Paper as is. Number 8 remains the same on the Order Paper as is. Number 9 now will be the motion for exempting the Speaker from paying legal fees to the courts.”
Speaker Willock was originally ordered by the Eastern Caribbean Supreme High Court to pay the legal fees of the defendants in his discontinued injunction case which was filed against the Commissioner of Inquiry and his three attorneys.
This judgement was handed down by Justice Adrian Jack on Thursday September 30, where it was revealed that Speaker Willock could pay more than $120,000 once an assessment of the total fees has been completed.
The legal fees submitted by the Attorney General totaled $6,084 while the bill for Commissioner Sir Gary Hickinbottom along with his attorneys Bilal Rawat, Rhea Harrikissoon and Andrew King totaled $115,348.50.