Barrack must wait longer

GOVERNMENT may not be in a position to give Al Barrack the $60 million Christmas gift for which he may have been hoping.
Minister of Finance Chris Sinckler said yesterday while Government had “moved a lot closer” to resolving the matter in which Barrack’s company is owed for construction of the Warrens Office Complex, it was taking longer than anticipated to wrap it up.
“I am instructed that the legal process has to be gone through in order for this to be done properly, but I think if not within another week or two, certainly very early in the New Year, I would be able to make an announcement to the public of Barbados on the settlement,” he told the SUNDAY SUN.   
During the 2010/2011 Budget Debate in the House of Assembly in August, Sinckler said the Freundel Stuart administration would resolve the matter by the end of the year, adding that a solution could emerge “sooner than that”.
He again spoke of a yearend conclusion at a Press conference on October 30, saying that negotiations were “fairly advanced”.
When contacted last week, Barrack said he had not received any word from Government about the status of his settlement.
Barrack Construction was awarded $34 million by a court-appointed arbitrator in 2006, but including interest and arbitration costs, the figure could double by the time he is paid. (DP)