Finance Minister Winston Jordan this morning expressed worry about being possibly jailed over the Government’s failure to pay Trinidadian-based construction firm, Dipcon.
Asked by media operatives about the issue, Jordan said he is not a “gangster” who is ready to face jail.
Today is the deadline – as stipulated by Guyana’s High Court – to pay Dipcon some US$2M.
The Finance Minister said Dipcon has not yet been paid but he is banking on a reprieve from President David Granger to save him.
According to Jordan, he should not be responsible in his personal capacity for the State being sued, especially when the matter is an inherited one.
High Court Judge Justice Priya Sewnarine-Beharry recently ordered that Finance Minister pay Dipcon or face 21 days imprisonment.
The Judge was enforcing a 2015 High Court order for the State to pay Dipcon over monies owed.
Attorney General Basil Williams applied for a stay of the Judge’s order for the Minister to be jailed, however he lost the case.
Justices Diana Insanally and Simone Morris-Ramlall denied Jordan’s application for the stay, stating that it had no merit.
