MINISTER of Justice Delroy Chuck says $530 million was paid out last year in judgement debts for 182 matters. He made the disclosure during his contribution to the 2024/25 Sectoral Debate in the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

“We want to make sure that when people sue the Government, for whatever infraction, that they get their money, and under this Administration we have done it for the last eight years,” Chuck said.

Last year the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service allocated $750 million towards judgement debts, the minister noted.

Chuck noted that when he became minister of justice, judgement debt “was a major challenge”.

“I can tell you that there were lawyers who were begging me… the Government owes them millions of dollars, and I thought it is unfair that they get the case settled, they have a judgement, and yet they couldn’t get their money. So under the former Minister of Finance Audley Shaw in 2017, we urged him to let us have enough to pay up the judgement debts, and in 2017/18 we got $1.5 billion and paid off all the backlogs,” he stated.

“What is important [is that] since then, every completed or settled case, we have been able to pay. So no one can say that they win a judgement, or they have unsettled claim, and they have not gotten paid,” he added.

The Government has paid out $5.8 billion in judgement debts since 2016, with a high of $1.5 billion in 2017/2018 for infractions that occurred in previous Administrations.

A total of $680 million has been earmarked to settle claims during the current financial year.