MANCHESTER, Jamaica — Opposition Leader Peter Phillips has questioned how it could have been that the advice of Attorney General Marlene Malahoo Forte was not sought by the Government in agreeing on a payment package and non-disclosure agreement with former Petrojam executive Yolande Ramharrack.

In an address to the Manchester Chamber of Commerce here late Thursday, Phillips noted that the attorney general had tweeted that her advice was not sought.

While arguing that what he called a “golden handshake” and accompanying non-disclosure agreement with the former Petrojam human resources manager was unwarranted, Phillips said: “To make matters worse, according to the comments by Twitter of the honourable attorney general, the advice of the attorney general was not sought. The prime minister (Andrew Holness), who is the minister who took the decision, who would have been aware of all the public interest and public commentary, did not seek to get the advice of the principal legal adviser available to the Government. It’s curious to say that that was not done and accepted.”

Tweets on Thursday from MP MalahooForteQC@MalahooForte QC said: “While no office is above question or criticism I caution you to resist urge to jump to conclusion about any advice given by the office of Attorney General, who is/was NOT Petrojam’s lawyers and who took no part in the settlement agreement or the confidentiality clause in it”.

And further: “Let me make it abundantly clear that the (office of) #Attorney General had nothing to do with the settlement contract between #Petrojam and its former HR manager. We learnt of it after the fact”.

Phillips said that the failure to consult the attorney general was strange “because in the normal course of things such a settlement would have required ministerial approval … because of the sensitivity involved…”

“We must ask what it is that people were concerned that might have been disclosed? Why the need for a non-disclosure agreement? Especially when somebody had been ruled to have been in breach by the auditor general,” he said.

Phillips suggested the situation had undermined the office of the auditor general and further damaged Jamaica’s reputation.