Eamon Courtenay Speaks on Courtenay Coye LLP

Prime Minister Briceño responded to Opposition Senator Mike Peyrefitte on Monday, in respect of a request that was made under the Freedom of Information Act for his administration to disclose the sums of money that have been paid to Courtenay Coye L.L.P.  During a subsequent press conference held by the United Democratic Party on Tuesday, Peyrefitte said that he was not sold on the figures that were shared by the PM in his letter. This afternoon, we had an opportunity to hear from the prime minister, as well as Senator Eamon Courtenay, on that arrangement.  Here’s how PM Briceño responded to Peyrefitte’s position.

Prime Minister John Briceno

Prime Minister, John Briceno

“I think he mussi get vex ih neva get, ih look like ih neva get part of the action.  Thirty million dollars is a lot of money and so he must have been shocked to find out that the people that are connected to the Barrow family, one way or the other, collected approximately thirty million dollars and that’s what we’ve found out so far.  I am convinced that the numbers are correct.  I am discussing right now with Finance and others maybe to consider releasing the actual documents to show when each individual payment was made.  We will consider it.”

Eamon Courtenay

Eamon Courtenay, Minister of Foreign Affairs

“Every time I am appointed to the Senate, I write that letter to the Governor General and I get back a response.  So there was nothing different.  Every single time because I don’t know, whenever somebody, there are nine lawyers in that firm, somebody calls them and they get business, I don’t know what’s going to happen, so I write that letter to make sure that I am covered, in the even that my firm is asked to do any work.  It’s as simple as that, nothing morecomplicated or secret. In the government service there is frequently times when you have to outsource or you choose to outsource all kinds of services.  The only reason we are focusing on this is because people are trying to maintain some relevance.  That’s all.”