Even as the Guyana Cooperative Credit Union League (GCCUL) yesterday called on the Chief Coopera-tives Officer to rescue the beleaguered Guyana Defence Force Credit Union (GDFCU), a top army official explained that the suspension of loan grants was done to scour the union of bad practices.
The GCCUL yesterday registered its “deep concern” about the “ominous developments” in the affiliate GDFCU and urged an intervention.
“We call upon the Chief Cooperatives Development Officer to use the authority vested in him under Chapter 88:01 to ensure that all accountably, regulatory and governance issues are speedily resolved in the interest of the membership, the credit union and the cooperative movement,” a release from the GCCUL said yesterday.
The release went on to state that the league would be monitoring the situation closely and that it had alerted the Caribbean Confederation of Credit Unions.
Meanwhile, speaking with Stabroek News, an army official informed that the temporary freeze on loan grants was made because there were numerous glitches in the GDFCU, while adding that the move in no way threatens the existence of the organisation and is aimed at ensuring that there is proper management and accountability.
“The order for the suspension of loans was made, not because there were too many anomalies… there were clear breaches. The credit union was breaking its own rules as it relates to loan guarantors, percentage deduction from salaries and in addition there were too many bad loans,” the source said.
GDFCU personnel said that after many complaints of irregularities by its members, they approached Commodore Gary Best to intervene. They cited millions of dollars lost in loans given to persons who then went Absent Without Leave (AWOL) and had no guarantors to repay as well as those who had guarantors with surety or assets way below expected payback amounts.
In addition to the bad loans, there were many instances where percentage deductions for loans, which should be no more than 1/3 of a person’s salary, were in some instances over 60% of their net salary and members, mostly women, complained.
Further, as members call for auditing of the GDFCU’s accounts, they also are requesting the convening of an Annual General Meeting (AGM), which has not been held since 2009, so that management committee members could be elected. They claim that the current members are not holding office through a just and democratic process but were instead handpicked by Commodore Best.
An executive of the GCCUL told Stabroek News that Commodore Best went out of his way when he hand selected the management committee. The executive noted that although Best is Chief-of-Staff, he is no more entitled to decision making in the union than regular soldiers who are only entitled one vote at an AGM, except for appointing the Secretary Manager. The source said that GCCUL remains concerned over the role Best has taken in the army’s credit union.
While making clear that there were no complaints of fraud or misappropriation of funds by the GDFCU, an army official said that an internal audit of the entity was ordered by Commodore Best, who was also responsible for giving the directive for the freezing of all loans until the “tidying up of the GDFCU”.
Several GDFCU members have since written to the Chief Cooperatives Develop-ment Officer, seeking his intervention by way of a Special General Meeting under his authority. The officer is legally empowered to oversee the management of credit unions across the country and he could, according to sources, suspend the Com-mittee of Management. He could also order the convening of an AGM or the auditing of financial records.
