Mr. Speaker, I just want to point out that as all the Members know in this House, as the Minister of Finance I have a statutory obligation to, where there is additional money to a department's appropriation, I have to put it into the supplementary appropriation. That is the only way we can operate.
The amount of money that was placed there, first of all, is $696,000 not the $500,000 that Ms. Lee is referring to. That does not come out of the supp, that does not appear in the supp document. Second, there is no other way to do it. For her to suggest that somehow I am manipulating the system I think is incredulous. I quote, "...for him to put it into a supplementary appropriation is ground for questioning his conduct." She is questioning my conduct as Minister of Finance. I have an obligation to do this. I have done what is proper. The Executive does not have the money in its regular appropriation to handle the $696,000. It had to go into here as a supp.
Mr. Speaker, clearly, Rules 23(h) and (i) which state "cannot make allegations against another Member of the House, officer, or witness or imputes false or hidden motives to another Member" have been violated in this case, Mr. Speaker. Thank you.