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He told us that the bureaucrats at the Finance Ministry trusted that whatever the officials at the Natural Resources Ministry presented to them, was legitimate, and so, they never dug deeper into each compensation case:

Joseph Waight, Financial Secretary
"Annually, the cabinet, the legislature approves a budget. Within that budget there is a line for land acquisition and compensation. I think last year it was 10-11 million, I am not sure and within that the Ministry of Natural Resources pays first, court orders, settlement - second. So court orders go first and there is no escaping that. Usually court orders are paid over a period of time. There is legal cost as well and then there is settlement. All of them have some payment schedule. I would not be able to say how much of those compensations are link to duplication of titles. I really don't know."

Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"After the money is paid over to the Ministry of Natural Resources, does the finance ministry have any sort of oversight mechanism as to how these compensation are handled?"

Joseph Waight, Financial Secretary
"Generally at the time of budget request, they give a list of what compensations are due. Often it's far more than what we can afford. Therefore the payment plans. But cabinet, the legislator approves 10-11 million about that and then the ministry disburses according to court orders and settlement agreements."

Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"Are you saying that the finance ministry has a list of these people who are due compensation during the budget phase?"

Joseph Waight, Financial Secretary
"The request would be supported by a list of compensation payments, court orders and settlement agreements and what they need to be paid over the fiscal year. Usually it's paid monthly. On that list there is not the origins of the compensation are not in the list. The submission is supported by a listing of claimants, the amount that has been paid and the amount outstanding and the total request, then cabinet agrees or decides how much of that is paid. But it doesn't in details as to the origins as what those claims are."

Daniel Ortiz, 7News
"Given that the finance ministry tracks these things, are you able to say if you all track the trends and to see if there is any fluctuations, if there is any figures that in a huge out as compare to the trend over the years and have there ever been a year or such where you as financial secretary were concerned that maybe the natural resources ministry was paying out too much in compensation?"

Joseph Waight, Financial Secretary
"We have to rely on submissions. The big payments are often court judgements. Court judgements determine market value and a lot of it is accrued interest these are compensation that's been outstanding for some time and the ministry then negotiates with - we submit back to the court a payment schedule. The court normally agrees. Of course interest runs the same time. So a lot of it is compounded interest over the years. But we don't do the assessment and we don't do the evaluation. That really is the job of and the responsibility of the ministry itself. When it comes to us we have to take it on face value that these numbers are good and correct."

Today's Amandala reported that in their investigations, the Barrow Administration has paid out compensation to the tune of about 70 million dollars over a period of 8 years. This is unconfirmed.