NANCY ANDERSON, the executive director of the Legal Aid Council, has described as, "far from true," allegations made by Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, A.J. Nicholson, that there has been corruption, or fraud, on the part of attorneys-at-law who submit claims for legal aid cases.
She was responding to a disclosure by Mr. Nicholson on Saturday that a Justice Ministry audit into the country's legal aid system had found corruption in the system, with some lawyers claiming twice for one job.
Hilary Phillips, president of the Jamaican Bar Association, also commented negatively on Mr. Nicholson's claim when she spoke to The Gleaner yesterday. "The information we have is that the lawyers have not been fraudulent," Miss Phillips said. She added that the Bar Association was investigating the matter to see on what basis the Minister made the statement.
The Minister, who was addressing the members of the Cornwall Bar Association, also said that he deemed as unfounded, claims by the legal fraternity that the Legal Aid Secretariat owed lawyers $38 million in unpaid fees.
Responding, Ms. Anderson said that Government owes lawyers who undertook legal aid cases in excess of $30 million and that the amount is growing monthly. She said, too, that there has been no "double claims" from attorneys for "the same job".
She added: "The Legal Aid Council, during this financial year, has been receiving $2.6 million per month from the Ministry of Justice. The sums due for claims received from attorneys per month for cases completed by them exceed this sum. As a result of this shortfall, there is a continuous accumulation of arrears in the amounts due to attorneys for work done.
"The office of the Legal Aid Council has been paying attorneys only a portion of the amounts due to them. At the time when the cheques were drawn, which are now being classified as 'overpayments', each of the attorneys in favour of whom those cheques were drawn, were owed far in excess of the amounts of the cheques.
"In error, some of these part-payments were noted as paid in respect of claims which had already been paid, but the fact of the matter is these attorneys were, and still are, owed in excess of those payments.
"In a number of cases that were treated as overpayments by the internal auditors, or which have been described as resulting from double claims, the legal aid scheme has been misunderstood," Ms. Anderson said.
