-process for new head office cited as one reason
Two directors of the New Building Society (NBS) have resigned over issues pertaining to the construction of its head office and the holding of the upcoming annual general meeting in Berbice.
Meanwhile, the concerned group of New Building Society members who last year challenged the society’s board to explain the details of a $69M fraud the society suffered last year, plans to nominate directors following the resignation of the two board members.
The society has published notices in the media about its Annual General Meeting slated for Saturday, April 26 at the Berbice High School auditorium, New Amsterdam.
Last week, the point persons in the concerned group, Christopher Ram, Andaiye, consumer advocate Eileen Cox, Deryck Phil and Leslie Sobers, all NBS account holders, held a meeting that saw a total of 18 persons.
Questions about the reasons for the directors’ resignation, the status of the plans to construct the society’s main office building and the reason behind the decision to carry the AGM to Berbice were raised at the meeting.
In an attempt to put to rest a possible challenge to the meeting’s venue, Andaiye advised her fellow members that there were no grounds in arguing in this regard, adding that NBS members were also in that county. She noted too that it seemed as though the concerned group and its concerns had fizzled out as she pointed to the meeting’s low turnout.
The Berbice venue decision however did not surprise Andaiye who recounted the words of NBS Director Nanda Gopaul, who at the last meeting had told the concerned members that ”we have Region 5 and Region 6.”
Gopaul had responded at the September meeting last year after the concerned members were demanding answers to many issues regarding governance and other matters.
Andaiye opined that given the last meeting and the pressure which was brought to bear on the directors, they may feel that Berbice would be more friendly.
Andaiye and Ram told enquiring members that there were only rumours which suggested that the reasons for the resignation of two board members may have had something to do with a decision taken to re-tender for the construction of the building while the other had to do with the decision to move the meeting to Berbice.
Sources told Stabroek News that the two issues influencing the resignations related to the decision taken to hold the society’s next AGM in Berbice while the other arose out of the status of the awarding of a contract for the construction of the society’s new building on the piece of land it owned at the corner of North Street and Avenue of the Republic in the city.
Attempts by Stabroek News to solicit a comment from the board’s Chairman Moen McDoom have proven futile.
In its notice of the meeting the Society’s Director/Secretary Ahmad Khan stated that agenda item two of the meeting would be to elect members and named Leon Rockliffe and David Yhann as the resigning members and noted too that current chairman Moen McDoom and Stephen Bovell will retire but are eligible for re-election. The statement said that there are therefore two vacancies to be filled.
The concerned members, who are to meet again this week, planned to come up with the names of their two nominees in accordance with the society’s rules.
After a woman raised concerns about her account with the society, Ram urged that he felt there was no need for anyone to be afraid of the security of their funds. He maintained that he felt the society was still sound and on good footing, but attention needed to be paid to issues of management and governance.
Demerara
Stabroek News was informed by a reliable source that an issue of concern among some board members was the fact that it was customary for the society to hold its AGM in the county of Demerara, and where the majority of its customers live, questioning the decision to hold the meeting in Berbice this time around.
This newspaper understands too that members of the meeting noted that other companies, like Banks DIH for instance, always hold their main meetings in the city and sometimes would hold follow-up meetings in the other two counties.
As regards the construction of the new office building, this newspaper was informed that it was felt that the board was reluctant to enter into a contract with a certain overseas construction company to build the new office building. The source said the board had deliberated over this issue for some time and there seemed to be some reservation about agreeing to let the entity which had won the tender process get the contract.
According to the source too, there was an objection to the particular contractor on the basis of the allegedly high cost and a request was made for the matter to be recommitted for further consideration.
Sources say that in his resignation letter to the NBS, Yhann noted that his main concern was “the manner in which the Board is being bullied on critical issues, in particular the award of the contract” for the construction of the head office. He added “it has been almost 10 months that we have been harried over this issue. The board has been skilfully manoeuvred to prevent it from entering into a contract with the entity which squarely and fairly won the tender in a process that was approved at each stage by the Board”.
He also argued that the lengthy period that the board has spent on this matter has caused the deferral of important matters. “As a result, proposals to develop a strategic plan for the Society, for strengthening of governance and Board oversight, for a review of the employee recruitment process and for a much needed organizational review have gone nowhere”.
The New Building Society had received media and public attention after a multi–million dollar fraud was exposed and three of its top executives were charged and interdicted from duty for their alleged involvement. The group of concerned members had forced the society to call a special general meeting at which the board explained the incidents leading up to the discovery of the fraud.
The group had said that it still was not satisfied with the board’s responses and had called for the resignation of its directors.
