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by pltm
(PLTM) - The government has moved to the House of Assembly to have the Speaker Hon. Julian Willock be exempted from having to pay the legal fees in relation to his failed court case against lawyers serving in the ongoing UK-backed Commission of Inquiry (CoI).
Premier and Finance Minister Hon. Andrew Fahie is set to move the Motion later today October 28.
“I moved the Motion to be added also, exempting the Speaker from paying legal fees to the courts,” Premier Fahie briefly said as they sought to amend the order paper. In late September, after hearing legal arguments on both sides, Ag. Commercial Court Judge Adrian Jack ruled that Speaker of the House of Assembly Hon. Willock to pay the legal fees associated with an injunction against the three attorneys of the CoI.
Willock's injunction claimed that the trio's appointment was not in keeping with the Legal Professions Act of 2015.
In a published judgement issued on Thursday afternoon, September 30, Judge Jack said: "I shall order that Mr. Willock pay the defendants' costs."
He said he would be assessing the costs of the Attorney-General Hon. Dawn Smith, which is $6,084.00 and the costs schedule of the other defendants, which was only served on the morning of the hearing claiming $115,348.50, which also represented a "substantial increase over the earlier schedule served on their behalf."
The other defendants were Commissioner Sir Gary Hickinbottom and the attorneys in question – Bilal Rawat, Andrew King and Rhea Harrikissoon. Their legal fees had been $71,388.59 prior, with a difference of over $43,000.
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