Nicholson
Erica James-King, Staff Reporter
WESTERN BUREAU:
A JUSTICE Ministry audit into the country's legal aid service has found corruption in the system, with some lawyers claiming twice for one job that costs as much as $200,000.
The file has been turned over to the Auditor-General, Adrian Strachan, said Justice Minister and Attorney-General, A.J. Nicholson, yesterday and the probe continues.
Government has confessed that the legal aid system, designed to give poor people greater access to justice with regards to legal representation in civil and criminal matters is neck-deep in financial irregularities, policy breaches and personnel problems.
"In the office itself, there is an absence of financial management and accounting systems, blatant breaches of generally accepted accounting principles... irregularities in personnel practices and poor management practices generally," Mr. Nicholson pointed out.
He made the comments while responding to questions and concerns from members of the Cornwall Bar Association and representatives from the Northern Jamaica Law Society, at a meeting at Glistening Waters, Trelawny, yesterday.
His disclosure of corruption in the ranks of the administrators of the Legal Aid system comes amidst mounting threats from attorneys islandwide to withdraw from the Legal Aid system owing to Government's negligence in paying legal aid fees owed to them in addition to their dissatisfaction with the operation of the programme.
Elaborating on one of the disturbing findings coming out of the internal audit, Mr. Nicholson complains that scores of attorneys "have been paid doubly". He notes that in one particular incident of duplication of payment, one attorney had received payment of up to $200,000 for the same thing, on two occasions.
"We did an internal audit of the legal aid office in Kingston and the bottom line is that the office is not running properly. The audit revealed significant irregularities... over-payments, double payments. An attorney will be paid this month and in two months time he gets paid again for the same case."
Legal Aid fees for each case for a senior counsel range between $20,000 and $80,000 and for a junior counsel, between $14,000 and $60,000.
The meeting was also a hot bed of unease over the mounting arrears for legal aid work, the condition of court houses and the several matters concerning the administration of justice.
Lawyer H. Charles Johnson said that he had been burnt by the system: "The problem is you are not being paid. I have claims now at the legal aid for upwards of eight months, nine months, 10 months in Kingston... and I still continue to do cases, just in the interest of justice."
Mr. Johnson re-echoed the call for adequate funding for the system.
Meanwhile, the Justice Ministry has firmed up its resolve to overhaul the Legal Aid System and to ensure that the revamping is well underway within two months. This, the Attorney-General indicates, is part of the move by the authorities to clean up corruption in the legal fraternity.
