XN000022-1995-05-11 — Page 6

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AG's remarks on BMFL case

The following remarks were made by the Attorney General, Mr Jeremy Mathews, at a meeting of the LegCo Panel on Administration of Justice and Legal Services today (Thursday) on the Bumiputra Malaysia Finance Limited case (Graham Grant's Fees):

Before Members conclude their deliberations on this matter, I would like to put to them some basic issues, which I would urge them to give careful consideration.

The basic questions to be addressed are these:

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First was the decision to brief Mr Grant when he left AGC a proper decision or was it a case of "jobs for the boys"?

The Report shows clearly that the decision was the right decision. There was no question of this being "jobs for the boys".

Second - were there inadequacies in our procedures in this case?

The Report reveals some inadequacies in our internal procedures and budgetary arrangements in respect of this case. We had already introduced some improvements and I have now proposed a Working Party to review the briefing out system. I am determined that we will have an efficient and cost-effective system of briefing out, with

proper monitoring checks and balances.

Grant?

Third And this is, I think, the key issue did the Government over-pay Mr

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The Report said the fees agreed were "over-generous" and should have been capped. However, the former DPP, in his letter to the Panel, strenuously disputes this. We have sharply divergent views on this. You have pressed me to choose one of these views. So what does this mean? What would have been the right level of fees? There are no hard and fast rules. The Report is silent on this. We are now in the position of using hindsight to second guess the judgement of Mr Wood. On Mr Wood's formula Mr Grant was paid $17.1 million for 33 months work. On the other hand, were Mr Grant's fees to have been capped after 6 months, Mr Grant might have received about $16.2 million - a difference of about $900,000. And we are not comparing like with like. I repeat what I said last week that "cap may not have been a panacea".